Over-fishing slammed By OLIVER SAMBOKO
THE Presence of a large number of illegal and unlicenced Fishing Rigs on Lake Kariba in Siavonga District has the Potential to wipeout the entire Fish Population on Lake, if nothing is urgently done to arrest the situation,” offcials at the Ministry of Fisheries have warned.
The number of illegal rigs run by gangs commonly known locally as “PILIBUKA” had doubled and choked the already overfished Lake.
The Lack of law enforcement is the major contributor to depletion of fish and despite various sensitisation campaigns on the matter, illegal Fishing gangs have continued operating on the lake with impunity and eluding the fisheries officers who are poorly funded and lack water transport to carryout patrols on the Lake.
“enforcing of the already existing established laws has been identified as one of the deterrents that can be a success if properly implemented but that the challenge has been under-staffing at the Fisheries Department in Siavonga and lack of adequate resources to carry out activities including enforcing of the Fisheries Act,”
The source warned that if Government will not act on the illegal fishing on the Lake, soon there will be no fish left on the manmade lake which may result in an economical crisis for many residents in area whose livelihood depends and evolve around on Fishing on the Lake.
“Many of the people here, their lives depends on fish in the lake and I’m afraid this resource is fast depleting to the levels where in 3 years time no single fish will be found in the water,” warned the source and added that this will also lead to conflicts with the neighboring Zimbabwe as Zambian fishermen will be forced to cross into foreign waters for better catches.
The source further said that according to a research Paper by the World Food Programme(WFP) called FISHERIES IN ZAMBIA: AN UNDERVALUE CONTRIBUTOR ERADICATION, the Fisheries sector contributes significant to the economy and wellbeing of the People around Lake Kariba, however the source warned that this very important resource will soon be completely depleted due to the high number of rigs coupled with use of wrong fishing methods by the PILIBUKA.
“I’m happy that during the commissioning of Skretting Fish feed factory in Siavonga, the Director in Zambia’s Ministry of fisheries, Patrick Ngalande mentioned that the country has a deficit of 70,000 tons of fish per year and that his Ministry trying to close the gap but that its efforts are been hampered by rampant fish poaching. Its good that Government is slowly getting to understand what is happening in the sector and acting on these hindrances,”