River fishing in Mozambique

Alongside subsistence fishing, which is often only enough to guarantee personal or family consumption, small-scale fishing is also being practiced, using inadequate and dangerous boats. The use of relatively inefficient and unsustainable techniques, such as fine-mesh nets, means that smaller fish are also trapped, and this jeopardises the regenerative capacity of river ecosystems.
Fishing for survival is one thing, but the fact is that lives are also put at risk: local people use hollow logs to sail the waters but these narrow, shallow boats are very unstable and often crocodiles and hippos feast on the most unfortunate fishermen.

Fish trade has also stopped. Small-scale fishermen do not always manage to keep their catch until they get to the shore, but when they do they must contend with the shortage of refrigerators and the distance from the markets; these factors thwart their sea trip and the catch’s integrity.
Much is therefore needed: carpentry workshops to build suitable boats and classes on proper fish storage, but also meetings to raise awareness on the need to use fishing methods that do not destroy the aquatic ecosystem.

Maembo is a carpenter. We have selected him for the workshop on building boats large enough to hold several people, equipment, as well as a cooler box where the catch can be stored. Maembo has become our deputy head carpenter: he goes up and down the Zambezi to explain the building techniques he has learned to groups of fishermen.
Thanks to the Fishing Community Centres we set up, improved or innovative fishing techniques, fish processing and storage can be transmitted to those who do not participate directly in our training.

The activities implemented have already had a tangible impact: thanks to the skills acquired through courses, practical demonstrations and field training, the fishermen and traders we are working with have already increased their profitability. In addition, access to credit through the Savings and Revolving Credit Groups set up allows them to carry on investing in improving and innovating the sector: this, for us, is the practical meaning of ‘impact to change’.
The inclusion of the most vulnerable social groups, namely women and workers from the lower income sector, in the activities supports their economic and social emancipation.
Finally, over time, the outcome of the widespread awareness of the importance of river ecosystem conservation and the risks associated with unsustainable fishing techniques will become apparent.

Project’s overview

The project aims to improve the living conditions of fishing communities in the districts of Mopeia and Morrumbala. The interventions aim to:

• increase the sector’s productivity through:
  training sessions on building better boats and on improving the efficiency of fishing techniques and fish processing; improving conservation systems and strengthening sales networks; improving the sector’s management in community organizations (through Fishing Community Centres and Savings and Rotating Credit Groups);
• promote a sustainable exploitation of fish resources through: less invasive fishing tools and techniques; drying rooms and smokehouses that reduce the use of coal;
• raise awareness of the importance of the consumption of quality products through: information material; nutrition education meetings;
• promote gender equality through access to credit for women working in the sector.

Direct beneficiaries: 4,050 people in 18 Fishing Centres
Indirect beneficiaries: 31,860 between fishermen, traders and their families.