FISH FARMING TO ERADICATE FISH POACHING AVIATION INDUSTRY A RISING GIANT
…As Zambia races to complete KKIA, Copperbelt international airports
year.
President Lungu said he would engage the Citizen Economic Empowerment T is a perennial spectacle.
T looms high and majesCommission (CEEC) over In the middle of the annual the slow pace of aquaculture
tic like a guardian angel fishing ban banana boats seed fund disbursements so
watching over the city of and dugout canoes of that more Zambians could Ndola. Its imposing outline every size crisscross lakes participate. casts a breath-taking silhouBangweulu and Chifunabuli The cooperatives will be ette against the smoky late in Luapula Province. given six kilogrammes of fish, afternoon During the sky ban deep period in it the cages and other equipment. is rapidly common diminishing to see fishermen Chichele After harvesting the fish they brazenly pine wood dangling plantation. fish at will sell it to Yalelo Fisheries. passing When motorists Government for sale, first The project, initiated by even announced taunting that government it planned to President Lungu, is expected officials build a from bigger the safety and modern of their to improve livelihoods and precarious international small airport vessels. in Ndola income in Siavonga. to Government attract more enforces air traffic the and But the President is worried fishing ban covering major
boost tourism, sceptics were about the rampant theft of fish fisheries from December to
tempted to snigger at the idea in cages. He said the vice was February to allow fish to breed. a danger to the development
as a mere wish. But the ban is blatantly of the industry.
The sheer cost and magniflouted by the local people He directed the minister
tude of such a capital project living on and around the of Fisheries and Livestock affected made it fisheries, sound like claiming a pipethat Professor Nkandu Luo to work they dream. do not Even have when alternative President with relevant authorities to sources Edgar of Lungu livelihood travelled during the to stop the thefts. Such vices, ban Ndola period. to break the ground to including bad fishing methods mark The the fishermen inception have of also the masare hampering the growth of been sive project, using destructive some people fishing were the sub-sector. methods still sceptical. such as bed nets, In June 2015 an officer from commonly But the known Patriotic as Front mosquito (PF) the Department of Fisheries nets, government drown nets did (imikwau), not flinch in the Chilubi, aviation Northern industry Province as a poone-inch and half-inch nets. from its resolve to make the bemoaned tential source the continued of economic use
This is frustrating dream come true for the peoof growth mosquito and nets employment. as fishing It is Government’s efforts to gear on Lake Bangweulu by
ple of Zambia in its ambitious therefore determined to entransform the fish industry fishermen.
infrastructure development sure Zambia has a fair slice of into a multi-million Kwacha Assistant fisheries
agenda. the cake from the global earneconomic activity and use technologist Maybin Chintu it to Today, reduce poverty the and Copperbelt lamented ings. that despite unemployment International Airport in the country. is close In the face of unexpected THE 7NDP
to completion with less than economic shocks visited upon 30 percent works remaining the country by the drought before the tyres of the first air and floods that Zambia explane to land hug and screech perienced in the 2019/2020 In the Seventh National Development
against the tarmac of its long, rainy season and the outbreak wide world class runway. of the Covid-19 pandemic Plan (7NDP) Government recognises
In the second week of Government has demonstratfisheries as a vital cog in the agro-di
October, President Lungu ed resilience in mobilising versification and poverty reduction
announced on his personal resources to ensure the two Facebook page that the masimportant projects are comwheel. Section 7.4. says fisheries offer
terpiece was at 76 percent topleted. great potential for diversification, gain
wards completion. Last year it Once the two internationful employment and poverty reduction.
was at 43 percent. al airports are completed and
The airport includes a topbegin receiving air traffic the of-the range hotel and othcountry will occupy a respect
Ironically, it is the same sustained sensitisation,
er auxiliary facilities with able place on the global map local people who have been fishermen had continued to
wide access and exit roads to as a decent destination for air paying a heavy price in form of use the bad methods. The drastically Mufulira and reduced Kitwe. catches. deployment travel. of a modern patrol
The In violation an earlier of the post, ban and the boat Already, to improve Zambians enforcement have use President of illegal had fishing said the methods upgradhas started hardly feeling helped. the benefits of constitute ing of the a criminal Kenneth offence Kaunda the On projects. June 21, In 2018, Ndola, Central for exfor International which an offender Airport is liable (KKIA) Province ample, hundreds Minister Sydney of local peoto stood a prison at 90 term percent of more compared than Mushanga ple and many also others warned from othsix to months 84 percent with hard reported labour last fishermen er towns in and Ngabwe provinces against have if year. found guilty. But this has the been use employed of the illegal by fishing the main done “The little airport to deter will the defiant have the gear. contractor and sub-contracvillagers. Mr Mushanga said the use of
capacity to handle traffic of six tors.
