By ADAM IHUCHA
In a hidden corner of the far west of Tanzania, precisely in
rock city of Mwanza, lives a seasonal fisherman Juvenari Matagili.
Mr Matagili who spent nearly 34 years in the Lake Victoria
shores fishing; is currently frustrated.
His nets and boat, can no longer ply smoothly anymore in the
waters of Lake Victoria due to water hyacinth.
A carpet of water hyacinths has once again drifted inland,
blocking movement to and from the shore for miles in Mwanza.
Scores of fishermen, their boats are similarly swallowed up,
by the insidious, floating weeds.
But the faster the men rooted out the heavy, matted clumps
of green, the faster they reappeared.
Mr Matagili’s fear is driven by the fact that Lake Victoria, the world’s second largest fresh water
lake, legendary source of the Nile and cradle of early
human evolution is slowly, but surely losing its capacity to support human
life.
He said a catch of Nile perch and tilapia often fetched him
more than $1000 a month - respectable money in a country where the official
average monthly wage is less than $500.
"The water hyacinth is back again. Oh God, not again”
he said, recalling the situation of 1990s where fishing villages had abandoned and millions of people were faced
dislocation and hunger because the Lake Victoria had become so choked by water
hyacinth, a weed invader from South America, that fishing dhows could no longer
reach open water.
Australian scientists, with a little
help from a small South American beetle, are being credited with saving the
livelihoods of 30 million people through their use of biological control to
remove a devastating weed from Africa’s Lake Victoria.
Mr Matagili who is the chairman of the Fisheries Union
Organization (FUO) in Mwanza city says that over 50 per cent of the nearly
56,000 fishermen who spent many years on the lake victoria shores fishing have
migrated abroad.
These noxious weeds come at the moment when the fish stock
in Lake Victoria has shot up by 123 Per cent, thanks to the increased strict
checks on fishing, potentially pushing up the revenues from $650million to $1.3
billion.
The normal Lake Victoria’s fish production stands at one
million tonnes, worth $650 million of which $340 million is generated at the
shore and $310 million is earned from fish exports of 86,000 tonnes.
A latest lake-wide hydro-acoustic survey done between august
and October 2011 to determine fish stock biomass shows the stock increased to
1,944,089 tonnes, up from 1,583,367 tonnes recorded in August, 2011.
Currently, the three EAC partner states of Kenya, Tanzania
and Uganda, which share Lake Victoria, will see their combined fish earnings
soaring from normal $650million to $1.3 billion.
Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization hydro acoustic survey
report shows that fish reserve in Tanzania’s territorial waters have swelled
from 800,471 tonnes, up to 997,338 tonnes.
Fish accumulation in Uganda’s water also soared from 699,
942 tonnes up to 812, 597 tonnes, while Kenya’s fish stock increased to 134,
154 tonnes up from 82,954 tonnes in the period under review.
Kenya and Tanzania’s slapped a ban on overseas fishermen in
their territorial waters, zero-tolerance-drive against excessive fishing and
use of inappropriate methods by the three countries are the factors behind the
rising fish stock.
Fish is a global commodity and a binding factor for the
three East African partner states of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, which share
Lake Victoria.
A Lake Victoria fishery contributes much to GDP: 0.5 per
cent in Kenya, 2.5 per cent in Tanzania and 2.6 per cent in Uganda.
In terms of food, income, employment and foreign exchange
earnings, Lake Victoria’s basin supports a population of 35 million people who
derive their livelihood directly or indirectly from the resources within the
basin.
Per capita fish consumption is 5kg in Kenya, 8kg in Tanzania
and 10kg in Uganda. Lake Victoria’s basin supports a population of 35
million people who derive their livelihood directly or indirectly from the
resources within the basin.
Fredrick Mngube is the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC)
Environmental and Natural Resources Officer, who confirmed indeed that the
water hyacinths have once again back in lake victoria.
Mngube says that at the moment the water hyacinth have
covered 518 hectares in Lake victoria’s Tanzania’s side, while nearly 10,000
and 353 ha have so far been choked in Kenya and Uganda’s side respectively.
A survey conducted in October 2010 by the department of
water hyacinth in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives
in Tanzania also revealed that the weed now covered over 500 hectares.
Regional Project Coordinator, Lake Victoria Environmental
Management Project phase II, Dr Raymond Mngodo said the weed has been spreading
due to continuous inflow of water hyacinth through Kagera River and
availability of nutrients, which favour proliferation of the weed in the lake.
Dr Mngodo says industrialists and people living around the
lake also should refrain from discharging pollutants and sediments because they
carry a lot of nutrients, which favour the growth of the weed.
Other Studies indicate that pollution and environmental
degradation have led to the extinction of more than 100 species of fish in the
past four decades.
Fish stocks in the lake are also being plundered at an
alarming rate. The coordinator of Accord Tanzania, Donald Kasongi said urgent
steps must be taken to save the remaining fish.
According to Mr Kasongi, many fish species in Lake Victoria
could become extinct within the next 30 years.
A recent study by Accord Tanzania revealed that by 2048
there would be a major loss of fish resources in the lake.
The study revealed that Nile Perch stocks went down from
750,000 tonnes in 2005 to 337,000 tonnes in 2008. Tilapia stocks also dropped
from 27,061 tonnes to 24,811 tonnes during the same period.
“There is increasing fish pressure and environmental
pollution in Lake Victoria. If it is not managed well, there will be
over-fishing, depletion of resources and loss of socio-economic benefits,” he
said.
A recent survey conducted around Lake Victoria’s beaches by
Lake Victoria Environmental Management Programme (LVEMP II) revealed that
fish-breeding grounds have been heavily destroyed.
This has negatively affected fish species with the Nile
Perch being the most vulnerable. Use of illegal fishing gear like gillnets,
monofilaments and beach seines is on the rise.
The survey revealed that there was a total of 169,747
gillnets, 2,116 monofilaments and 991 beach seines at various fish landing
sites, which must be destroyed immediately to save Lake Victoria’s resources
from extinction
“This is quite
alarming. Joint effort must be taken to safeguard the resources,” Mr Kasongi
said.
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