Fisheries dept bemoans fish depletion on Lake Tanganyika

Fisheries dept bemoans fish depletion on Lake Tanganyika
By Emmanuel Kapampa in Mpulungu and Lawrence Kabutu in Kalomo
Sun 11 Apr. 2010, 04:00 CAT

THE FISHERIES Department in Mpulungu is alarmed at the rate fish stocks are depleting on Lake Tanganyika due to overfishing.

In an interview, district fisheries officer Lloyd Haambiya said the department would by mid this year embark on a massive sensitisation campaign to warn people on the dangers of overfishing.

He said the problem had been exacerbated because over 80 per cent of the population in Mpulungu depended on fishing for their livelihood.

‘’What we now know is that there is so much pressure on the lake. Along the shores alone, there are over 48 fishing camps. And one day, we might wake up to find lake Tanganyika is just a bathing tub, without fish,’’ he said.

He said the sensitisation campaigns would also target young people in schools and the core message would be fish conservation and to let people know the implications of depleting fish stock on Lake Tanganyika.

Haambiya revealed that the department would use several communication tools such as drama performances, public talks, publications, social communications and the press.

He said the sensitisation campaigns had been long overdue, adding that the problem of overfishing had been ignored for a long time.

Haambiya added that the department will in the meantime work with UNDP to carry out the campaigns. He appealed to other stakeholders and interested parties to come on board and fight overfishing on Lake Tanganyika.

And the Fisheries Department in Kalomo has stepped up activities at Kanchele fish farm aimed at meeting the demand of finger rings (fish seed) to fish farmers in Southern Province.

Kalomo district fisheries officer Roy Wakumelo said the Kanchele Fish Farm which is the only fish seed centre in Southern Province was also integrating fish farming with piggery and poultry production that included duck rearing.

He explained that the fish and fish seed distribution would be very beneficial to the farming community and the residents on the plateau districts where fish was scarce and expensive.

Wakumelo indicated that farmers in the province should diversify into fish farming as an income-generating activity if their farming was to be a viable enterprise.

He disclosed that the fish farm would be selling fish from the ponds at the centre in a bid to improve the nutrition of the farming community and collect revenue for the government.

He observed that the department of fisheries in Kalomo district was encouraging fish farmers to rear pigs and ducks in order to use the droppings as manure for the fishponds so as to grow the plankton which was the natural food for the fish.

Wakumelo was optimistic that the fish farm would be productive as a fish seed centre in the province and meet the growing demand of fish seed.