Government limits fishing on Cahora Bassa Lake – Mozambique

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Government limits fishing on Cahora Bassa Lake – Mozambique

9:49 CAT | 19 Jan 2018

Jornal Domingo (File photo)

The Mozambican Ministry of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries has warned that it will only licence a further 50 boats to fish for ‘kapenta’ (Lake Tanganyika sardine) on Cahora Bassa lake, in the western province of Tete.

At a press conference in Tete city on Thursday, at the end of a visit to the province, the National Director of Operations in the ministry, Leonid Chimarizene, said the fisheries sector has been receiving many requests for licences from owners of boats that have been fishing illegally for kapenta.

He said that 250 boats are already licensed, and his ministry will licence just 50 more, bringing the total to 300. “That number cannot be exceeded, if we are to avoid destroying the kapenta stocks”, warned Chimarizene.

He believed the rush of illegal fishermen to obtain licences was due to the drive by Ministry inspection teams against illegal fishing.

“There is unfair competition on Cahora Bassa lake”, he said. “The illegal fishermen earn more money than the legal ones because the latter pay taxes to the state”.

“We are not banning fishing on the lake”, said Chimarizene. “What we are doing is guaranteeing the sustainable management of this resource so that future generations can enjoy kapenta. If we authorise everybody to catch kapenta, then we are authorising its elimination”.

He said the Ministry has explained the situation to the illegal fishermen, and has suggested that they undertake other activities on the lake, such as aquaculture.

Aquaculture “is also profitable”, he added. “Fish farming can very well guarantee the livelihood of households. People should understand this, and avoid exhausting the resource that everybody wants to catch”.

The Ministry’s inspectors had identified 92 boats that are illegally fishing for kapenta. Only 50 of these would be licensed “and the others will have to do some other activity”, warned Chimarizene.

Foreign operators, from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Congo, did not fish kapenta directly, he said, but purchased the fish from the illegal Mozambican operators.

Source: AIM