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DAM-L Malawi: Battle to increase fish production/LS (fwd)



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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 13:02:53 -0800
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From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: Malawi: Battle to increase fish production/LS
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##Malawi's chances of increasing fish production looks gloomy

-by Raphael Mweninguwe

Malawi's fish production has for the past decades been going down.
Statistics show that fish landings in the 1980s were about 78,000 metric
tonnes but declined to 68,000 tonnes by 1998.
Statistics further indicate that in 1980 Malawi was able to export 2,000
tonnes of fish to other countries but by 1991 the country was only able to
export 3 tonnes.
Fish experts have explained that the cause for all of this low fish
production has been over fishing in main water bodies such as Lake Malawi
and the Shire River which flows down to the Zambezi River.
Dr. Uwe Scholz, a Principal Adviser for the National Aquatic Resource
Management Programme (NARMAP) says Malawi is experiencing low fish catches
because fishermen both commercial and semi-commercial have overfished the
fish.
NARMAP is a Fisheries Management Project funded by the German government
through the German Technical Assistance (GTZ). The project is attached to
the Department of Fisheries and has implemented several programmes aimed at
increasing the production of fish in the country.
Since the project started about four years ago the country has seen an
increase in certain fish species but the production of Chambo (tilapia
rendalli) which is Malawi_s main favoured fish is still illusive.
Dr. Scholz says although the country has adopted new Fisheries Act (1997)
there is very little that is done on the part of government to enforce the
laws.
The laws among other things empowers the local communities to confiscate
certain fishing gears not allowed in the lakes but there are still some
people catching fish using prohibited fish gears (nets).
The law also does not allow fishermen to use trawlers within a distance of
1.8 kilometres from the shores but this is not the reality on the ground.
Despite the laws being put in place many fishermen have chosen not to obey
them. Those fishing using trawlers which have been described as the main
cause for low fish catches, continue fishing without following government
set up rules and regulations.
Recently government told fishermen who use kauni (method of catching chambo
fish by using hurricane right) to stop catching fish with this method.
The local fishermen reacted angry and told government officials to stop what
they call "government's double standards".
Ismael Ajida, a businessman in the fishing industry vows that unless trawler
owners stop fishing in the prohibited areas of the waters local fishermen
will not abandon kauni. Kauni is one of the most successful methods
fishermen have used to catch small chambo and is one of the methods banned
by law.
"Government is well aware that most of the fish resources are being depleted
because some influencial people in government use trawlers in areas where
they are not supposed to," he alleges.
Ajida says government should not accuse poor fishermen for low fish
production but should accuse politicians whom he says are owning trawlers.
He says government is wasting much of its time confiscating nets belonging
to the poor.
"By confiscating our nets government is making us much poorer," he says.
Over 63% of the 11 million Malawians live below the poverty line and it is
government's wish to alleviate the people of their poverty which seems very
difficult at the moment.
Over 200,000 Malawians are either directly or indirectly employed in the
fishing industry and many have depended on the industry for a long time for
their survival.
Ajida who owns six boat engines is one of the fishermen whose nets are
banned by the 1997 Act.
"Imagine I am employing about 150 people here at the lake and government
just come and say 'stop kauni'. Are people going to understand? Why is
government not sitting down with us and negotiate these issues properly?
Where are the 150 employees going after losing their jobs?" he wonders.
Some officials within the Fisheries Department have admitted that is is very
difficult to enforce the law when politicians are involved. They say unless
there is a political will from the politicians then the whole issue of law
enforcement would be achieved.
A South African professor and Lecturer at Rhodes University Thomas Hetch
said when he visited the country late last year that Malawi_s fish
production can improve if the private sector invests in fish farming and
aquculture.
He is of the view that government cannot run business properly and thinks
that if the private sector in Malawi can adopt what the SA investment
companies have done in the fishing industry then the country would be able
to export fish.
But many investors in the country are not ready to take up the challenge
because the cost of running the business venture is just too expensive for
them.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that fish intake per person
should be 13kg/year and Malawi only manges 9kg/person/year consumption.
It is, however, yet to be seen if Malawi will compete other countries in the
region especially those that are landlocked to produce more fish to feed the
whole population and export some.

end


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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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