In this regard, we note that a very significant proportion of South African hake continues to be exported to foreign destinations in an unprocessed form, primarily as headed and gutted fish, for value-added processing, packaging and marketing abroad. This results in a significant proportion of the overall retail income generated being retained in foreign countries and, absurdly, literally thousands of value-added, processing and packaging employment opportunities being sustained abroad, as opposed to creating much-needed sustainable employment here at home.