10 November 2008
FISH quotas set by the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources for the new season will remain unchanged from this year for horse mackerel and rock lobster, while the quota for deep-sea red crab will go up.
Cabinet has approved total allowable catches (TACs) of 230 000 tonnes of horse mackerel for the 2009 fishing season running from January 1 to December 31 2009, while the deep-sea red crab quota will go up from 2 500 to 2 700 tonnes.
Rock lobster catches will remain at 350 tonnes for the 2008-09 fishing season running from November 1 2008 to April 30 2009.
The Marine Resources Advisory Council met on September 18 to consider new TACs for horse mackerel, deep-sea red crab and rock lobster for the next fishing season.
Scientists were of the opinion that environmental conditions had been relatively favourable for spawning, survival and growth of marine stocks in general over the past year.
Considering the advice of scientists and the Advisory Council, Dr Abraham Iyambo, who is the Minister of Fisheries, set the new TACs, which were approved by Cabinet at its recent meeting, according to a Cabinet press release late Friday.
"Based on favourable recent research results, the Minister set the TAC for deep-sea red crab 200 tonnes higher than the previous season."
The Minister also decided to keep the TAC for rock lobster for the season, which started hits month, at the same level as for the previous season.
"It was taken into account that for the last four years a large amount of the allocated rock lobster TAC has not been caught due to heavy swells and inaccessible fishing areas," the statement said.
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