Marine experts from the European Union are currently inspecting various fish-producing water bodies in Tanzania to ensure that fishing activities meet their health standards.
The exercise started in Lake Tanganyika three weeks ago by a team of EU marine inspectors to ensure decent and healthy supplies of fish exports to European markets.
The last inspection was carried out in 2011 under the EU Common Fishery Policy (CFP) that sets the rules for sustainably management of fishing fleets and conserving fish stocks.
The policy lays down provisions as stipulated under EU trade regulation No: 1380 that was passed in 2010. The regulation lays down provisions concerning the CFP, which covers the conservation of marine biological resources.
According to the Chief Fisheries Officer from the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Ambakisye Simtoe, the main reasons for the inspection is to ensure that Tanzania take care of the aquaculture of the lake, maintain ecological, economic and social sustainability
Lake Tanganyika, which lies on the western Rift Valley zone of the East Africa region, is shared by three countries—Tanzania, DRC and Burundi. It drains into the Congo River system and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean.
Current fish production in Tanzania is around 376,000 metric tons per year, with around 97 percent of fish sourced from small-scale fisheries and the remaining from large-scale commercial fishing. Aquaculture produces an additional 10,317 tons including seaweed (450 tons) despite its huge potential that is largely untapped.
Tanzania has the largest three water bodies which employs more than 177,527 full time fishermen and about another 4 million people earn their livelihoods from the fisheries sector.
Statistics by the Ministry of Fisheries shows that the main destination of Fish Fillets exports values between 2021 and 2023 trading period from Tanzania to European countries like Netherlands is $ 15.9 million, Italy ($ 8.35 million), Spain ($ 6.57 million) and Greece, $ 5.75 million.
The fastest growing value exports for the same transported to Far and Middle East countries between the same trading period in countries such as Saudi Arabia were $ 2.66 million, Oman $ 2.04 million, Japan $ 1.9 million and Israel $ 7.29 million.
Tanzania shares three major inland lakes with other countries such as Lake Victoria; it borders with Kenya and Uganda, it shares Lake Nyasa with Malawi and Mozambique. In Lake Tanganyika it shares with Burundi, DRC and Zambia.
Lake Tanganyika is the world’s longest freshwater lake with 17 percent of its water volumes, it’s also the world’s second-oldest in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second deepest after Lake Baikal in Siberia.
The inspection on Lake Tanganyika has coincided with the government’s decision to suspend fishing activities in Lake Tanganyika for three consecutive months so as to boost fish population.
Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Livestock, Alexander Mnyeti said that the suspension will last for three months starting effectively from May 15 to August 15, this year.
In 2017, the Global Nature Fund (GNF) declared Lake Tanganyika the year’s most threatened lake. According to the agency, a combination of overfishing, pollution and climate change was taking a toll on the fish population.
Tanzania’s Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Mr. Andallah Ulega said the decision followed the 2022 Agreement signed by four countries which borders Lake Tanganyika, that the fishing activities should be stopped on an annual basis within three months’ time.
Fish stocks in Lake Tanganyika have been dwindling for decades due to poor handling and fishing methods including process techniques as well as impacts of climate changes which are threatening the future of fishing on the lake.
As per survey conducted by Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) in 2022, says that the Tanzanian part of Lake Tanganyika has 144,690 tonnes of population of Migebuka, Sprat Sardines and Nile Perch.
In the Burundian part of the lake, production fell by a quarter from 20,000 to 15,000 tons between 2020 and 2023. While in Tanzania the production fell by 18 percent from 104,178.81 tons to 85,180.10 tons within the same period.
Over the past three decades Tanzania witnessed a ban of its fish exports from Lake Victoria into the European Union market. The ban was imposed between January and July 1998 attributed to poor fishing activities coupled by the outbreak of the cholera epidemic.
But a year later, the EU lifted the ban and the famous Sangara fish type and other fish species from the lake were allowed to be exported and enter EU markets.
