Fish association backs plan to restock fish in natural water bodies
THE Small-Scale Fish Farmers Association (SSFFA) has backed government ambitious plan to restock fish in natural water bodies aimed at improving fish stocks in the country.
Association Chairperson, Victor Chatilika said in an interview that his association has been pushing for the restocking of fish and that its now gratifying that government as finally seen the need to restock adding that is the only way Zambia can achieve its goal of bridging the fish deficit gap.
He said the intention by Government will not only increase fish production in the country but also help in the creation of the much-needed self-employment for the millions of unemployed Zambians.
Mr Chatilika said should ensure that water bodies are brought back to life in terms of fish stocks by improving productivity and that this can only be achieved through improved financing of the aquaculture subsector.
He observed that while the country was slowly closing up the fish deficit gap, through implementation of the Aquaculture Seed Fund under the Zambia Aquaculture Enterprise Development Project (ZAEDP), more effort was required to increase the population of capture fisheries.
“While as a country we are doing well in the Aquaculture subsector, through the implementation of the Aquaculture Seed Fund under the Zambia Aquaculture Enterprise Development Project (ZAEDP), more is still required aimed at
ensuring that we increase the population of capture fisheries which is fast depleting because of illegal activities on our water bodies,” said Mr Chatilika.
He said his association was glad with the programs put in place by the current Government aimed enhancing production and productivity
of fish to improve the livelihoods of beneficiaries in the fish value chain.
Mr Chatilika said the fish projects being spearheaded government through CEEC has started bearing fruits and is contributing to the country’s economic growth as well as providing food and nutrition security.