The Namibian government is auctioning 13,584 metric tonnes (mt) of horse mackerel and 1,000 metric tonnes of monkfish.
The Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources have opened the bidding process.
According to the bidding documents, bids should be in multiples of 100 metric tonnes with a minimum price of N$3,571 per mt for freezer fish and N$1,000 per mt for wet fish.
The auction is being held in line with Section 3(3) of the Marine Resources Act, Act No. 17 of 2000 as amended, which allows the government to utilise or harvest marine resources to promote socio-economic, cultural or other governmental objectives in the public interest through an entity or person designated by the Minister, on direction from the Cabinet.
This comes as the Cabinet approved a total allowable catch (TAC) of 270,000 metric tonnes (mt) for horse mackerel by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources during the 2024 season.
The approved horse mackerel TAC for 2023 is a decline from 290,000mt approved for the 2023 season and 330,000mt approved for the year 2022.
According to trade data from the Namibia Statistics Agency, in September 2023, fish accounted for 12.1% of the country’s total export earnings of N$7.8 billion.
