Maravi

Panic hits Mongu over fish disease

Panic hits Mongu over fish disease
By Mwala Kalaluka in Mongu
Monday September 03, 2007 [04:00]

And Mongu MMD member of parliament Joseph Mulyata said people in the area now have to think twice before they consume any fish. A check by The Post around some fish selling points established that people trading in fish at Mulamba Harbour were reluctant to give any interviews to the press for fear that wide publicity on the disease would lead to loss of business on their part.

But some fish traders talked to said they had been advised not to say anything on the disease without authority from the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE).

However, two who sought anonymity said the situation needed to be given immediate attention even though the number of fish with blisters had reduced drastically.

They asked the government to move faster and address the situation, which they said is contributing to their economic decline.

“Alukoni ku ambola ni mina kaza litapi musina ling’olo le lizwa ku ba Mulonga (we cannot speak to you on the fish disease if you do not have a letter from the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE),” said one of the leaders at Mulamba Harbour .

The BRE are key stakeholders in the preservation of the fish resource in the province and has been instrumental in the implementation of the annual fish ban.

Western Province permanent secretary Patrick Kashinka said only a conclusive test on samples would reveal whether the ‘strange’ disease is harmful to humans or not.

Kashinka said they were still awaiting the results from the samples that were sent to Lusaka recently.

“The samples were sent to Lusaka so that we know what is causing this disease and also to know if it is harmful to people,” said Kashinka.

Asked to comment on the fish disease, Mulyata, who is visiting his constituency, said he had lived in Mongu all his life but had never witnessed such a problem in the rivers.

“Samples have been taken to find out what is the cause of this disease in the fish,” he said.

Mulyata said despite this disease, some people were still eating fish.
Asked if he was eating Mongu fish as well, Mulyata hesitantly said: “You have to think twice because we do not know what kind of disease this is.”
He said the government would continue to examine the situation as it had serious economic ramifications on the province, already considered the least developed in the country.

Some restaurant workers talked to said the high demands for the Zambezi bream had reduced following the outbreak of the fish disease.
According to Scidev.net, a scientific on-line news agency, a team of scientists from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Thailand’s Inland Aquatic Animal Health Research Institute and the Network of Aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific recently identified the fish disease that was first spotted by fishers in Caprivi area of Namibia in December last year, as Epizotic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS).

They indicated in their findings that the disease was caused by a fungal pathogen and that infected fish develop large sores and die from secondary infections.
The researchers stated in their report that this was the first known outbreak of the disease in Africa but they could not establish how the pathogen got into the Zambezi River. When EUS broke out in Asia in the late 1970s, approximately 80 per cent of the fish population perished. In December last year, fishermen in Namibia reported finding sores on fish caught in the Zambezi.

The government imposed a two-month ban on fishing to safeguard the public.
A similar ban was imposed in Botswana and was only lifted at the end of March this year.

Labels: JOSEPH MULYATA, MONGU

posted by MrK @ 4:05 AM