President Edgar Lungu has such gear was depleting fish.
million people per annum, up Local businesses have also emphasised the importance “Fingerlings are the only
from (the current) two million been cashing in through the of the fish industry in the ones I am seeing here. There is
people per annum,” President supply of materials and progovernment’s economic none who can show me a big
Lungu said. vision of various services. The diversification agenda. fish. This is uncalled for and
While The President in Siavonga made this it week, clear should local economy be stopped,” is receiving he fumed, a he that launched the government two aquaculture is deterduring monthly a tour injection of the area. of money cooperatives mined to ensure called Zambia Kamimbi has from Such the unsustainable salaries, allowances harvest and a modern Buyantanshi and technologically at Yalelo methods and other have payments a debilitating associated Fisheries advanced to aviation demonstrate infrastruceffect. with the They project. disturb the his ture government’s under his watch. resolve “We to are breeding In Lusaka, and it recovery is the same. patterns But eliminate determined the to current take it annual to greater of the the bigger fish. benefits will only fish heights,” deficit he estimated confidently at 87, destart For showing example, after drown the nets airports 000 clared. tonnes, which has been have buried become traditional operational. As narrowing since 2013. breeding grounds while the
Government has recognised the Zambian government has The two cooperatives, which use of mosquito nets has been have 34 women members, will wiping out fingerlings that
Ipromoted tourism to an ecojobs around the world. hubs. tainable development, which President Edgar Lungu has emphasised the importance of the fish industry in the government’s economic diversification agenda.
nomic sector and prioritised it And the Aviationbenefits. Under Chapter 11 of the includes the construction and in the economic diversification com website says the industry 2016-2021 PF manifesto, the modernisation of airports.
In the Bangweulu Fishery accelerating development. reduction.
2015
creates 11.3 million jobs each the programme, last restocking the current of various develPresident Lungu says his party identifies infrastructure *The “The fisheries author sub-sector is a Lusakaspecies opments took in the place aviation in the indusadministration year and contributes and its partners US$961.3 development as a key strategy also based provides journalist business and com1970s. try are Increased worth the pressure money being have million so far to invested the global more gross than dofor realising opportunities munication in aquaculture specialist. from spent the on rapidly them. growing human K195 mestic million product in fish (GDP). farming and related industries in the
suspopulation, Zambia’s lack robust of restocking, civil aviacountrywide. According value chain. The depletion of
to the Seventh effects tion infrastructure of climate change improveand National “The Seventh National Development fish stocks has affected the unsustainable ment agenda harvest is in line methods with the Development Plan (7NDP) Plan is premised Zambia’s livelihoods of the surrounding have populations who depend on objectives led to a of steady the Air reduction Transport under earnings the theme from “accelerating the aviain the fishing value chain.
Action fish catches Group and (ATAG). a spike in development tion industry efforts increased towards household poverty. the vision 2030 without leaving This scenario demands
ATAG is an independent from US$441,062,536
This has also increased anyone behind” our actions increased investment in
coalition of organisations and (K2,271,063) in 2012 human-animal conflict and simply confirm our commitment fish farming technologies,
companies in the air transport to US$540,209,718 human-on-human violence to not leaving anyone behind,” sustainable management
industry that have united to (K2,971,153,451) in as men struggle to fulfil their he said. of capture fisheries and
drive infrastructure improve2013. gender role of provider. The In the Seventh National strengthening fisheries
ments in an environmentalThe government is highly adaptive crocodiles, Development Plan (7NDP) training and research,” the which ly-responsible traditionally manner. feed on fish, Government therefore aware recognises of this 7NDP says. have It resorted recognises to hunting aviation in as a fisheries industry’s as a vital economcog in the In Chapter Three of its shallow vehicle waters for the for promotion easier prey. of agro-diversification ic potential. In and the poverty 2016-2021 manifesto the international Many people have peace, lost human their reduction 2021 national wheel. budget PF has pledged to promote lives interaction to the beasts. and understanding Also, many Minister Section 7.4. of says Finance fisheries diversification in agricultural have as people been brutally and leaders murdered are able offer Bwalya great Ngándu potential for inproduction with particular by emphasis on aquaculture and to mobs travel after from being one place accused to andiversification, tends to spend gainful K567, of livestock production. other being to responsible meet and mingle for the with employment 334, 377 and on the poverty excrocodile attacks.
different cultures. pansion and construc
Weak enforcement and
Says Philippe Rochat, tion of the two internaalleged collusion between local
ATAG executive director: tional airports, both of fishermen and government
“In December 1944, when which are expected to officers have also compounded
Franklin Roosevelt (then be completed next year. the situation. As a result the fish
United States President) and “This will support stocks have been struggling to recover. his peers Efforts signed to restock the Chicago are the strategy of making also Convention, being hampered which by contains poor Zambia an air transport compliance. the basic rules for civil avihub,” Dr Ng’andu said in ation, But Government they emphasised is that his address to Parliament on determined. the future development In his address of to the September 25, 2020.
Parliament international on September civil aviation 14, President Lungu wants the
2019 can greatly President help Lungu and said preserve the expansion of KKIA in Lusaka
Patriotic friendship Front and (PF) understanding government and the construction of the remained among the committed nations and to its peoples Copperbelt International agricultural diversification
of the world.” Airport in Ndola to be comagenda.
According to Forbes pleted this year so that the
Besides the planned
Magazine (www.Forbes.com) if country can join the restocking exercise
the industry was its own econclub of globally
Government is also promoting
omy it would be the 20th largrecognised fish farming in the affected districts, est in the including world. The Siavonga. respected and coveted publication Government says is implementing currently, the air transseveral industry citizen supports empowerment 65.5 million p o r t programmes as a basis for reducing poverty and