FISH RESTOCKING TO ADDRESS DEFICIT – CHIKOTE

By NOEL IYOMBWA

WE have put in measures aimed at reducing the widening fish deficit in Zambia such as restocking and effectively imposing fishing bans to replenish the stock, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Makozo Chikote has said

Speaking to The Scoop, Mr. Chikote said the Government was concerned with the widening fish deficit in Zambia’s water bodies hence taking measures to salvage the situation by employing measures that would leverage the increased production of fish in the country.

He said apart from the annual fish ban and restocking initiatives, the Government had come up with other strategies that will restock fish in all water bodies around the country such as enhanced sensitisation of communities around water bodies on the importance of allowing fish to breed.

He said his ministry was working with various stakeholders to engage communities living around water bodies through sensitization campaigns to save the fish stock from depletion.

He said the community participation was aimed at making communities understand how they could manage fish resources and that people were being taught sustainable strategies on how to save fish in water bodies.

“Other than providing information on sustainable strategies on how to save fish, we have established breeding areas which have been carefully demarcated where strict measures have been put in place to ensure that there are no fishing activities.

“This is aimed at allowing fish to breed and these strategies supplement the fish ban period,” Mr. Chikote said.

He further explained that the Government was also trying to improve local fish species to enhance productivity as scientists were on the ground conducting research on what kind of local fish species could be restocked in water bodies by understanding the ecosystem for each water body.

He noted that bad fishing methods were slowly leading to the depleting of fish stocks in major water bodies across Zambia which he said was a source of concern among environmentalists and agriculture stakeholders.

He said over-dependency on fishing in major water bodies among the local people had also led to the depletion of fish species across the country.