The country's uncontrolled growth of the seal population is a direct result of quota holders focusing only on harvesting bulls for their genitals, leaving the rest of theanimal, including the meat and valuable by-products, unused due to lack of a market. This is what the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on natural resources, Tjekero Tweya, said in parliament on Monday during the presentation of the committee's findings. He argued that the current system benefits only a handful of investors, while ignoring the potential for industrial development. "It's true that seals create a serious problem and they're overpopulated. Why? The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources issues quotas for harvesting this particular resource - seals. "For this fishing period or for this year, the ministry has allocated a total of 60,000 seals to be harvested. Out of this number, about 8,000 are bulls, while the rest are cubs," he said. "Seals are listed as an endangered species. The trade in seal products from Namibia can result in sanctions, which poses a challenge. "There is one foreign investor who is interested, not in the whole seal as a product, but specifically in the genitals, which are used for medicinal purposes. "Since the genitals of cubs are not viable for this purpose, he relies on the 8 000 bulls – solely for this purpose – out of the quota of 60 000," Tweya said. "What happens then? These six or seven quota holders will only target the genitals because that's where they'll get their income. The rest of the seal - the meat, oil and other valuable products – remains unused due to the lack of a market," he added. Tweya argued that the failure to establish an industrial base meant that Namibia was missing out on economic opportunities while allowing the seal population to spiral out of control. "That's where industrial development needs to come in. Seal meat has been confirmed to be protein-rich, but it is not harvested because there is no market for it locally. "It is not the responsibility of quota holders to drive industrial development. "This requires different types of investors to establish processing facilities that can produce oil, such as Omega-3, creams and other products. The meat can be used locally, rather than thrown away," he said