Friday, March 29, 2024

Depleting fish stocks in Luapula worry Government

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The kapenta fishing rigs that are parked on Sekula Island
The kapenta fishing rigs that are parked on Sekula Island

Government has bemoaned the declining fish catches on the Mweru-Luapula Fishery in Luapula Province.
Nchelenge District Commissioner (DC) acting Bennie Mwansa says government is deeply concerned with Depleting fish stocks due to over-fishing and the use of illegal fishing gears on the natural fishery.

Mr. Mwansa said the government will soon take strong measures to secure the gazetted fish breeding areas of the Mweru-Luapula Fishery to harness the free fall of the fish catches in Nchelenge District of Luapula Province.

He said in an effort to redress the situation the government through the department of fisheries will restock the Mweru-Luapula Fishery with red breasted and green headed breams that are high yielding.

The District Commissioner Mr. Mwansa was speaking when he officiated at this year’s District Agricultural and Commercial Show which was held at the Farmers Training Centre (FTC) in Nchelenge, yesterday.

However, he said there is need for concerted efforts by all the stakeholders to reverse the free falling trends of the fish stocks and urged for the involvement of the traditional leaders and other agencies in the fishing industry.

He also urged the fishers to diversify to other activities such as beekeeping, cultivation of various crops and fish farming to lessen the pressure on the natural fishery.
And Mr. Mwansa has called for the change of the mindset among the small scale farmers in Nchelenge District of Luapula Province and the country as a whole.
The acting DC said the Patriotic Front government manifesto encourages the farmers to shift from the maize cultivation to diversification to ensure household income and food security.

He noted that crops such as cassava, sweet potatoes, bulrush, finger millet and paddy rice among others are cost effective and cheap to grow.
He said the government is making progressive measures in the agriculture sector such as the provision of the subsidized inputs through the Farmer Inputs Support Programme (FISP) as a way of empowering farmers.

He also said the government is striving to revamp the livestock sector through effective livestock disease fight and control.

Mr. Mwansa assured the farmers that the government will continue with the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) during the 2014/2015 farming season and that through the Food Reserve Agency

11 COMMENTS

    • YOU ARE POSITIVELY RIGHT ABOUT LIVE-STOKE FARMING ESPECIALLY CATTLE. I AM SURE YOU MEANT CATTLE AND NOT ONLY COWS.

      BUT I DO NOT AGREE WITH YOU WHEN YOU WENT TRIBAL AD POLITICAL. THESE ARE WHAT SPOILED YOUR CONTRIBUTION.

  1. Restocking is the main answer that Govts from UNIP, MMD and now PF has always not done enough to harness. We have natural ponds or lakes etc where we can RESTOCK fish. But not only restocking, we need to FEED the fish. FISH FOODSTOCK should be addressed too. For so many year that we have been eating fish from lakes and rivers, very little has been done on BREEDING, RESTOCKING AND FEEDING fish. We have let it all to nature but the demand is ever outstripping supply of fish, no wonder we now get small ones instead of big fleshy fish. Ask any local fisherman and all they know is fish it and eat or sell it. Very few if not none, have ever thought of feeding the fish the keep harvesting year in year out! We need to take care of fish just like chickens, cows, pigs, etc. Feed the fish, please.

  2. THERE IS SOMETHING THAT THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO DO HERE IF THE SITUATION OF FISH DEPLETION IS TO STOP. LET THE GOVERNMENT RE-VISIT THE FISHERIES ACT AND AMEND IT AND PUT IN DETERRENT MEASURES THAT WILL DETER PEOPLE FROM CATCHING AND SELLING OF YOUNG FISHES ANYWHERE AND AT ANYTIME EXCEPT FOR KAPENTA AND CHISENSE WHICH ARE KNOWN TO BE WHAT THEY ARE. THE FISH BAN PERIOD OF DECEMBER TO END OF FEBRUARY THE FOLLOWING YEAR DOES NOT ANYMORE MAKE SENSE AT ALL BECAUSE THE VERY YOUNG FISHES THAT ARE BORN DURING THIS PERIOD ARE CAUGHT AGAIN USING MOSQUITO NETS AND OTHER UNLAWFUL METHODS AND SOLD IN MARKETS USING SMALL BOWLS USED IN SELLING KAPENTA AND CHISENSE. I AM JUST FROM CHILYAPA MARKET IN MANSA AND THERE ARE HEAPS AND HEAPS OF YOUNG BREAMS BEING SOLD IN SMALL BOWS AT K3.00 PER SMALL BOW…..

