Alarmed by the dwindling numbers of a rare species of fish, locally known as chambo, the Malawi government has formulated a 10-year plan to restore the fish in Lake Malawi, and its largest outlet, Shire River.
Lake Malawi is Africa’s third largest fresh water lake.
In a statement on Thursday, Malawi’s minister of natural resources and environmental affairs, Uladi Mussa, said the plan aims at restoring depleted fish stocks to maximum sustainable yields.
The Malawi Fisheries Department said their goal was to meet the country’s international obligations to restore chambo to its 1980 level by 2010.
Chambo, a delicacy in Malawi, is a species of the tilapia family. Mussa attributed the depletion of the fish in Lake Malawi and Shire River to over-fishing by an ever-increasing number of fishermen.
Mussa, who represents the lakeshore and fishing district of Salima in parliament, said: ”The fishery is riddled with the use of illegal gear, such as small meshed nets, that catch small and not fully grown-up fish.
”The destruction of aquatic vegetation beds and breeding grounds, which exposes young chambo to predation and to fishermen’s nets, is another concern.”
Mussa said the species had suffered a violation of their closed breeding season.
”Fishermen have been illegally catching fish during the breeding season, resulting in loss of eggs and young fish.”
Malawi’s fishing industry is an important source of food, income and employment.
Statistics from the Malawi Fisheries Department indicate that 14% of lakeshore communities survive through fishing, fish processing, marketing, boat and gear sales and repair, and allied industries.
The 2002 Malawi State of the Environment Report, recently presented to parliament, stated that fish played a key role in food security.
It said Malawi’s fishing industry used to contribute as much as 70% of protein in rural and urban areas.
Overall, the industry contributes 4% to the country’s gross national product, it stated.
Fish consumption, the report stated, averaged 14kg per person per year in the mid-1970s, but today it was less than 6kg per person each year due to an increase in human population and the decreasing numbers of fish in Lake Malawi.
The initiative to revive the stock involves the commitment made by Malawi at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg last year, Mussa said.
”The Fisheries Department intends by 2004 to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal fishing.
”By 2010 the department will apply the ecosystem approach to sustainable development of fisheries. It is hoped that by 2015 all depleted fish stocks will be restored to maximum sustainable yields.”
The countries bordering Lake Malawi — Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania –are signatories to the Southern African Development Community’s protocol on fisheries.
Under agreement, parties commit themselves to maintain a proper balance between resource development for a higher standard of living for their people, conservation, and enhancement of the environment to promote sustainable development.
Tropical biologists said the lake contains more freshwater species than most lakes in Europe and North America. To reverse the dwindling fortunes of chambo, the government has launched a campaign, called Nation, Save the Chambo, to save the
species, Mussa said.
”The campaign also aims to attract foreign and domestic funding to restore stocks to the pre-1990 levels,” he said. – Sapa-IPS