By ADAM IHUCHA – Much has been reported about the Nile
perch in the past two decades, though largely in its favor as a source of
multi-million-dollars earner and palatable food item.
But of late, this large, African native
near-top level predator has been facing grave depletion, prompting the East
African community to take action.
Way back in 2009, the EAC’s Council of Ministers
launched a $1.8 million drive—dubbed—‘Operation Save the Nile Perch’ (OSNP) to
recover the specie population, which depleted from 1.2 million tonnes in 2000s to
a mere 3,000 tonnes at the moment.
Under the OSNP, the three partner States — Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania —
sharing the lake -- had committed themselves to contribute $600,000 each annually
for the operation, targeting illegal fishing.
But, five years
now, the EAC council of minister’s report indicates that Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have been
dragging their feet to disburse their annual fees, rendering the mission to
become impossible.
“In November 2013, the Council re-iterated its directive to Kenya,
Tanzania and Uganda to fulfill their pledges towards „OSNP‟ program.
However, no funding has been received” reads the just ended Council of
Minister’s report.
Available records show that Kenya with a clean record, among the peers,
had remitted $570,907
equivalent to 95 percent in the year 2010/11, Uganda paid $440,160 whereas
Tanzania remitted just $185,013, rendering the crucial operation a non-starter.
Official from Tanzania who prefers anonymity says that the meager budget compared to the government priorities is
the factor behind the failure to contribute.
“Don’t forget that Tanzania like any other partner state faces budget
deficit so with that situation you can’t blame the government for failing to
fulfill some program” the official explained.
As a consequence, illegal trade in undersized fish are
reported to have continued at alarming proportion since there is little law
enforcement to control illegal fishing on the lake.
The August 2010 Frame survey conducted by LVFO around
Lake Victoria’s beaches and funded by Lake Victoria Environmental Management
Programme (LVEMP II) revealed that fish-breeding grounds have been greatly
destroyed.
This has negatively affected fish species with the
Nile Perch being the hardest hit. Use of illegal fishing gear like gillnets,
monofilaments and beach seines were on the rise.
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.
The Nile perch, or
Lates niloticus, as it is known scientifically, is a large freshwater fish
introduced in Lake Victoria in 1954 by the British government to increase the
fish population.
The Nile Perch, a voracious predator, extinguished
almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, the new fish
multiplied so fast, that its white fillets are today exported all around the
world.
During the 1980s and
early 1990s, before the introduction of fish processing plants in lake zone
regions, Nile perch, or sangara as it is known among locals, was virtually
valueless and was favoured mainly by ordinary families that could not afford
more expensive fish like tilapia.
But between 1992 and
2004, the status of the Nile perch rose dramatically, becoming a delicacy of
the elite in European countries, thanks to findings by scientists that the fish
has valuable Omega-3 fatty acids that help to check heart problems and high
blood pressure.
Today, nearly 22
years since the Nile perch was first exported from East African Lake, the
situation is alarming following a sharp decline in stocks in Lake Victoria
caused by, among other factors, overfishing.
Why depletion
As the demand for
Nile perch soared in Europe, so did the number of boats and fishing nets on the
lake.
From fishermen to
factory owners, everybody was in a rush to make a killing – and the government
opened the door to what Nestory
Kulinda, 61, a fisherman from Kagera region says that was “uncontrolled
fishing”.
From beach seines to
small-size fishing nets that catch immature fish, nobody cared – it was
survival of the fittest.
Mr Kulinda says the
problem started in 1995 – two years after the first fish-processing factory was
opened in Mwanza – followed by more plants in Kagera and Mara regions.
“The fish processors
started to buy Nile perch in bulk at very attractive prices. Fish agents built
huge boats that could carry up to 20 tonnes of Nile perch. There were hundreds
of these kinds of boats, which collected fish from small-scale fishermen.”
Mr Kulinda says at
that time when he had 30 fishing boats, some of his colleagues had up to 80
boats, turning fishing into a free-for-all affair as thousands of fishermen
scrambled for the rich pickings.
He says that at the
time, fishing of immature Nile perch was minimal because there were plenty of
mature Nile perch weighing between three and 200 kilogrammes.
There was a time
when Nile perch floated to the water’s surface and fishermen just picked them
up. But that era is gone and fishermen have now turned to fishing immature Nile
perch to survive.
Today, thousands of
fishermen like Mr Kulinda have had their livelihoods and dreams ruined because
of the sharp decline in Nile perch stocks in the lake.
Fish that can be
caught using legal nets are those measuring between 50cm and 85cm long while
those measuring above 85cm are not harvested because they are considered parent
stock. Fish weighing under a kilogramme are considered immature.
This scramble for
Nile perch has created an economic as well as ecological disaster, according to
some fisheries experts. Today, there are more fishing nets in the lake than
fish.
Importance
Indeed, the Nile perch is of great commercial significance as
evidenced by inland fisheries contribution of 2-12percent of the GDP in Uganda,
Kenya and Tanzania, the majority of which derived from Lake Victoria.
The Lake provides fish for domestic and export
markets. The value of the catch from Lake Victoria is around $350million at
landing sites, with a further $250million generated as foreign exchange by the
export of Nile perch, Lake Victoria Fishery Organisation data indicates.
Lake fishes support the livelihoods of over 30million
people in directly dependent households by providing employment and income and
also provide high quantity food in the form of nutrients and animal protein for
million of consumers in the region.
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