Fishing group Oceana, which has operations in Namibia and South Africa, has concluded an agreement to purchase an additional midwater trawler. This investment, including refurbishment costs, amounts to N$67 million.

CEO of Oceana, Andrew Marshall said in a statement that the vessel will be based in Namibia and is expected to be operational towards the end of the financial year.
Last week, Oceana reported a 63% increase in headline earnings per share for the six months ended 31 March 2008, compared to the previous year.
Operating profit before abnormal items increased by 55%. Earnings per share increased by 48%. Although the 2008 TAC had been reduced to 90 776 tons (2007: 162 436 tons), sales volumes of canned fish increased mainly due to substantial quantities of imported product as well as stock carried over from the previous fishing season in Namibia.
The Namibian pilchard TAC was recently announced as 15 000 tons and fishing should commence later this month.