Too many fishermen cause stocks to dwindle in giant Lake Malawi

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

SENGA BAY, Malawi (AFP) — Saidi Afida rows his dugout canoe back to the beach on the shores of Lake Malawi with a worried face.

"Things have really changed," says Afida, in between selling his catch to a group of women at Senga Bay beach in central Malawi.

"Just five years ago I came back from fishing with a full canoe every day. Now it's barely half full," he says.

Afida, 33, knows the the cause of the problem, but he can't do anything about it.

"There are too many of us fishing in this lake. Everybody has become a fisherman and we all fish from the shallow waters."

The 22,490 square kilometer Lake Malawi, bordered by Tanzania and Mozambique, covers a third of the country and is Africa's third largest pool of fresh water.

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