Strengthening sustainable community fisheries
ELLANIE SMIT
WINDHOEK
A community project to strengthen sustainable fisheries in the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) was launched last week in Rundu.
In the KAZA TFCA, fishing makes an important contribution to almost 20% of its estimated two million people.
The project was launched under the auspices of the KAZA Secretariat and the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF), and is a grant under the Ecofish programme, promoted and funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented through the EU delegation to Mauritius and Seychelles with the support of eight implementing partners, including SADC.
The overall objective of the Ecofish programme is to enhance the contribution of sustainable fisheries to the blue economy of eastern Africa, southern African and the Indian Ocean (EA-SA-IO).
According to the NNF, the inland and marine coastal fisheries resources of the EA-SA-IO region represent a natural wealth of about N$855.7 billion (€50 billion).
Ecofish strives to ensure the sustainable management of these assets by putting in place policies to handle them effectively, by protecting them and by promoting good fishing practices, the NNF said.
Vehicle of transformation
Senior technical advisor of the project, Britta Hackenberg said inland fisheries are probably the most underestimated resource.
“Healthy fish diversity is a source of livelihood for rural poor, but can also be a vehicle of transformation”.
The project aims to strengthen sustainable fisheries management through ecosystem-based adaptation enhancing the socio-ecological resilience of communities by continuing to work with local communities in establishing fisheries reserves.
Currently, there are 10 fisheries reserves gazetted in Namibia’s Zambezi Region, co-managed and legally recognised by the government, and which all show encouraging recovery trends.
To enable state agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations to establish such fish protection areas, standardised tools and guidelines will be developed to be applied in the wider landscape.
The NNF said local communities are increasingly and rightly being recognised as critical for conservation and this community-centric, ecosystem-based adaptation approach has the potential to generate wider values in several key areas.
Ultimately, this project and the wider programme aims to restore the fisheries to an extent that local people who live near and are custodians of important rivers and their biodiversity can reasonably expect to go to the river and catch some fish to eat, to trade and to enjoy.
WINDHOEK
A community project to strengthen sustainable fisheries in the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) was launched last week in Rundu.
In the KAZA TFCA, fishing makes an important contribution to almost 20% of its estimated two million people.
The project was launched under the auspices of the KAZA Secretariat and the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF), and is a grant under the Ecofish programme, promoted and funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented through the EU delegation to Mauritius and Seychelles with the support of eight implementing partners, including SADC.
The overall objective of the Ecofish programme is to enhance the contribution of sustainable fisheries to the blue economy of eastern Africa, southern African and the Indian Ocean (EA-SA-IO).
According to the NNF, the inland and marine coastal fisheries resources of the EA-SA-IO region represent a natural wealth of about N$855.7 billion (€50 billion).
Ecofish strives to ensure the sustainable management of these assets by putting in place policies to handle them effectively, by protecting them and by promoting good fishing practices, the NNF said.
Vehicle of transformation
Senior technical advisor of the project, Britta Hackenberg said inland fisheries are probably the most underestimated resource.
“Healthy fish diversity is a source of livelihood for rural poor, but can also be a vehicle of transformation”.
The project aims to strengthen sustainable fisheries management through ecosystem-based adaptation enhancing the socio-ecological resilience of communities by continuing to work with local communities in establishing fisheries reserves.
Currently, there are 10 fisheries reserves gazetted in Namibia’s Zambezi Region, co-managed and legally recognised by the government, and which all show encouraging recovery trends.
To enable state agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations to establish such fish protection areas, standardised tools and guidelines will be developed to be applied in the wider landscape.
The NNF said local communities are increasingly and rightly being recognised as critical for conservation and this community-centric, ecosystem-based adaptation approach has the potential to generate wider values in several key areas.
Ultimately, this project and the wider programme aims to restore the fisheries to an extent that local people who live near and are custodians of important rivers and their biodiversity can reasonably expect to go to the river and catch some fish to eat, to trade and to enjoy.
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