For about two decades, the people of Chiweta along the northern shoreline of Lake Malawi in Rumphi District have seen fish catches falling due to overfishing.

Year after year,  the lakeside community has witnessed the vanishing of some fish from the freshwater lake that once played home to about 1 000 species.

Experts say free-for-all fishing  has deprived them of some invaluable fish, leading to the near-extinction of mphuwa and ntchira.

“Even the tasty chambo, the pride of our much-loved lake, has become scarce in our fishing community,” says Chiweta Beach Village Committee leader Juma Kumwenda.

The committee has formulated by-laws to regulate fishing. Among others, community laws prohibit the use of fishing gear that catch even infant fish.

According to Kumwenda, the concerned fishers came up with the by-laws after being trained in fisheries management by Find Your Feet.

The non-governmental organisation rolled out a five-year project to restore fisheries for sustainable livelihoods in Lake Malawi, the country’s largest fishing ground.

 “The fishers now abide by the annual closed season in which we ban fishing from November 1 to January 31. This allows the fish in the lake to breed and grow,” Kumwenda states.

During this period, the beach committee confiscates and burns all fishing nets of fishers who break the curfew. They work hand in hand with officers from the Fisheries Department to enforce the by-laws as well as national fisheries regulations.

The committee also patrols the waters to confiscate banned fishing nets from artisan fishers and police poaching in the fish sanctuaries.

“Those found breaking the law pay a K50 000 fine,” he says. “Through these penalties, the committee has constructed a beachside shelter for fishers and customers.”

Bauleni Ngwira from Luwuchi Beach Village Committee along Africa’s third-largest freshwater lake says the project has helped the fishers keep hands off endangered fish and different fish species are multiplying in places where none could be sighted before the by-laws.

“Most local fishermen abide by our by-laws, but we find it hard to deal with visiting fishermen who tend to be sneaky, chaotic and violent,” he says.

The by-laws allow the patrol teams deployed by the committee in partnership with the Fisheries Department to drive back visiting fishers when spotted where they need not go.

“We send back every artisan fisherman without valid papers. They are not allowed to fish in our waters,” says Ngwira.

Chiweta, Luwuchi and the neighbouring fishing zones in Mlowe welcome hordes of mobile fishing crews from as far as Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Salima and Mangochi.

The mobile fishers stand accused of violating local by-laws as they chug up and down the lake, using illegal fishing gear such as monofilament fishing nets as they make stops to maximise their catches.

Ngwira states: “We want the government to intervene and ban the importation and use of monofilament fishing nets from all Malawi waters.

“The mobile fishing crews mostly question the ban we imposed on the use of these illegal gears because they are allowed to use them in other places where they stop to fish.”

As Frank Khama, from the Rumphi East fishing community, says, protecting fish is safeguarding the livelihoods and futures of the shoreline community that depend on daily catches to buy basic needs and keep children in school.

“Thanks to the project, fishers now understand the importance of conserving fish and we are getting more income from increasing catches,” he explains.

Find Your Feet programmes manager Sain Muskambo says the Refresh Project supports the fishing communities to conserve freshwater biodiversity and restore fisheries productivity in the lakeshore districts.

It facilitated the establishment of fish conservation management authorities to strengthen compliance with fisheries laws and community by-laws.

“Community action is important because rising threats such as unsustainable land management, climate change and overfishing are directly impacting biodiversity, including fish stocks in the lake,”  said Muskambo,

The Refresh project uses five strategic approaches to achieve its goals. These are strengthening governance and regulatory frameworks; improving science; information and technical capacities in stock assessment and data management. It also strengthens decentralised fisheries co-management, promoting community involvement to address challenges affecting the fishing sector.

Fisheries is a vital sector to Malawi’s economy, livelihoods, food security and biodiversity.

Estimates show that it contributes 7.2 percent of GDP while employing 700 000 people.

However, it is under threat due to overfishing, with almost 90 percent of all nets used rated as illegal because their mesh sizes are so small that they capture juvenile and spawning fish. 

According to the National Statistical Office, fishing and aquaculture earned Malawians about K114.6  billion in 2021, up from K109.7 the previous year.

The 2021 data represents an all-time high, with a record low estimated at K83.5 billion in 2017.

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