Climate change in Malawi is making ecosystems and fisheries increasingly vulnerable to local human impacts and is contributing to their collapse. Numerous aspects of fish life cycles, habitats, species-specific requirements and ecological functions are degraded, which significantly affects the performance of this economic sector. The urgency to restore socio-economic and ecosystem health and resilience is especially pertinent in and around Lake Malombe, a potentially productive water body in southern Malawi, which is heavily over-fished and surrounded by a severely impacted catchment.

As part of capacity building activities promoted by the FAO/GEF Fisheries Resilience for Malawi (FiRM) project, FAO in collaboration with the Government of Malawi’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development through the Department of Fisheries, conducted a training workshop on the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFm). The FiRM project aims to build resilience to climate change in the inland fisheries sector and this training aimed to build the capacity of stakeholders from within the fisheries sector by providing them with knowledge and skills that will contribute to sustainable fisheries within Malawi’s Lake Malombe and Upper Shire river basin, in the context of climate change.

Speaking about the importance of this training, Director of Fisheries Dr. Friday Njaya said:

“This EAFm training responds to the priorities of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy, directly responding to three of the seven policy priority areas: capture fisheries; how we manage our resources, governance; how best we can work with other stakeholders and capacity building of partners such as those from universities, district fisheries offices, as well as fishers themselves. This is the time to gain the right skills, on how to sustainably manage fisheries, and how to work collaboratively to advance the concept of EAFm with other stakeholders who impact fisheries in Malawi.”  

The ecosystem approach in planning fisheries management takes into consideration the links between the range of factors that affect aquatic ecosystem health such as rainfall, tourism and lodges on the edge of lake, poor water quality, and over fishing. Through this highly interactive training, participants were armed with the knowledge and tools to develop, implement and monitor an ecosystem-based fisheries management plan in Malawi’s inland fisheries and in project pilot sites.

Many EAFm training courses are targeted at coastal marine fisheries, however, this EAFm training was tailored for inland fisheries management. Speaking of the relevance of the training for inland fisheries management in the Malawi case, FAO Senior Fisheries Resources Officer Dr. Simon Funge-Smith said:

“An ecosystems approach to fisheries management is aligned with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in that it promotes development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It provides a practical planning approach for the development of a strategy for integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way.”

The project advances not only Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Life below water, but also contributes to the achievement of SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 13: Climate Action, SDG 15: Life on land. FiRM is being implemented with financial support from the Global Environmental Facility through the Least Developed Countries Fund. The course was led by experienced facilitators from IMA International and FAO.