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Experimental pond finfish mariculture was started in Makoba Bay in 1995-1996 by the
Institute of Marine Sciences working with partners from National Center for Mariculture
(NCM) in Eilat, Israel and Woodshole Oceanographic Institute, USA (Mmochi et al., 1996).
In 2001, Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) won a grant from the Western Indian Ocean
Marine Sciences Association (WIOMSA) and conducted an Integrated Mariculture Pond
System experimenting with milkfish (Chanos chanos), mullet (Mugil cephalus), rabbit fish
(Siganus canaliculatus) and marine acclimatized Zanzibar Tilapia (Oreochromis urolepis
urolepis). During the closure of this project IMS conducted a national stake holders workshop
disseminating the information to partners in the coastal areas (Mmochi et al, 2004).
Milkfish farming in Mtwara started in 2004 with pond farming in Mbuo following the
training in Zanzibar which was attended by the Mtwara District Fisheries Officer. The efforts
were also taken over by Mnazi Bay and Ruvuma Estuary Marine Park (MBREMP) who
supported development of a demonstration pond in an effort to develop alternative livelihoods
to the traditional harvesting of the marine resources. The endeavours were not successful
(Msuya and Mmochi, 2007). In 2008, WIOMSA won a project from Regional Programme for
the Sustainable Management of the Coastal Zones of the Countries of the Indian Ocean
Countries (ReCoMaP) projects funded by EU. The implementation of the project was
preceded by survey of the ongoing milkfish farming in Tanzania including Mtwara that was
found to be scanty (Msuya and Mmochi, 2007). The main objective of the WIOMSA project
was to develop one demonstration pond in Mtwara and support two others (By building the
main gates) and training farmers the principles and practices of fish farming.
At the end of the two years there were some tangible achievements. The two years project
managed to develop a 1 ha milkfish demonstration pond and train 22 trainees on all aspects of
milkfish farming including site selection, pond construction, pond preparation, fingerling
collection, pond management, harvesting and marketing. The project further facilitated 3 othe
groups by providing them with gates as a reward for good pond design and construction. At
the end a total of 24 ha were developed in Mtwara District alone. The per ha annual
production improved from the maximum of 1 ton per ha (Requintina et al., 2008) to a new
record of 7.5 tons/ha equivalent to 10000 USD/year (Mmochi, 2010). There are therefore very
clear indications that milkfish aquaculture is feasible. However, two years were too short to
accomplish everything. Most of the ponds were not dug and farmers were satisfied in
building the dikes. Accordingly, half of the pond areas are completely dry most of the time.
Only 3 farms are producing more than 1 ton/ha/year which is thought to be economically
reasonable but the remaining 12 farms are producing an average of 263 kg/ha/year.
Interestingly the low production farms are also the most poorly constructed at a lower average
cost of 840 USD compared to 2151 for the 3. A common problem facing all the farmers is
availability of fingerlings. The farmers collect fingerlings from the wild with consequences to
biodiversity. In some years, especially with shortage of rainfalls, there is are reported serious
shortages of fingerlings and most of the ponds are under-stocked
From the beginning of the ReCoMaP project to date the number of farmers and ponds have
continued to grow. Because of the trends and following advice from ReCoMaP project,
Mtwara fish farmers established a fish farmers union named “Umoja wa Wafugaji Samaki
Mtwara” translating to union of Mtwara fish farmers. The newly established union has 404
members 152 of whom are women from 30 fish farming groups. The members are mainly
from Mbuo, Ndumbwe, Kisiwa and Namgogori Villages out of the MBREMP conservation
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area. Already six groups from the MBREMP conservation area have applied to join UWASA
and it is hoped that all the groups from Mtwara will join.
It is against this background that SWISSAID developed interest to try and help in the
development of the project. |
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