Cepa for improved financing of local fisheries management

Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (Cepa) has asked Local Fisheries Management Authorities (LFMAs) in Mangochi District to embark on initiatives to generate resources to sustainably improve management of lakes and aquaculture practices.

Cepa programmes director Herbert Mwalukomo said this on Friday at Mpale Cultural Village in the district during a multi-stakeholder dialogue session for LFMAs drawn from Lakes Malawi, Malombe, Chiuta, Chirwa and Upper Shire River.

In an interview, Mwalukomo said LFMAs have for a long time depended on support from government, non-governmental organisations and other external players.

He said this has made fisheries management work difficult and unsuccessful.

“Because they were not having their own incomes to implement their activities that would encourage good practices of biodiversity conservation, the end result was that the whole ecosystem was completely affected up to the extent of witnessing heavy siltation in our lakes and the dwindling of fish,” he said.

In an interview, one of the fishers, Mathias Mainal, from Lake Chiuta in Machinga, called on fishers to invest in solutions that work for them.

With financial support from United States Agency for International Development (USaid), Cepa is implementing a five-year Fisheries Integration of Society and Habitats (Fish) Project in collaboration with Pact, Christian Aid, University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Centre and Community Initiative for Self-Reliance. n