8. Both Zambia and Zimbabwe presented papers describing the current status of fisheries in their national sectors. It was pointed out that the available fish stocks, for both the pelagic kapenta (Limnothrissa miodon) and the artisanal inshore stocks have been fluctuating for the last decade. There are indications of declining catches although there is no evidence of biological overfishing.
9. The Technical Consultation was informed that Zambia has two important fisheries on Lake Kariba, namely, the industrial - kapenta fishery and the artisanal gillnet fishery.
10. It was pointed out that Zambian fish production has fluctuated between 6 000 and 7 000 tonnes over the last ten years. According to the results of the Zambia/Zimbabwe the Southern Development Community (SADC) Fisheries Project supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD) and the Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA), the standing biomass of the kapenta stock was estimated to be between 15 000 and 20 000 tonnes during the period 1992-98. The following activities were carried out:
The studies on the kapenta fishery indicate that economic factors will limit further expansion of fishing effort.
11. The Zambian delegation informed the meeting that the following activities need to be carried out in future:
recommendations on levels of effort that achieve maximum economic rent for the fishery.
12. Concerning the management of the kapenta fishery, a Protocol Agreement has been signed between Zambia and Zimbabwe. What remains is to implement the Joint Fishery Management Committee and the Joint Fishery Technical Committee.
13. It was reported that Zambia is implementing the collection of statistics on the Kapenta fishery with the collaboration of the kapenta operators. Fisheries information is also collected on the artisanal gillnet fishery. The production of the artisanal sector is estimated between 1 500 and 3 000 tonnes. The artisanal fishery supports more than 2 000 fishers, catching mainly the white breasted bream and the red breast bream as well as tiger fish and bottle fish.
14. The meeting was informed that Germany Agency for Technical Co-operation GTZ promoted better preservation techniques using smoking kilns as well as brining. Fishers prefer smoking to brining.
15. The delegates were informed that the Limnothrissa miodon (kapenta) has remained the common species occupying the pelagic niche. There has been a decline of kapenta catches from 19 232 tonnes in 1993 to 9 826 tonnes in 2001. Factors that could have led to this perceived decline included unscrupulous fishing practices, use of nets with smaller meshes of less than 10 mm, fishing in prohibited areas (shallow waters), as well as a possible increase in fishing effort.
16. It was pointed out by Zimbabwe that the data collection by fishers fits very well within the co-management framework. The approach however had to provide incentives for the data collectors. Commercial returns for the kapenta industry were collected on a monthly basis. Kapenta constitutes 93 percent of the total fish catches in the lake.
17. The Consultation was informed that Oreochromis mortimeri which is endemic to Lake Kariba dominates the species composition of the catches for 2001 in the inshore sector. About 38 percent of the fish catch was O. mortimeri, and 23 percent of the catch was the tiger fish Hydrocynus vittatus. More than forty fish other fish species are caught in Lake Kariba. Some are not caught in the gillnets because of mesh size restrictions. These species include the Bracinus imberi, Barbus malaquensis, etc. The four types of tilapia caught on Lake Kariba are Tilapia rendalli, O. andersonii and Oreochromis mortimeri and Oreochromis niloticus.
18. The Meeting noted that the current project activities in Zimbabwe consist of the following:
length-frequency data collection
19. The Meeting was informed that Zimbabwe had initiated the collection of biological and socio-economic data through the following surveys:
fishing surveys to ascertain the number of fishing units on the Lake, obtain qualitative data about the attributes and character of fishing units on the lake, and inspect the fishing gear to determine if they conform to regulations.
20. The Technical Consultation took note of the measures taken by Zimbabwe to strengthen institutional capacity building of the artisanal fisheries sector.
21. This paper highlighted the current difficulties being faced in assisting the artisanal fisheries sector and brought out the role played by governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in reducing the difficulties encountered by fishers in accessing loans due to absence of collateral. Among other issues the following constraints were raised:
limited social infrastructure for schools, markets, and fish processing and distribution.
22. The paper summarized the achievements of the NORAD funded research project over the last decade and also pointed out the need to put more emphasis on management and development of the inshore fishery. Trends in the catches of both industrial and artisanal sectors were presented and the effort which has gone into introducing community-based management was described.
23. An important point which came up during discussions was that the two governments will be required to provide more funds to sustain the initiations which were started in the project as the donor funding is now coming to an end.
24. The paper also discussed the difficulties being faced by the artisanal fishers, from losses, and access to capital.
25. The perception that the inshore fishery stock is considered to be localized and separate was questioned. The need for verification of this concept was highlighted. The role of women in the fishery was discussed, their low participation in the actual fishing operations was reflected and a call for redressing the situation was made.
26. Two papers on legislation, restrictions, monitoring control and surveillance on the Zambian and Zimbabwean part of the lake were presented and discussed, focused on the legal instruments used on both sides to control the level of fishing and environmental degradation.
