Government Secures Etosha Fishing Jobs Amidst Stormy Waters

Rudi Bowe

In a bid to save jobs and sustain operations, the Namibian government hassteppedintorescue430employeesattheWalvisBaycanningfactory, EtoshaFishingCorporation.

The government's intervention comes in the form of an allocation of 5000 metric tonnes (MT) of Horse

Mackerel quota through the Ministry of Fisheries and Ma- rineResourcesaspartof the Governmental Objective.

For decades, Etosha FishingCorporationhas beenakeyplayerinthe canning industry, supplying leading brands like Lucky Star and Glenryck South Africa withpilchards.

However, since 2015, the company has been grapplingwithadecline in pilchard stocks, leadingtoabanonpilchard harvesting in 2018. To stayafloat,EtoshaFishing had been importing pilchards from Morocco, but this solution has become financially unsustainable due to volatile exchange rates andhighimportcosts.

Earlier this year, the company had initiated termination of employment procedures as the shortageoffishforcan- ning threatened its viability However,the allocation of the 5000 MT relief quota has granted a temporary