No jobs were lost in Namibia
No jobs were lost in the Namibian fisheries sector after Samherji-affiliated companies began operations there in 2012. Claims reported in the media yesterday, that thousands of jobs were lost, have no grounds in reality. These are the same wrongful statements Samherji corrected last year.
Samherji-affiliated companies only participated in pelagic fishing in the Namibian economic zone, and this was mainly horse mackerel. In 2011, allocation rules were changed for pelagic species in Namibia. A quarter of the pelagic fisheries quotas were transferred to Namibian companies and individuals, mainly from South African corporations. Following the allocation of quotas for horse mackerel, Namibian parties sought cooperation with companies affiliated with Samherji to utilize the quotas.
There was no change in the volume of pelagic fish that was frozen at sea between 2011 and 2012 when a company affiliated with Samherji started operations in Walvis Bay. For this reason, it can be asserted that the number of fishing and processing jobs in the Namibian fisheries sector remained unchanged. However, jobs were transferred between companies and vessels following changes in the allocation of quotas. A vast majority of the crewmembers on the vessels operated by Samherji-affiliated companies were Namibian citizens. For example, among the 100 crewmembers on the factory trawler Heinaste only four were Icelanders, while the others were from Namibia and Eastern Europe.
In 2013, companies affiliated with Samherji had about 10% of fisheries quotas in pelagic species in Namibia. This fact underscores how absurd it is to claim that "thousands of jobs" were lost, taking into account the total number of jobs in the Namibian fisheries industry. It is also important to note that during the years that Samherji-affiliated companies were operating in Namibia, they purchased all services for fishing and processing from Namibian companies. Therefore, no jobs were lost in acquired services in the Namibian fisheries industry.
In light of the above, it is clear that statements about thousands of jobs lost, after Samherji's companies began operating in Namibia, are made up. Such misrepresentations are solely intended to harm the companies in the Samherji group and their employees.
