We’re excited to be featured on BBC News! This is a ‘BBC Africa One Minute Story’ featuring Force Ngwira, Country Director for RIPPLE Africa, talking about our efforts to stop the use of mosquito nets for fishing in Lake Malawi and how we’re empowering communities to take ownership of their resources.
The BBC Africa News link can be found here.
‘Fish For Tomorrow’ is a project ensuring that fish and their habitats are protected through a partnership between Malawi’s Department of Fisheries, RIPPLE Africa and the fishing communities along the lakeshore.
Through the implementation of bylaws, which includes a restriction on the minimum size of fishing mesh, fishermen who have been involved in the project in Nkhata Bay District for the last 5 years have seen an increase in the number and size of fish that they are managing to catch. We introduced the project into the neighbouring district of Nkhotakota in 2016 and are now covering almost a third of Malawi’s lake shoreline.
Fish for Tomorrow has been extremely successful and we hope to continue to work on a long term basis with District Fisheries Officers in Nkhata Bay and Nkhotakota, with the local communities and with the fish conservation committees that have been established. The fishermen here are providing the evidence of the project’s success, which will enable us to encourage others to adopt the same approach. We have just started the project in Salima District, the next district to the south and are seeking funding to spread the project into all districts along the lake.
Read more about our Fish for Tomorrow project here.
