September 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



47 



Angola 



FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN 

 F ISHING INDUSTRY: 



The director of the Angolan Department of 

 Fisheries reported that progress has been 

 made in encouraging Continental Portuguese 

 and other foreign firms to invest in the An- 

 golan fishing industry. He cited four exam- 

 ples : 



1. A Continental Portuguese firm which 

 intends to build a freezing and canning plant 

 in Mocamedes, primarily for tuna. 



2. A Spanish firm which expects to install 

 freezing facilities to handle the catch from 

 two trawlers based in Spain. The firm has 

 indicated that it will organize a Portuguese 

 company based in Mocamedes with over 50 

 percent of the capital registered in the name 

 of Portuguese nationals. The company will 

 build the freezing plant, the profits from the 

 operation of which will enable the company to 

 buy its own fleet of vessels. In return for 

 this commitment the Government will auth- 

 orize the Spanish firm to fish in Angolan ter- 

 ritorial waters with its own vessels as long 

 as all catches are sold to the Portuguese af- 

 filiate and until such time as the latter has 

 enough vessels to satisfy the demand of the 

 freezing plant. 



3. A Portuguese fishing magnate plans to 

 install a freezing and canning plant in Mo- 

 camedes which will be supplied by his own 

 Continental Portuguese -based trawlers. 



4. Another Continental Portuguese firm 

 intends to fish with two trawlers in Angolan 

 waters and to sell the catches to Angolan 

 firms. The director of the firm, who is also 

 president of the first firm above, stated that 

 he planned to move his two firms to Angola. 

 The company's two modern trawlers, with 

 freezing compartments, are the Nautilus 

 (which was launched in about December 1965 

 and operates from the port of Setubal) and 

 the Nadir (which was launched in mid-April 

 1966 and has a capacity of 70 metric tons). 



All of these projects are still pending 

 Government approval, but since they comply 

 with the December 1965 Government ruling 

 that fishing companies based in Angola be 

 over 50 percent Portuguese -owned, authori- 

 zation will probably be forthcoming as long 

 as the firms all show financial capacity to 

 fulfill their commitments. 



The Spanish proposal is a unique one, and 

 is a technique that U.S. firms interested in 

 investing in the fishing industry in Angola but 

 discouraged by the December 1965 ruling 

 might give serious consideration. The Span- 

 ish firm will have permission to fish with its 

 own vessels in Angolan waters and keep the 

 profits from sales to its shore-based affili- 

 ate until such time as the affiliate is able to 

 buy its own fleet of vessels from the profits 

 of the operation of the processing plant, which 

 should take at least ten years. 



In commenting on the investment propos- 

 als, the Regional Fisheries Attache stated 

 that the current price for the small day-boat 

 landings of tuna in Angola is only US$50 a 

 ton. This compares with $300-350 in other 

 parts of the world, and would seem to make 

 investment in tuna canning attractive. 



On the other hand, the price paid for land- 

 ed fish used in meal varies from $14-18 a 

 ton, double that paid by South African fisher- 

 ies. The Angolan fish meal plants, however, 

 do not in most cases depend solely on meal 

 for profit. Most firms combine their meal 

 operations with the salting and drying of fish 

 for export and internal consumption. In a 

 given catch, the best fish are used for salted 

 and dried, which draws a large margin of 

 profit, while the remainder is used for meal. 

 (United States Consulate, Luanda, May 19, 

 1966.) 



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GOVERNMENT FISHERY ACTIAqTIES: 



In June 1966, fishing interests in Angola 

 established a firm which will provide insur- 

 ance for industrialists and vessel owners in 

 the commercial fishing industry. Capital for 

 the firm, which was promoted by the Fisher- 

 ies Institute of Angola, will be 750 contos 

 (about US$25,000) and will be subscribed in 

 three equal parts by the Fishing Guilds of 

 Benguela, Luanda, and Mocaniedes. The in- 

 dustry hopes thereby to save about $250,000 

 annually which has heretofore been paid to 

 private insurance companies. This com- 

 prises the third important step within a month 

 to modernize the Angolan fishing industry. 

 The other two were the establishment of the 

 Center for Technological Studies and Analy- 

 ses in Luanda and the inauguration of the 

 fishing laboratory and experimental vessel 

 Goa in Lobito. 



