4. EFFORT DEVELOPMENT IN MWERU-LUAPULA, AN OPEN-EXIT FISHERY

Fishing mortality in small-scale fisheries is notoriously difficult to quantify. In many situations it is still reasonably feasible to obtain quantitative counts of fishing effort as numbers of boats and fishermen, which in fact are the net result of investment and access. It is already much more difficult - and expensive - to obtain information on gear, gear sizes and gear usage and ultimately the selection of species that are targeted within a particular fishing pattern. In a management context where it could be deemed necessary to regulate fishing effort, ultimately it will be necessary obtain information about the spatial and temporal aspects of fishing patterns i.e. where fishing is actually done, with what gear and how, and who is actually fishing. In this section we will first discuss the trends in numbers of fishermen and fishing gear of Mweru-Luapula, and we will indicate that these figures are the net result of a highly dynamic migration in and out of the fishery. After that we will discuss the distribution of fishing activities in space and time and their relation with agriculture.

4.1 Net result: increased effort by all measures

Based on frame-surveys a linear increase in numbers of gear-owners of 2.1 percent per year since 1965 took place, resulting in an increase from 2 000 to 10 152 male fishermen between 1965 and 1997.^[7] Over the same period the number of boats increased by 1.6 percent per year. Canoes and plank boats are generally not motorized and are driven by paddle or sail: whereas the early seventies saw an increase in the use of outboard engines, these became relatively rare in the last few decades of the twentieth century. All numbers of gears increased significantly over the periods examined. The number of gillnets even increased exponentially since earlier estimates. This is related to the influx of cheap Korean nets in the local markets that serve the fishery and were not available prior to 1992 (pers. obs. van Zwieten). The availability of cheap gillnets has as effect that entry into the fishery hardly will be impeded by the necessary investments.

Comparatively high investments in lights and gear are needed to enter the pelagic fishery on chisense. The fishery started on a limited scale in the early seventies (Gordon, 2003), but apparently it took off only in the second half of the 1980s. This long inception period could be caused by a multitude of factors, including learning the methods of fishing and preservation^[8], creation of markets and the investments needed. In the early 1980s the fishery was supported by development aid (Scullion, 1985), the success of which may have inspired many fishermen to enter the fishery as well. We will see that while most chisense fishermen have a background in fisheries, a considerable proportion comes from outside the fishery.

4.2 Migration into and out of the fishery

During the 1997 frame survey around 60 percent of the fishermen indicated that their previous occupation was either in fisheries or in agriculture. The remaining 40 percent of fishermen had highly diverse occupations before they started fishing (Table 1). One should note that most fishermen do not have one job, or do not necessarily completely exchange their job for a life as a fisherman, but will spread their risks in income over various activities. In particular fishing and agriculture will be shown to be interchangeable, but also many occupations categorized as artisan, business, trade and housewife can be readily exchanged or could be held simultaneously with fishing activities. Nevertheless, many occupations mentioned under the categories civil servants (GRZ) and general worker but also school attendance can hardly be combined with fishing activities. Retirements - after 20 years of service in Zambia -, redundancies in the civil service and limited availability of jobs in other sectors than fishing and farming cause entry of people into the fishery.

TABLE 1. Main occupation of fishermen before they became gear-owners in 11 categories. In brackets is the number of times an occupation was mentioned. GRZ = civil servant of the Government Republic of Zambia. Several occupations mentioned in this category can also be found in other categories, but were specified by the acronym GRZ. TAZARA = Tanzania-Zambia Railways, LCU = Luapula Co-operative Union, ZESCO = state electricity company, ZCBC = state retail co-operative; UBZ = state bus company; Chani = fish freezing factory in Nchelenge.

TABLE 2. Proportion of fishermen that are not born in a fishing community of the Mweru-Luapula fishery by occupation before fishing. Shaded cells indicate proportions higher than the total average (21 percent for all fishermen; 26 percent for chisense fishermen). GRZ = Government Republic of Zambia (civil service).

A first indication of migration into the fishery is that one-fifth of all fishermen, and more than a quarter of the chisense fishermen are not born in fishing communities of the Mweru-Luapula area (Tables 2 and 4). In particular for fishermen with a background as miner, civil servant or trader this is not the case. Only a relatively small proportion of fishermen with a background in fisheries and as housewife have their origins outside the fishery (Table 2).

Nearly half of the all fishermen that answered the question (app. 4 800), said to have started fishing (i.e. owning gear) in the last five years during or preceding the survey in 1997. The net increase of number of fishermen between the two surveys in 1992 and 1997 is 2 750 fishermen or an increase of 23 percent over five years. Surprisingly, this must mean that around 25 percent of the number of fishermen counted in 1997 must have left the fishery over this same period. Furthermore, adding-up the total number of fishermen that said to have started in and before 1992 (app. 6 000), and comparing this figure with the total number of fishermen counted in the frame survey of 1992 (app. 9 300), would mean that 35 percent of the fishermen counted in 1992 have stopped in the next five years. Equally, 21 percent of the chisense fishermen stopped between the two surveys, and 26 percent of those who started before 1992 stopped as well.

