According to UN report climate change has aggravated the dwindling of fish stocks in countries that derive a significant percentage of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from fishing. It increases the consequences on fish stocks of Namibia as it is already under pressure from pollution and over harvesting.
The report, “In Dead Water: merging of climate change with pollution over harvest and infestations in the world’s fishing grounds”, mentioned that the fishing sectors of countries such as Namibia, Ghana, Senegal and Uganda, whose GDP is over 6 percent, might shrink. The Namibian authorities are alredy under pressure over the presence of jellyfish in their waters of which no scientific information has been sought out.
Dr Abraham Iyambo, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, opined that the effects of global warming have been impacting negatively on nature and economies of the country. It is true that Namibia has one of the most productive fishing grounds in the world, based on the Benguela Current system, one of the four eastern boundary upwelling systems in the world.
But the report says that Africa’s fisheries are partly at risk because semi-arid climates with significant coastal. Its inland fisheries have high exposure to future temperature increases and the linked changes in rainfall patterns and coastal current systems. The Namibian Coast Conservation and Management told that the rise in sea level push ahead the coastal erosion more aggressively. It informed that this will give rise the air and water temperature, and harsh droughts will occur more often, which would seriously impact the environment and the economy.
The government is concern about the future prospect of Namibia’s fishing industry and for this it has started working on different projects.
