Our Fish, Our Future

For generations, we Namibians have been told a beautiful story about our ocean. We are taught to take pride in having some of the richest fishing grounds in the world. Just last year, our marine sector brought in a staggering N$13. 8 billion in export earnings. But if you walk through Walvis Bay or Lüderitz, a painful paradox stares back at you. While billions of dollars worth of our ‘silver wealth’ has sailed out of our ports, the state collected a mere N$278 million in direct revenue. We have to stop and ask an uncomfortable question: why are regular Namibians still fighting for crumbs while our ocean wealth builds fortunes elsewhere? Last weekend, from 3 to 5 September, the inaugural National Fisheries Indaba 2026, ‘Turning the Tide’, took place at Walvis Bay. It felt different from the usual government talk-shops – those where officials read dry speeches and nothing changes.

It felt like a genuine battle for the soul of our natural resources. The goal wasn’t just to tweak a few rules, but to fundamentally deconstruct a market structure that has historically lined the pockets of a select few. In short, it was to rewire the system so that it finally works for every single Namibian. HARD TRUTHS The truth is, our fishing sector is quietly suffocating. Our fishermen and factory workers face harsh realities: fluctuating quotas driven by declining fish biomass, illegal trawlers plundering our waters, and skyrocketing operational costs. Worse still, we have too many commercial vessels aggressively chasing fewer and fewer fish. This overcapitalisation creates a dangerous temptation to plunder protected ecological zones, risking the exact same catastrophic fishery collapses that wiped out our pilchards and orange roughy in the past. When those ecosystems collapse, it isn’t…