Namibia awarded for protecting marine biological diversity

Posted on | september 28, 2012 | No Comments

Namibia’s Marine Resources Act has won Silver in the 2012 Future Policy Award. The jury stressed that the Act has served to institute an economically and ecologically viable fishing industry in the African country. The 2012 Future Policy Award highlights exemplary solutions to protect the world’s oceans and is initiated by the World Future Council, an international policy research organisation that provides decision-makers with effective policy solutions.

The winners were announced during a press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 26 September 2012.

With Namibia’s Marine Resources Act (2000) the World Future Council once again praises African policy making: in 2011, the topic of the Award was “Forests for People” and Rwanda took home the Gold Award for its National Forest Policy (2004).

“With the Future Policy Award we want to cast a spotlight on policies that lead by example. The aim of the World Future Council is to raise awareness for exemplary policies and speed up policy action towards just, sustainable and peaceful societies,” explains Alexandra Wandel, Director of the World Future Council. “Namibia is demonstrating that developing an ecologically, economically and socially sustainable fishing industry is possible. The principles applied closely follow international guidelines for sustainable fisheries management and can guide management and governance of fisheries in other countries”.

While Namibia inherited heavily overexploited and unregulated fisheries when it gained independence in 1990, the country has largely halted the decline of its fish stocks over the last two decades.

Namibia is located beside the Benguela Current, which is famous for being one of world’s richest fishing grounds. The fishing industry contributes to the Namibian economy by paying for licenses to fish and via levies on all fish caught.

The Marine Resources Fund levy is used to fund research and training. By following the policy of ‘Namibianisation’, the number of Namibians employed as crew-members and off shore has increased. Today, more than 13,000 are employed in Namibia’s fishing industry.

The country’s Marine Resources Act (2000) regulates key drivers of degradation of marine capture fisheries: bycatch, illegal fishing, and sets restrictions on fishing gear, depth and times.

Access to fish stocks is now controlled through the allocation of rights, and monitored at sea and in the harbours. Catch limits for each of the eight main commercial species are set annually.

Individuals and companies are required to apply for licenses to fish, and are given a non-transferrable quota, that is the maximum they are permitted to fish in a given year.

Populations of these species are monitored, and if they fall below a critical threshold, a moratorium is set and fishing is banned until the fish stock has recovered.

To reduce by catch and discarding of non-target species, rules have been set to land all fish caught and levies are imposed on a per tonne and per species basis. Vessels are obliged to carry observers to monitor activities. There is 100 per cent observer coverage and a history of strict prosecution of anybody caught fishing illegally.

Monitoring and surveillance efforts are also undertaken in cooperation with the neighbouring countries South Africa and Angola. This regional cooperation in ensuring common monitoring and surveillance of the regional fish stocks can serve as an example for other nations and regions.

An international jury comprised of experts from academia, politics, international bodies, civil society and indigenous groups from all five continents had assessed the Future Policy Award nominations against the World Future Council’s Seven Principles for Future Just Lawmaking. Honourable mentions were bestowed upon South Africa’s Integrated Coastal Management Act, 2008 and California’s Ocean Protection Act, 2004. In total 31 policies from 22 countries were considered for the award.

The winning policies will be celebrated at an award ceremony on 16 October 2012 at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad, India.

The ceremony will be convened by the World Future Council, the UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), The Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with support from the Okeanos Foundation.

Oceans cover 71 per cent of the earth’s surface, contain 90 per cent of the earth’s biomass and produce more than half of the oxygen we breathe. Millions of coastal people worldwide depend on marine resources as a crucial source of food, income and employment.

In Africa, 35 million people depend on the fisheries sector for their livelihoods. But our oceans are under severe stress from overfishing, pollution and climate change. It is estimated that 85 per cent of our global fisheries are currently over exploited or exploited to their maximum.

The reasons for this are destructive fishing practices, high bycatch and discard rates, fishing subsidies that contribute to overcapacity as well as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The threats that the world’s fisheries are facing go back to poor governance and a lack of regulation.

Despite a number of international agreements to manage our oceans and coasts and despite commitments to global targets to conserve marine biodiversity, the threats are accelerating and implementation of policies has been slow.

There is an urgent need for effective policy implementation for sustainable and equitable fisheries management in order to ensure the livelihoods and food security of current and future generations that depend on them.

“After independence, the fish stocks were so depleted due to unregulated fishing activities to an extent that nobody thought they would ever recover, but the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources put effective policies in place, and today we can fish. Collectively, we are now the custodians of this resource and we have to use and manage it in a sustainable way”, says M.T Amukwa, Chairperson of the Namibian Hake Association. “We cannot operate carelessly as if there is no tomorrow – future generations will not forgive us if they find resources depleted.”

Traditionally, marine capture fisheries have not played a major role in Namibian life. Today, food security is being improved for the most vulnerable; the government actively supports fish consumption by making it available at reduced prices for disadvantaged groups. The focus on training and creating employment for local people shows how good policies can have positive effects on quality of life and contribute to poverty eradication.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com