    • NO MATTER HOW THE LAW IS TOUGHENED WITHOUT RE-ENFORCEMENT NOTHING WILL WORK. JUST LIKE TRAFFIC POLICE OR GAME GUARDS, THE GOVERNMENT MUST INTRODUCE ANOTHER LAW-ENFORCEMENT FORCE ON LAKES AND RIVERS KNOWN US COAST GUARDS. OR SIMPLY SPECIALISE AND EXTEND THE GAME GUARDS TO LAKES AND BEEF THEM UP WITH SPEED BOATS WITH MODERN COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT. AND MORE JOBS CREATED ANYWAY. THE COAST GUARDS WILL ALSO BE SERVING LIVES ON THE LAKES AND RIVERS.

  3. CONTIN: WHEN I COUNTED THE SMALL BREAMS IN ONE BOW, THEY RANGED FROM ABOUT 100 – 300 DEPENDING ON SIZE WHILE THOSE THAT ARE AT CHILDREN’S PALM SIZE WERE GOING AT BETWEEN K10.00 AND K15.00 PER 10 OR 12 OF THEM AND THIS IS HOW DESTRUCTIVE THIS HAS BEEN. IT IS NOT EVEN PROFITABLE AT ALL BECAUSE IF THESE 300 YOUNG BREAMS WERE ALLOWED TO GROW THEN THERE WOULD BE NO NEED TO EVEN TALK ABOUT RE-STOCKING WHICH ENDS UP IN THESE SAME DESTRUCTIVE FISHING METHODS. IT S JUST LIKE RE-STOCKING ANIMALS/CATTLE BEFORE YOU DEAL WITH THE DISEASE BECAUSE EVEN WHAT YOU RE-STOCK WOULD BE WIPED OUT COMPLETELY. FORGET ABOUT FISH-BAN AND RESTOCKING IF WE CANNOT CONTROL THE TYPE AND SIZE OF FISH CAUGHT AND SOLD IN MARKETS. WE NEVER USED TO TALK ABOUT THE PROBLEM OF FISH IN NCHELENGE BUT NOW IT IS A TERRIBLE…

    • YOU PROBABLY HAVE PEOPLE WHO CARE, ARE DISCIPLINED, THEY VALUE FISH, THEY LISTEN TO MESSAGES ON THE NEED TO PRESERVE FISH AND PROBABLY, THEY DO NOT USE BAD FISHING METHODS – YOU ARE VERY LUCKY INDEED. LOOK AT SAMFYA AND SPECIFICALLY THE BANGWEULU PLAINS ALONG THE TUTA BRIDGE. WHEN THE ROAD WAS JUST CONSTRUCTED, DRIVING ALONG THIS ROAD WAS A NIGHTMARE BECAUSE OF THE SO MANY GAME/WILD ANIMALS ESPECIALLY THE LECHWES AND OTHERS, BUT DRIVE ALONG THERE NOW AND SEE IF YOU CAN SEE ANY ANIMAL! THE PROPENSITY FOR DESTRUCTION MAY BE AND NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE AT ALL MAY BE BECAUSE WE ALL ARE BENEFICIARIES! GO TO MWERU WANTIPA IN KAPUTA AND NSUMBU DISTRICTS AND HEAR THE SAD STORY ON FISH DEPLETION THERE. GOVT. RE-STOCKED IT WITH ABOUT 5.0 MILLION FNGERLINGS BUT ALMOST EVERYTHING HAS BEEN FISHED OUT!!

  4. THE WHOLE OF LUAPULA PROVINCE IS A VERY FERTILE LAND MASS. SERIOUSLY, THE GOVERNMENT MUST ENCOURAGE FARMING OF CROPS AND LIVE STOKE SO THAT PEOPLE THERE SPEND MORE TIME IN THEIR FARMS THAN ON LAKES AND RIVERS. GOVERNMENT MUST TAKE CONTROL OF CITIZENS. EVEN UP TO THIS TIME THERE’S MORE TALKING BY MINISTERS THAN DOING. WHY SHOULD PEOPLE CUT TREES, AND SHOOT WILD ANIMALS AT THEIR WILL AS IF THERE IS NO GOVERNMENT?

  5. I don’t know what you are all going on and on about. The problem is that the government needs to put more money into enforcing the seasonal fishing ban to give fish to reproduce. If you don’t give anything time to reproduce the population will decrease…it is simple logic. All these ideas about diversification and cows and stuff are all irrelevant to the problem of why fish stock are depleting. It is this kind of strange thinking why we can’t develop. How do you start thinking about cows when the real problem is fish stocks finishing fast? What kind of problem solving is that? Instead of buying cattle for people, which I know they won’t even keep for long before they eat it all again, spend that money and invest it into fish-stock monitoring and enforcement of the seasonal fish ban.

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