Staff Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
THE Namibian Competition Commission (NaCC) has said that it has resolved to initiate a formal investigation into the Namibian fisheries sector, after it came to the view that various fishing vessel owners and operators are engaged in unfair pricing practices in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dina \/\/Gowases, corporate communications officer of the NaCC, said that on 6 June 2024, the commission resolved to initiate a second investigation in the fishing sector against various fishing companies which own vessels, for allegedly imposing an unfair purchase price when negotiating quota usage fees with fishing rights holders without vessels in the Horse Mackerel sub-sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Commission noted that the Government of the Republic of Namibia introduced a Governmental Objective Fish Quota Auction in 2020, where it set a Governmental Objective Fish Quota reserve price of N$3,000.00 for the freezer quota and N$750.00 for the wet quota for the 2021 to 2023 period. The reserve price has since been increased to N$3,500.00 for the freezer quota and N$850.00 for the wet quota by the Government for the 2024 fishing season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Respondents (fishing companies) have participated in the auction since its inception by buying certain amounts of quotas at the set reserve price without any negotiations, by way of submitting closed bidding tender documents. At the same time, the Respondents negotiate quota usage fees to be paid to the fishing rights holders, before concluding quota usage agreements. The assessment of various quota usage agreements submitted to the Commission indicates that the Respondents imposed lower quota usage fees on the fishing rights holders, well below the minimum government reserve price, instead of matching it or offering more,\u201d \/\/Gowases said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added that the Commission has established that there are 11 fishing companies that harvest Horse Mackerel, 128 Horse Mackerel rights holders, 20 Horse Mackerel rights holders\u2019 joint ventures without vessels, and 20 operated Horse Mackerel vessels in the Namibian Horse Mackerel fishing sub-sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, the Commission has also established that there are about 10 fishing companies that operate\/charter Horse Mackerel vessels in Namibia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Commission is therefore of the view that, as a result of the Respondents\u2019 conduct of negotiating Horse Mackerel quota usage fees with the fishing rights holders, whilst offering non-negotiable prices to the Government at the auction, the Respondents are engaged in potential anti-competitive conduct by imposing an unfair purchase price on the fishing rights holders in possible contravention of Section 26 (1) read with Section 26 (2) (a) (directly or indirectly imposing unfair purchase or selling prices or other unfair trading conditions) of the Act. In light of the above, the Commission has resolved to initiate an investigation into the alleged conduct of the Respondents for the purpose of determining whether they have or are imposing unfair purchase prices in negotiating quota usage fees in the Horse Mackerel sub-sector in the fishing industry, in contravention of Section 26 (1) read with Section 26 (2) (a) of the Act,\u201d \/\/Gowases said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She concluded that the commission has afforded fishing companies an opportunity, within a period of 30 days, to make any submissions which they may wish to make, as contemplated in terms of Section 33 of the Competition Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Photos: Contributed\/NaCC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Staff Reporter THE Namibian Competition Commission (NaCC) has said that it has resolved to initiate a formal investigation into the Namibian fisheries sector, after it came to the view that various fishing vessel owners and operators are engaged in unfair pricing practices in the sector. Dina \/\/Gowases, corporate communications officer of the NaCC, said that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":399182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-399181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n