Periodic fishing ban and community livelihood on lake Bangweulu Luwingu District Zambia
Date
2019-10
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Kampala International University, college of Education,open and distance -learning.
Abstract
This research aimed at investigating the effects of periodic fishing ban on fish stocks and
community livelihood of Lake Bangweulu; Luwingu District of Zambia, it was guided
by the following objectives: to evaluate the effect of periodic fishing ban on fish stocks
of Lake Bangweulu in Luwingu District, to examine the effect of periodic fishing ban on
income, business and food security of communities on Lake Bangweulu during and after
the fishing ban and to propose a model for community participation in fishing ban
implementation. A simple random sampling method was used to pick 87 respondents
from five villages/camp out of a list of 121 households registered from village headmen
and 9 key informants were selected purposively. Questionnaires were administered to the
selected respondents who were involved in fishing and fishing related businesses as their
source of income, interviews were also used to collect data from key informants and
observation methods was also used. The results confirmed that the fishing ban was very
effective and hence there were no fish on the local market during the fishing ban,
Furthermore, the research revealed that, periodic fishing ban affects fish population and
aquatic environment positively, representing a mean of 2.48 and 2.31 respectively, on
contrary, it affect the fish size negatively as shown by a mean of 2.00. It was further
observed that during the periodic fishing ban the quality of life were generally poor
(50%) and during the fishing season the quality of life improves. This is because during
fishing ban season, people make little income which cannot sustain them. Finally as
shown 57% were below K100 (8 dollars), the community livelihood activity calendar
model is proposed basing on the coping mechanism the community has adopted. The
identified effects of periodic fishing ban on the community were poor income, collapse
of fish related businesses, and poor food security hence poor quality of life during the
fishing ban and improved quality of life after the fishing ban among the fishing
communities. It was further discovered that, few people in poultry and butchery business
were positively affected, adding that, the shortage of fish on the market boomed their
business. The results also shows that the activities done in fishing communities are
interdependent on one another, therefore, any effect on one activity trickles down on
other activities. In addition the research bridged the gaps by adding information to the
existing literature because they were very few literatures related to fishing ban as an area
of study. The study validates that use of common property theory is suitable theory to
investigate on the effect of fishing ban on fishing community and non-have conducted a
similar research in Nsombo area. In conclusion it was established that, the fishing ban
was very effective on Lake Bangweulu, this is because all the fishing related activities
were stopped during the fishing ban. Based on the findings, recommendations were
raised that people should be sensitized and educated on the importance of sustainable
fishing with regards to the proposed model. People should also be encouraged to venture
into other livelihoods and further research should be conducted on the effect of fishing
ban on the lives of children in fishing communities
Description
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a Degree of Master of Arts in Geography of Kampala International University
Keywords
Periodic fishing ban, Community livelihood, Zambia