Strengthening of fisheries data collection and management in Namibia.

Abstract

This study focused on marine fisheries data collection, management and utilization which diminished the ability of fisheries to be effectively managed and leading to under-reporting. The Delphi methodology was selected as the most appropriate means to achieve the goals and objectives of this study because it provided a way to solicit and gain consensus by experts on Namibian fisheries data collection and management. The major findings were mostly the low interest of stakeholders in the data collection and management processes. Second, the Fisheries Information Management System (FIMS) where data is stored after validation did not allow any data analysis and reconciliation process of figures, so that had to be done manually by using other program not compatible with FIMS such as Structured Query Language (SQL), Microsoft excel or access. The study recommended that an in-house training program needed to be arranged so that FIMS users would be able to appreciate the art of FIMS usage. Second, fishing companies as data primary producers would need to advance from manual data recording that would subsequently avail the data in timely manner or making the data easier to disseminate and analyze.