Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries and Aquaculture for Southern Lake

Malawi and Lake Malombe: Rebuilding Chambo stocks for

increased socio-economic benefits of the local community

Friday Njaya

Department of Fisheries

Outline

• Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries and Aquaculture (EAFA): An Overview

• Data sources

• Key challenges

• Lessons from EAFA

• Concluding remarks

Background • 20% of Malawi's surface covered by water

• Lakes provide a diversity of ecosystem services and livelihood benefits – food, water for agriculture, recreation, transportation, tourism

• Fisheries sector is most important – employment to over 60,000 people and over 500,000 people engaged in other ancillary activities, food and nutrition, 4% to GDP, biodiversity for both local and international importance and tourism

• >60% of total catch is from Lake Malawi (29,000 sq. km)

Lake Malawi

• 3rd largest in Africa with an approximate length of 550 km, a mean width of 50-60 km and maximum depth of 700 m.

• Total surface area and volume are about 28,000 km2 and 8,400 km3

• Catchment area covers around 130,000 km2 much of which lies in Malawi, then Mozambique and Tanzania

• Has more endemic fish species than any other lake in the world (at least 650-700 species of cichlid fishes >1,000 fish species in total)

Malawi’s fishery sector

Capture fishery

Fish farming/aquaculture Aquarium trade/ornamental

Status of the fishery • About 109,889 tonnes in 2013 of which

>70% constitutes cyprinids Usipa (Engraulicypris sardella) – Beach or landed value of MK52.42 billion (approx

USD 117.8 million

– Chambo fetched the highest average beach price of MK1146 (about USD2.49)/kg

– Nearly 60,000 fishers are directly employed

– Fish supplies over 70% of the dietary animal protein intake of Malawians and accounts for 40% of the total protein supply

Malawi’s estimated annual fish landings (mt) 1974-2013

-

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

197

4

197

6

197

8

198

0

198

2

198

4

198

6

198

8

199

0

1992

199

4

199

6

199

8

200

0

2002

200

4

200

6

200

8

201

0

201

2

Lake Malawi and Total Catch (mt)

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

19

76

19

78

19

80

19

82

19

84

19

86

1988

19

90

19

92

19

94

19

96

1998

20

00

20

02

20

04

20

06

2008

20

10

20

12

Catc

h (

mt)

Lake Malawi catch (mt) Total catch (mt)

Usipa (Engraulicypris sardella)

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

SE

A &

SW

A U

sip

a ca

tches

(to

nnes

)

Usipa 2 per. Mov. Avg. (Usipa)

Annual Chambo (Oreochromis sp.) catch trend (2002-2011)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

SE

A &

SW

A C

ham

bo

cat

ches

(to

nnes

)

Chambo

Source: DoF (2013)

Annual Chambo (Oreochromis sp.) catch trend (1980-1990)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

20000

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

Ch

amb

o c

atch

(m

t)

Source: FAO (1993)

Usipa (Engraulicrypris sardella)

Pasani (2011)

Chambo fish

National frame survey data (1998-2012) Indicator 1998 1999 2003 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Boats + engines

578 534 493 586 814 872 960 1003 960

Boats- engines

3240 3088 2999 3502 3360 2942 2613 2577 2613

Dug-out Canoes

14306 11457 11824 11215 11540 11289 10785 10663 10785

Gear Owners

14471 13503 15542 13305 14065 13403 14538 14146 14538

Crew 37488 35347 42312 41993 41841 46123 45335 47003 45335

Gillnets 32941 43430 77668 67552 70606 75291 63225 52560 43831

Longlines 2753 3954 2884 3902 5726 5740 5791 5182 5791

Kambuzi seines

546 345 385 438 484 399 408 261 387

Chilimira nets

2584 2568 3079 2588 3491 3394 3349 3053 3349

Chambo seines

106 62 71 70 212 89 85 77 85

Nkacha 258 309 279 238 315 241 289 241

Status of aquaculture

• A sub-sector being developed

• 6,000 smallholder fish farmers and only 2 commercial operators

• Fish harvest estimated at only 3,600 tonnes pa

• Fish mostly produced from ponds but also from cages by one commercial operator

• Constraints: feed, fingerling production

• Market: domestic demand for fish is high

Aquaculture production (tonnes)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

40001961

1964

1967

1970

1973

1976

1979

1982

19

85

1988

19

91

1994

1997

2000

2003

2006

2009

2012

Har

ves

t (t

on

nes

)

Makuwila (2012)

Cage culture

Farmed Chambo fish (Oreochromis shiranus or Tilapia rendalli)

Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries and Aquaculture (EAFA)

• EAFA was considered the best option to rebuild stocks especially Chambo

• The purpose of EAFA is to plan, develop and manage fisheries and aquaculture in a way that addresses the needs of a community , without compromising the options for future generations (FAO, 2003)

• Probably Malawi could be one of earliest adopters of the EAFA in terms of freshwater lakes

Map of Malawi showing location of EAFA site

SWA SEA

Kanyerere 2015

Data/information sources

• Literature

• EAFA Baseline study

• Policy review regional consultative meetings

• Voluntary Guidelines on SSF field studies

• Southern Lake Malawi is 80 km long, 30 km wide and its surface area is 302 km2.

