The consultancy was carried out by the gender planning section of the Provincial Planning Unit in Luapula Province. It was done in several phases, starting in February 1992 and ending in October 1992.
The Department of Fisheries, Zambia, with assistance from the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV/NDO), has formulated a comprehensive programme for development of the fisheries in Luapula Province, particularly Lake Mweru. The programme envisages gradual rehabilitation of the ice plant, development of extension activities, and resource assessment (Annex 1). The present study on socio-economics in inland fisheries is an addition to these ongoing activities and will be utilized to formulate a development and management plan for lake fisheries.
- Enhance the Fisheries Department's capabilities to include social and economic characteristics of fisheries in the Lake Mweru area in fisheries development and management planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Particular emphasis will be given to gender considerations in fish production, and other economic activities of fishing housesholds, processing and marketing.
- Identify key indicators which will help monitor and assess the impact of development interventions and management regimes on lake fisheries, and the social and economic activities of fishing households.
Because of the time limit and the “one-off” nature of the study it was necessary to focus the research. This was achieved in the following ways: discussions were held with officers from the Department of Fisheries: available literature was reviewed; (Annex 2); monitoring and research activities in the province that were ongoing and planned were taken into consideration (Annex 3).1
An issue that came out clearly was the pressure on two important resources: land and fisheries. The main cause of this pressure is the high influx of migrants in the area over the last decades; this trend is expected to continue. This high immigration is likely to have an impact on the social organization of fishing camps and on the way the communities manage this pressure on resources. Somehow, these communities have to absorb this influx and manage this pressure. There is very little information about the effects of this high immigration on the social organization of fishing communities. The central research question was therefore formulated as follows:
What is the effect of high immigration on the social organization of the permanent fishing camps?
The choice of permanent fishing camps was made due to the “one-off” nature of this research. Gender-related matters were regarded as central issues throughout the research.
A workshop was organised for fish scouts, and field work was undertaken. The workshop preceded the field work in order to:
introduce the research;
gather as much information as possible on the changes that have occurred over the past decades related to the influx of migrants and the increase in pressure on water and land;
discuss and select relevant research sites.
All fish scouts based in Nchelenge District (20) participated in the one-day workshop. These included the District Fisheries Officer and the Provincial Fisheries Officer. Agreement was reached on the two most relevant research sites. The criteria for site selection was that it should be a permanent settlement which has known a very high increase in settlement. It was generally agreed that Kafulwe should be one of the sites. A settlement along the northern coast was chosen partly because of lack of knowledge of that area. The area has become increasingly interesting since the chisense fishery expanded in the early 1980s. There is certainly a growing permanent settlement with an extreme temporary growth in the peak season.
Emphasis was given to generating qualitative information through field work. Rapid Rural Appraisal techniques were applied (group interviews, wealth ranking, mapping).
An effort was made to reach the highest possible level in a short time span to communicate with respondents and allow them express their concerns and suggestions.
The two research sites were each visited for six days and nights by a research team. The research teams consisted of three people from different disciplines: on both trips a fishery research officer (male) and a sociologist (female) took part. They were accompanied by a regional planner (female) on the first trip and by an agriculturist (male) on the second trip (Annex 4). For both trips a fourth person/discipline was included but circumstances did not allow his/her participation.
All members, except the author serve the Zambian Government. She worked during the research with a translator and was able to use her limited knowledge of ici-Bemba to “check” the translations.
| Survey area | No. of permanent households | No. of individual interviews | No of group interviews | Repondents of group interviews |
| Kasembe/Mununo | 200 | 34 | 3 | -Headman/ elders -Church group -Fishermen association |
| Kafulwe/Kansungwa | 329 | 62 | 4 | -local authority -PTA -Women's group -Fishermen association |
| Total | -- | 98 | 7 |
During the interviews, slightly different check lists were used for different groups of people: fishermen, farmers, traders, mixed households. The check lists were revised when the need arose. Every day the experiences, findings and working methodology were discussed with the aim of “cross fertilisation” and, if necessary, adjustment. The team members sometimes went out together and sometimes went out alone in which case the agriculturist would visit farmers, the fishery officer the fishermen, etc. The joint visits facilitated exchange of ideas on the subject and on the discussion method. The individual interviews helped to collect some more specialized data.
Interviews were conducted among members of different interest groups. These groups were identified a wealth-ranking exercise. Other people who seemed to be interesting to the research team (e.g. residents of a very smart house; an old man; a group of people making nets; etc.) were also interviewed.