FIGURE 5. Relative frequency distributions of the total number of fishermen by number of years in the fishery: 1-5 = fishermen started fishing between one and five years ago i.e. between 1993 and 1997.

These figures cannot be taken at face value: as already mentioned fisheries and agriculture are highly interchangeable and multiple occupations are common. Thus many people will over time be occupied in fisheries to varying degrees. In many cases it is likely that an absolute starting date of fishing as answered in the questionnaire will not necessarily reflect an actual first entry from outside the fishery. Nevertheless, a quarter to one third of the fishermen exiting the fishery is not insignificant, and we must conclude that exiting or temporarily leaving the fishery is a common phenomenon. This means that the population of fishermen fishing at any moment is highly dynamic: besides to a permanent core of fishermen and farmers who are part time fishermen, a large impermanent and fast changing population of temporary fishermen exists. Though an absolute increase in total number of fishermen over time (two percent per year over the long run and 21 percent (<2 percent per year) between 1992 and 1997) has taken place, many people try their luck at fishing or fish for a short time before moving on to other occupations.

FIGURE 6. Proportion of total number of fishermen that were occupied in fisheries before owning their own gear against the proportion of those fishermen mentioning agriculture as their preceding occupation for each interval of five years between 1937 and 1997 that was mentioned as starting year as fishermen (= gear owner).

Agriculture and fisheries both account for around 30 percent of the total number of people entering the fishery, with agriculture becoming relatively more important in the last 5 to 10 years, probably because of the drought during the beginning the 1990s. The proportion of people from both sectors for each five-year period between 1937 and 1997 shows an inverse relation, indicating that their numbers are interchangeable for at least a large section of the fishing population (Figure 6). Of the remaining 40 percent of entrants in each year school-leavers always form between eight and ten percent, increasing somewhat over time (Table 3). The proportion of influx of general workers, artisans and, most especially, miners decreased over time: in total these three comprised 22 percent of the influx between 1940 and 1955, dropping to ten percent from 1980 onwards. The proportion of housewives and men and women with trading and business backgrounds increased over the same two periods from an average of 5.5 percent to 13.1 percent. Fishermen with backgrounds in the civil service (GRZ) always formed around four to five percent of the influx: entering the fishery can be either after retirement or retrenchment. From this figure alone it cannot be concluded that the retrenchments of low-ranking jobs in the civil service in the 1990s has resulted in an increased influx in the fisheries. However, the age distribution of GRZ workers is bi-modal and includes a large proportion of relatively young people, this could mean that recent influx is related to retrenchments instead of retirements. Lastly, 68 percent of the women start from agriculture or as housewife with an additional 12 percent from school, while 61 percent of the men have an agriculture or fisheries background.

FIGURE 7. Proportion of fishermen categorized in occupation before becoming a fishermen (= gear owner) by age-group

The average age of all fishermen is 38 years. The mean age of fishermen from most occupational backgrounds is not significantly different from this, except for female school-leavers who are on average 19 years old, while general workers, GRZ-workers and artisans are on average 44 to 45 years old. Fishermen with a background in mining are on average 54, indicating that at present little influx of younger people from redundancies in the mines of the Copperbelt takes place! The highest proportion of fishers between 10 to 20 years old is school-leaver. The mode of the distribution for housewives and business people is around 20 years old, and for traders around 35 years old. From 20 years of age onwards about 25-30 percent of the fishermen are always people with a background in agriculture and around 30 percent always have a background in fisheries. The proportion of people with these backgrounds is lower towards older age groups. In contrast those with a background in the GRZ, as general worker, miner and artisan background form a larger proportion of the older age groups (Figure 7).

TABLE 3. Proportion of entrants in the fishery by category of occupations in three periods of 15 years. Shaded cells indicate the highest proportion of a category over the three periods. GRZ = Government Republic of Zambia (i.e. civil servant)

4.3 Distribution and migration within the fishery

Two main characteristics of small-scale fisheries are that fishing effort is unevenly distributed over the fishery in space as well as over the year, while fishing patterns are both highly diverse and labour intensive. The total number of fishermen of Mweru-Luapula is about equally divided between the river area and the lake (Table 4). Their spatial distribution is skewed in the north, in the south of the lake and halfway up-river, near the two main lagoons and Mwansabombwe, the old capital of the Lunda’s and residence of senior chief Mwata Kazembe (Figure 8, top). These areas more or less coincide with the three main fisheries: the chisense light-fishery, gillnets and traps. The total number of fishing days per kilometre coastline is less unevenly distributed along the lake than the spatial distribution of gillnets and chisense gear, mainly as a result of the lower activity of chisense fishermen in the north during the stormy months of June and July. Along the river total fishing days per kilometre decreases considerably towards the south where the floodplains are at their narrowest. The proportion of non-resident fishermen, i.e. those fishermen that during the survey were found fishing and residing along the lake outside their home village, highlight the main fishing areas. Both in the north and the south of the lake and along the river area most non-resident fishermen are found living in temporary shelters on the beaches, on the banks along the river or on the islands in the swamps. In the south of the lake most non-resident fishermen are found on the islands near the river mouth near the area officially closed for fishing.

