A fisheries biologist at the Okavango Research Institute (ORI) in Maun, Keta Mosepele, has advised government to develop a fisheries policy so that the full benefits of the sector are realised. Mosepele said government needs to develop a policy than to depend on outdated regulations to address the current problems in the fisheries sector. “These regulations are set to address the perceived symptoms than to address the real problem in this sector. Therefore, government needs to get to the root cause of the problem. We have to identify the real problem in the sector. What are we managing these resources for and who is benefiting,” he said.
He said the decision by the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism to suspend the Fish Protection Regulatory, Statutory Instrument No. 16 of 2016 and to resort to the 2008 regulations shows that government has failed to address concerns in the sector. Mosepele observed that problems in the fisheries industry will persist until government comes up with a solution to deal with the challenges once and for all by developing a national fisheries policy. “Recently government suspended new regulations after an outcry from stakeholders and resorted to the old one, what was guiding government to resort to the old ones?” he asked, accusing government of being blindsided when dealing with fisheries issues.
He said problems persist at Lake Ngami because government is using wildlife policies to regulate the fish industry, using anti-poaching laws and setting up patrol teams made up of Botswana Defence Force (BDF) slodiers, Botswana Police and Wildlife officers. “You cannot manage fish like we are controlling wildlife but the government have that mentality”, he said. Mosepele also criticized the decision to suspend fishing activities at Lake Ngami saying govt was ill advised because good management of natural resources is what is needed instead of a total ban. He said the ban has had a negative impact on the socio economically marginalized groups of the Ngamiland district, who particularly depend on fishing for sustenance.”What has government achieved with the ban, nothing. It appears that bureaucrats do not value expertise here in ORI to come and seek advice,” he said.
2016 allAfrica.com