Factory trawler Heinaste, majority owner Samherji, flying Namibia's flag since 2018 (pad)

Icelandic group plunders Namibia

"Fishrot" is one of the worst corruption cases of illegal plundering of fish stocks in the Global South. This must come to light!

Iceland is a small country in the middle of the North Atlantic that has always lived from fishing. Some local fishing entrepreneurs got really big in the process, too big for the now overexploited fish stocks in the region, which they have to fight over with the EU and the Scots. So they get the raw material elsewhere; Samherji, the largest of these fish companies, even at the other end of the world, in Namibia.

Corruption and poison attacks

The fact that Namibia is rife with corruption suits a company like Samherji just fine. Profit beckons if the goods are taken from where they can be had cheaply and without onerous conditions, and sold where the highest prices are tempting. One can grab this "comparative cost advantage" more or less indecently. Samherji opted for the most reprehensible variant: Bribed ministers helped the Icelanders to fish to which they had no right at all. Until the local man in charge of Samherji, Johannes Stefànsson, had enough and blowed the whistle. This cost him dearly: he survived several poison attacks by the skin of his teeth, but for the last four years he has been ruined economically and, above all, in terms of his health. Yet he continues to fight so that Samherji and the ministers are finally brought to justice. 

fair-fish in support of making the case public

Fish is one of the most traded commodities globally. Trade in fish can be as toxic as that in weapons or narcotics. The behavior of Samherji is a particularly drastic example. Johannes Stefànsson documents the case in detail on his website fishrotwhistleblower. Donors of fair-fish support him financially. Further donations with the note "Fishrot" are welcome.