Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE fishing sector has collected about 22.6bn/- in the just-ended financial year, with 80 per cent of the revenue coming from Lake Victoria.
The Deputy Minister for Livestock and Fishing, Mr Abdallah Ulega made the revelation over the weekend during the meeting that brought together various stakeholders from across the lake zone.
He said to make the sector more productive, the government made some improvements including the value addition in Silver Cyprinid Victoria Sardine in the Lake.
“We also have good plans to set up modern farming methods, including an increase in cages in the Lake. There also should be modern technologies for drying lake food for quality products,” he said.
Mr Ulega said that improvements in the sector need collaboration from all stakeholders, urging fishermen to avoid conflicts as is the case for farmers and pastoralists, while the water body is enough to serve everybody.
He insisted that the sector has lots of benefits to individuals and the nation, including job creation for Tanzanians, mostly women. For sustainability of the jobs, the Deputy Minister advised owners of fish fillet processing factories to pay fishermen on time.
The stakeholders called on the government to set up indicative prices for lake foods, a move that would control price inflation that has been happening for no good reason. Price instability stagnates fishermen development since they earn no profits, said one of the fishermen from the Ilemela district, Mr Paul James.
“We also call upon government intervention over access to ‘Timba’ fishnet type, which has been encouraging illegal fishing as they catch up the smallest lake foods,” he said.
The Sengerema District fisherman, Mr Hassan Mhenga, chipped in, asking the government to assist them to have standard fishing equipment.
