Namibia has some of the richest fish resources in the world, but before Independence in 1990, these resources had been over-exploited and become depleted because of unregulated fishing. On attaining Independence, the new Government called upon Norway to assist in establishing an Exclusive Economic Zone, a system of fisheries research, appropriate legislation and a monitoring, control and surveillance system.
The "institutional memory" of Namibian fisheries
Through the Nansen Programme, the Norwegian research vessel “Dr. Fridtjof Nansen” started mapping Namibian fish resources in January 1990, about two months prior to Independence. Close collaboration with IMR scientists and crew throughout the years has enabled Namibian scientists to obtain unique hands-on experience of fisheries research relevant to the country’s needs, particularly in stock assessment and the use of facilities on research vessels. The country is now basically self-supported in fisheries research. The majority of Namibia’s fisheries scientists have been trained with Norwegian support, and this has been possible because of the close institutional links between the IMR and the National Marine Information and Research Centre (NatMirc) in Namibia.
IMR can, in some ways, be described as holding the institutional memory of Namibian fisheries. The Institute has had a critical institutional link with the Ministry and with NATMIRC for over 15 years and many of the staff have had a personal link with IMR. IMR maintains that it still could hold an important “mentoring” role for the Institute in Namibia.
IMR still present in Namibia
The “Dr Fridtjof Nansen” is no longer used for stock assessment work in Namibia, as the country now uses national vessels for this purpose. However, the Nansen Programme has continued to provide support to the research surveys and other related activities. Individual IMR scientists were assigned to advise on various hake and horse mackerel surveys until 2004. The Nansen Programme has also supported the development and testing of selection grids for the trawl fisheries targeting hake and monk.
At present, one major challenge for the Namibian fishery research is the fact that less than half of the fishery biologists trained in Bergen are still employed at NatMirc.
