Eat more fish for a balanced diet

Two more fish shops were opened in the Kunene and Omusati regions last week in an effort to make marine fish products more accessible to households in the northern rural areas. Residents of the dusty Opuwo and the exploding Outapi now have the luxury of buying fish, all year round, in their own towns. Establishing the new retail outlets was made possible through the financial support of the Spanish government. The shops were officially launched by the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Hon Bernard Esau, and the Spanish Ambassador, HE Carmen Diez. The shops are operated by the Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust whose mandate is to improve the use of fish as an additional protein source in rural households.
During the ceremonies, it was remarked that these two new shops would help to make fish products more accessible to the Namibian population at affordable prices, increasing the level of fish consumption among Namibians in rural areas.
The Spanish Ambassador mentioned that the Spanish support to the fisheries sector in Namibia dates back to 2002, while the cooperation with the Trust started in 2009, promoting the consumption of fish and its distribution to rural areas, as a way of increasing the proteins levels in the local population’s diet. Some important objectives included in this project have already been successfully met. The first fish shop in Eenhana was inaugurated in April this year while two new refrigerated trucks were delivered to the Trust. Sseveral training programmes have been concluded, the new Trust website has been created, and a useful Recipe Book of Namibian fish has been published.
The minister and the ambassador congratulated each other on the productive and close partnership between the two governments in the fisheries sector. The ambassador highlighted the personal commitment of the minister and his team with the joint projects in the fisheries sector. The ambassador said her government hopes that this project and others supported by Spain will contribute to achieve the important targets envisaged in the Fourth National Development Plan.
The Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust started in 1994 as an initiative of the government of Japan.