The government has opened bids for the auction of 26,384 metric tonnes (mt) of horse mackerel with minimum bids of N$3,500 per mt for frozen fish and N$1,000 per mt for wet fish.
The government’s auction is done through the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources. The deadline for submissions of bids is March 1.
In November 2023, the Cabinet approved a total allowable catch (TAC) of 270,000 metric tonnes for horse mackerel during the 2024 season.
The approved horse mackerel TAC for 2024 is a decline from 290,000 mt approved for the 2023 season and 330,000 mt approved for the year 2022.
In 2023, the government raised a total of N$52.3 million from the sale of 28,500 metric tonnes of horse mackerel, inclusive of N$11,000 raised from application fees.
This stemmed from an open bidding held by the government for 30,540 metric tonnes of horse mackerel on March 31, 2023.
Last year, prices improved from the reserve price of N$3,000 to an average of N$3,017.64 for freezer horse mackerel and N$750 to N$754.02 for wet horse mackerel.
“Such an outcome confirms auctioning as a good mechanism to facilitate price discovery in the sector and allocate natural resources to the market,” the government said last year.
The decision to hold the auction was in line with Section 3(3) of the Marine Resources Act, Act No. 17 of 2000 as amended.
The Act allows the government to utilise or harvest marine resources to promote socioeconomic, cultural, or other governmental objectives in the public interest through an entity or person designated by the Minister, on direction from Cabinet.