TABLE 4. Entrants in the fishery by previous occupation (frame survey 1997) and place of birth as a proportion for all fishermen (last column) and as a proportion of the number of fishermen in a fishing area (see Figure 1 for the boundaries of the strata 1 to 4) and in the pelagic light fishery on chisense. Shaded cells by stratum indicate the highest proportion by occupation before fishing in that row. Shaded cells in the two last columns indicate highest proportion in the column. The last row gives the proportion of the total number of fishermen by area and fishery.

Fishing gears are highly unequally distributed over the fishery (Figure 8, middle). While most fishermen are found in the productive southern part of the lake near the main market of Kashikishi, they have on average a low number of gillnets. This could indicate a link between influx in the fishery and trade. Most gillnets are found further north along the coast, in the long established fishing villages near productive areas around the mouths of smaller rivers discharging into the lake. Here fishermen have on average ten gillnets per person with a large proportion owning up to 40-50 gillnets. In the remaining areas the average number of gillnets per fisherman is much lower and even as low as one per fisherman in the river area (Zwieten, Aarnink and Kapasa, 1995).

FIGURE 8. Distribution of fishermen, gear and fishing activities per kilometre of coastline (frame survey 1992). Each bubble represents a fishing community. Top: number of fishermen and crew are added; fishing days = average activity level by community multiplied by the number of fishermen; non-residents are fishermen encountered outside their home-village. Middle: distribution of gillnets, chisense nets and traps. Bottom: proportion of the number of times of all activities mentioned during the survey. Fishermen could mention more than one activity.

Chisense fishing is almost completely limited to the north of the lake, where many resident traders from the Democratic Republic of Congo buy up and store the dried chisense before transporting the produce to Lubumbashi. Some chisense fishing activity is found in the south of the lake near the main markets. The distribution of non-fishing activities along the lake is very much related to these two main fisheries: repair of gillnets and unfavourable conditions of weather and moon when chisense fishing stops (Figure 8, bottom). The trap fishery is almost completely confined to the river area, with a lowered activity around November and December when water levels increase (Zwieten, Aarnink and Kapasa, 1995). Farming activities are important in all areas along the lake, but in particular in along the river. Here fishermen fish between 30 to 120 days per year and are most of the year farmers. Fishermen from the long established gillnet fishing areas fish between 150 and 220 days.

The frame survey of 1997 confirmed that agriculture is of less importance in the lake area compared to the river: less than 20 percent of the people mentioned fisheries as occupational background, and almost 40 percent mentioned agriculture (Table 4). Historically, the Ba Shila or “real fishermen” (Gordon, 2000) live in the north of the fishery and still the highest proportion of fishermen with a background in fisheries is found here. At the main trading centre in the south of the Lake Area (Figure 1; Table 4) and in the north at the beaches where most chisense is landed and traded with Congolese traders, fishermen with a background other than agriculture, fisheries or school are found. In both cases trading and “business” backgrounds are prevailing and 28 percent are not born in the fishery. A relative higher proportion of ex-miners are found in the north of the lake. Most chisense fishermen have a background in fisheries and other occupations, of which trade and “business” are the most important (37 percent) followed by ex-civil servants and artisans. Ex-miners are much less important in the chisense fishery than often is reported (e.g. Gordon, 2003), though they may have been important as initial investors during the early start of the fisheries in the 1970s and 1980s. Almost all fishers with a background as housewife are to be found in the river area. These are mostly women fishing with baskets during the dry period after the harvest season (Zwieten, Aarnink and Kapasa, 1995). Only a very low number of female gear owners are found in the lake area.

4.4 Conclusions on fishing effort

Fishing effort in Mweru-Luapula is increasing by any measure, and in particular the gillnet and chisense fisheries have grown tremendously since the early 1990s. Fishing is done by a core of around 60 percent of farmers and fishermen who are bound to the area through agriculture and fisheries. The remaining population of fishermen has a highly diverse occupational background, and is likely to move in and out of the fishery as income opportunities from other sectors change. Entry to the fishery for these people thus does not appear to be a last resort but is at the most a temporary resort, as many appear to leave the fishery as fisherman again.

Furthermore we can conclude that:

(1) The originally strong connection between the mines and the fishery became weaker in recent times

(2) There is a strong link between agriculture and fisheries. Droughts in agriculture probably increase the influx in the fishery and vice versa. The link is strongest in the river area, where the fishery operates at a very small scale, often on a subsistence level, with low investment gears such as traps and one or a few gillnets.

(3) There is an increasing importance in the connection between trade and fishery, and in particular in the pelagic light fishery where relatively high initial investments and payments for operational costs are needed to start and maintain an operation. Near trade centres many appear to try their luck with the gillnet fisheries as well.

(4) An increasing proportion of school-leavers enter the fishery, indicating the limited availability of jobs in other sectors.