Feature

By Frazer Potani, Lilongwe, Malawi

It is 7 O’clock evening and time for supper for a family of six [a husband his wife and four children (three girls and one boy)] gathers round the dining table in their house at Chilinde Township in Lilongwe City .

Soon after thanks giving, the woman unveils two bowls of relish and nsima ready for the family to share.

No sooner than the wife unveils the relish bowl than the husband can not hold his excitement because it contains deep fried pieces of Chambo soaked in tomato soup.

“Darling which market did you buy from? Unlike in the past Chambo is scarce these days,” says the husband as the wife puts some pieces of the fish and lump some of nsima in his plate.

“I bought them at Maldeco Depot at Area 3 Market. In fact there were only three remaining and I quickly bought them before someone could do it because indeed Chambo fish are scarce in our markets these days,” says the wife.

Over four decades ago Malawians were proud eaters of fish caught from their water bodies and rivers including Lake Malawi (third Africa’s largest lake), Lake Chilwa, Lake Chiuta, Lake Malombe, Lake Kazuni, Shire River, Bua River just mentioning a few.

For instance, on fish catches according to the Surveys Department in 1979 Malawi (then with a population of 5, 547,460 people) had a fish yield of over 22,000 metric tones from Lake Malawi ’s shallow productive South-Eastern arm.

However, in recent years fish catches including of Malawi ’s delicacy (Chambo) have been on the decline.

Professor Leonard Kamwanja from Chancellor College of the University of Malawi said although fish has for years been major source of protein (70 percent) for Malawians studies reveal that people were eating less fish per year than they used to be due to fish scarcity.

“The per capita fish consumption has declined from 15 Kg per person per annum in the late 1970s to less than 7 Kg per person per annum in recent years,” said Kamwanja.

He said fish catches had dropped in Malawi ’s water bodies because of among other things acts of environmental degradation practiced by Malawians themselves.

Matthews Chirambo of Department of Curriculum and Teaching Studies at Chancellor College said studies in recent years in Malawi’s water bodies revealed that fish resources were under threat, therefore, measures need to be taken to preserve them or else face extinction.

He said this was mainly due to over-fishing by fishermen using destructive fishing gears, especially in the main fish breeding zones in the water bodies.

“Despite having one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, Malawi is experiencing low fish catches due to over-fishing,” he said adding, “We have lakes and rivers but we are no longer exporting fish but importing which is a sad development.”

Chirambo said the trend was even negatively affecting nutrition, the economy as well as tourism development.

‘Fish resources are under threat because for example, in 1970 fish production was about 70, 000 metric tones per year and the figure dropped to 50, 000 in 1996 and, specifically, in 1985 Malawi produced 8,000 tones of Chambo fish,” he said.

He disclosed that in recent years, fish production has declined up to just as little as 1,000 metric tones per year.

During an interview with Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) Chief Executive Officer, Lindiwe Majela Sibanda at the New State House in Lilongwe recently President Bingu wa Mutharika said his government is aware of the great value fish has played in the country’s nutrition and the economy since time immemorial.

“Fish catches have been depleted in Lake Malawi . But since the introduction of the Presidential Initiative on Aquaculture two years ago fish farming is now business. A lot of fish ponds have been constructed in the country. Chambo is even available up country,” said Mutharika.

However, Mutharika was quick to say that Lake Malawi has to be routinely given a fishing break to allow fish to breed.

“Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania should also work together to preserve fish in Lake Malawi because the three countries share the lake and the fish in the lake require no visa to get to any part of the lake shared by any of the three countries,” said Mutharika.

He disclosed that multipurpose dams to be constructed countrywide by his government under the National Integrated Water Development (NIWD) will not just be for water but also fish breeding.

The President further asked Malawians to embark on fish farming to produce fish for food and sale than to rely on the country’s water bodies for fish.

“I have my own dams where fish is preserved,” said Mutharika.

In an effort to save and boost Chambo fish yields in Malawi , the Fisheries Department in central district of Nkhotakota also introduced its own project.

The pilot project involved feeding fish with fish to save the fish.

How? Usipa fish is caught, dried on brown dry reed benches, milled and fed to Chambo fingerings in cages to let them mature into adult fish ready for human consumption in just few months.

Senior fisheries assistant Bernard Chizute disclosed that his office was running the project called ‘Cage Fish Farming’ with funding from USAID’s sponsored daughter, Compass 11.

He disclosed that he implemented the project alongside, Alex Chithangara and Tommy Poulsen from Norway .

“The fish is kept in cages 2.4 meters long and 2.4 metres wide and a depth of 2.8 metres. They are also covered with a quarter inch fishing net. After their construction the cages are inserted in the lake,” said Chizute.

He said after inserting the cages in the lake 30 grammes of live Chambo fingerings are thrown in them.

“Each cage carries 2, 500 fingerings and are fed with prepared feeds containing 75 percent rice bran mixed with 20 percent milled dry Usipa and 10 percent vegetable mineral,” said Chizute.

He was quick to disclose that production of Chambo fish feeds from Usipa in the project did not have any devastating impact on Usipa fish production.

“The use of dry, milled Usipa is not defeating fish production in the project. For your own information Nkhotakota has no fishing season for Usipa and produces plenty of it. We produce fish feeds from Usipa fish that would otherwise been thrown away,” said Chizute.

He disclosed that at the end of four months not less than 720 Kg of Chambo fish are harvested from one cage.

“Each fish weighs 150 g,” said Chizute adding that the project was introduced in Lake Chikukutu in the district.

He further said six cages were introduced at Khufi Village and by March 2007 the target was to introduce 20 cages.

“Four other cages were also introduced at Chia Lagoon including at Folopenzi,” said Chizute.