Merlus Cormorant Fishing company has rejected claims that it owes five months’ back pay to 111 fishermen allocated to it under the Government Employment Redress Programme (GERP), saying no employment relationship currently exists with the workers.
Merlus Cormorant chairman Stanley Katzao said reports that the company had left the fishermen unpaid and unemployed were “inaccurate and misleading”.
Katzao said the company had been working to resolve administrative and placement issues affecting the group since April 2026.
According to the company, the formal GERP designation agreement was only received on 10 June 2026 and employment would only legally commence once job offers had been made and accepted.
“Because contracts have not been finalized, no wages have been generated or withheld,” the company said.
Merlus also disputed claims that it had received a fishing quota of 2,655 metric tonnes to employ the 111 workers.
The company said the quota relates to a separate group of 262 GERP employees who are already employed by the company, adding that no quota has been allocated by government for the new group of 111 workers.
Merlus further said its fishing fleet is fully staffed and that the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources had confirmed in writing on 27 May 2026 that there were no sea-going vacancies.
The company said it had instead offered the workers positions at its onshore processing facilities but alleged that the group declined the offers, insisting they would only accept employment at sea.
Merlus also attributed the delay in hiring the workers to what it described as a regulatory impasse.
It said government regulators had indicated that no fishing quota would be allocated for the group until employment contracts had been signed, while the company maintained it could not sustainably employ the workers without the necessary quota.
The company said it remains supportive of the government’s GERP initiative and is willing to engage in structured discussions, but rejected what it described as attempts by labour representatives to use false narratives to pressure the company into unsustainable employment arrangements.