• Because of its shallowness, the area is the most productive part of Lake Malawi and accounts for 60% of the annual fish landings including chambo (Oreochromis sp) and other cichlids.

• Lake Malombe has a surface area of 390 sq. km is another most productive area in terms of Oreochromis species.

• L. Malombe fishery is dominated by kambuzi (Haplochromine species).

Why southern L. Malawi & L Malombe? • Chambo (O. shiranus) productivity is high

• Chambo declined from about 12,000 mt in the 1980s to less than 4,000 mt per year since the 1990s thereby losing nearly US$5.5 million

• interrelated sectors exists e.g. fisheries (capture fisheries/aquaculture), tourism, agriculture, irrigation and mining, parks, mining, forestry

• the site has aquaculture establishment – ponds and cages

• WWF identified the SEA as a conservation priority area No 18 (Chafota et al. 2005)

Key projects/studies of L. Malawi fishery • 1860s: Scientific interest in the chambo • Taxonomic definitions were refined by a Trewavas after her

visit in 1939 and Lowe (Lowe-McConnell) until the 1980s • 1966 :Williamson (then CFO) produced a report on the

fisheries which assessed the data of the previous 20 years • 1973: next assessment was made by Tarbit (Fisheries Research

Unit) which covered the period since 1969 • 1972 -1976: a UNDP/FAO Project undertook a stock assessment

program later picked up by Magasa and Tweddle • 1988 to 2000: FAO Chambo Project, UK/SADC Project (1991-

94), GEF/SADC, Fisheries Development Project , Man-No man, Comgt, NARMAP, World Fish , FRU stock assessment surveys

• ICEIDA supported latest stock assessment surveys around 2007/08

• DARMA Project 2011-14 • FAO (EAFA and GEF/PPG) ongoing

Fisheries policy and legislation • The 2001 National Fisheries and Aquaculture

Policy document has so far guided management of the fisheries resources in Malawi

• However, there have been policy shifts from natural resources conservation and management to promoting sustainable production of fish for food security and income generation

• Policy is being revised to cover key policy areas as follows: Capture Fisheries, Aquaculture, Fish Quality Control and Post Harvest, Governance, Social Development and Decent Employment, Research and Information, and Capacity Development.

• Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (FCMA) of 1997 is in force – Key aspect is on Community Participation (Part III)

• It regulates utilization of fisheries resources and guides development of fish farming

• The Act is implemented through the subsidiary legislation, the Fisheries Conservation and Management Regulations (FCMR) 2000 with key regulations on licensing, mesh and gear type restriction, closed seasons and closed areas, and minimum takeable sizes for chambo and mpasa

Challenges/threats

• Overfishing in shallow waters

–Due to use of under-meshed nets seining operations, trawling in undesignated areas, and limited observance of closed seasons

–Non-compliance to fishing regulations

–Weak capacity to enforce laws

– ‘Open access’ leading to increased fishing effort (gears and fishers)

Challenges cont’d • Governance

– Co-management arrangements not embedded within decentralised framework power conflicts

– Unclear roles among actors – DoF, traditional leaders and Beach Village Committees

– boundaries not clear

– political will

– Conflicts: industrial vs small-scale fishers

– Conflicts: cage farming investors vs fishers

Challenges cont’d • Environmental degradation

–deforestation

– improper farming methods upland

– removal of aquatic vegetation through fishing or cottage development along lakeshore areas and

–pollution from mining and chemical fertilizers

–bush fires

Environmental and socio-economic concerns on Lake Malawi

• overfishing

• deforestation

• bad agricultural practices resulting in soil erosion

• biomass burning and

• climate change

• high population growth

• increasing levels of poverty

• exotic aquatic weed (water hyacinth)

Source: Ngochera

Key socio economic issues • vulnerability to HIV infection is high among

fishing communities because of high incidences of migration and mobility (Mvula 2002; Nagoli et al. 2008)

• low literacy levels, poverty and poor infrastructure are common constraints within fishing communities

• gender issues: access to fish and markets

Major lessons from EAFA • How to define project site – scope of coverage

• Multi-species fishery is complex in terms of defining objectives

• Can rights-based fishery work considering large-scale with political power against small-scale fishers?

• Extent of consultations considering multiple actors

• How to implement EAFA plan – sectoral policies?

• Conflicts: Inland fisheries vs aquaculture for increased fish supply

Conclusion • EAFA can be a promising strategy for recovery

of chambo for increased revenue but requires high investment

• Need to strengthen policy and legal frameworks e.g. property rights to be defined where cage culture is being developed to minimise conflicts

• Enhance institutional and human capacity building to deal with the complex issues

• Need for effective resource monitoring including evaluating the fishery – value chain

I acknowledge support from the Conference Organizers

Thank you…