Africa-Press – Tanzania. FISHERMEN and related stakeholders in the business appealed to the government to quicken pace of constructing a new fish market at Kasanga Ward along the shoreline of Lake Tanganyika in Kalambo District, Rukwa.
They said once built, it will replace the one that has submerged facility after water levels in Lake Tanganyika started rising in October, last year.
In an interview with ‘Daily News’, a across section of fishermen in different occasions, yesterday said that if the situation would persist, they will have nowhere to sell their products, but neighbouring country of Zambia that offers them low prices.
The submerged facility worth 802.4 m/- has remained unused for nine years now possibly as a result of lack of a cold room to store fish, because it has no source of power.
However, after struggling to fix it with electricity in March this year, it became sub merged and now six months down with analysts blaming climate change effects.
One of the fisherman, Mr Jonath Simulunga, said since then they are left with no option, but to sell their fish to processing fish factories in Mpulungu Township on Zambian side at a throw away price. Similar sentiment was echoed by fishermen John Sinkale, Emmanuel Jacob, Damas Siyame and Chikopela Chazya.
Mr Siyame said that was why there are appealing to the government through its ministry of livestock and fisheries to quicken the construction of the new facility.
“We are tired of selling fish to Zambia side at thrown away prices. Simply because, we have no other choice “It is disheartening and disappointing as for nine years now, big fish processing factories on Zambian side are benefiting tremendously, because we do not have modern fish market for preserving fresh fish on our side,” Mr Siyame said.
The acting Kalambo District Council Executive Director (DED), Jeshi Lupembe, said the council on their part has implemented a directive issued by Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Mashimba Ndaki that it allocates 5 acres of land at Kiwalani fishing village along the shoreline of Lake Tanganyika in Kasanga Ward for the construction for a new fish market facility.
In the last budget the ministry allocated over 78m/- for minor renovation of the facility that has also been idle since 2011.
“We are appealing to the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries to disburse to the council the fund for preliminary construction of the project,” the acting DED said.
During his working tour in Rukwa region early last month, Minister Ndaki visited the submerged facility and directed the relevant authorities to quicken pace of the construction.
Also, he directed the Kalambo DED, Shafi Mpenda to hasten allocating another area for the construction of a new facility.
Kalambo District Council Livestock and Fisheries Officer, Wilbroad Kansapa told this paper yesterday that fishermen, who want to export fish to Zambia, were instructed to use proper procedure by involving only those licensed instead of the smugglers.
He further noted that some 70,000 people living in the area close to the submerged facility routinely engage in fishing activities and annually harvest more than 170,000 tonnes of fish.
The 802.4 m/- submerged facility was constructed from a fund sourced mainly by European Union (EU) and officially opened by the then Vice-President, Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal in 2021.
