The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), together with the Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia, through its European Union financed ECOFISH Project organized a three-day gillnet making hands-on training to the Lake Turkana fishing communities in Jinka Town, South Omo Zone, South Nations Nationalities Peoples Region (Ethiopia).
The IGAD-ECOFISH Project has developed and validated an integrated fisheries management plan (IFMP), or simply called fisheries co-management plan for Lake Turkana Basin. During the last decades, there has been a shift in the governance of fisheries to a broader approach that recognizes fishers’ participation and shared decision-making in the management of fisheries.
Thus, the Lake Turkana Basin Fisheries Co-Management Plan is prepared based on the assumption that the resource users (fishing communities) will be involved in all the processes of the fisheries management system of the basin.
Capacity gap identification assessment has been conducted by the project in basin and one of the recommendation was to cease the illegal monofilament fishing net use by the fishers due to the scarcity of the legal multifilament gillnet.
Moreover, it was suggested that the trained community members may make gillnets and sell to the local communities. Therefore, this gillnet making practical training planned to be provided for the women and youth will contribute to the reduction of the illegal monofilament gillnets uses and it will serve also as one source of sustainable livelihood diversification
Mr. Sidrak Lefeka, South Omo Zone Livestock and Fisheries Extension Team Leader, in his welcoming remarks, noted that Dasench Woreda (District), which shares the Omo delta part of the lake has huge fish resource potential.
In Dasenech alone there are about 6000 fishers. He also mentioned the key current challenges of the fisheries in the area. One of the problem is the use of destructive illegal fishing gear, monofilament fishing nets, as well as fishing for gas bladder (locally called Figna) which also targets juvenile Nile Perch.
Mr. Sidrak stressed that this multifilament gillnet making training is very timely to minimize the use of the illegal fishing gears in the lake. He also suggested that if initial finance is available, women fishing communities will be benefited by through gillnet making for livelihoods.