Assessing Ideas and Core Solutions in Local Communities

Summary of ideas evaluation with local communities

Interviews conducted with several members of the fishing community. There is a general consensus that current fishing practices are no sustainable in the long run. However, adopting ethical fishing practices individually does not allow them to survive in the marketplace.

I suggested the idea of a cooperative where all the members of the fishing community could organize themselves to fish, process (dry capenta for instance), market and distribute as a group. They had some reservations about the idea. One of them asked, "what happens if some fishermen in the village do not want to participate?" I made a good note of it as I did not have a good answer for it.

I asked about whether or not they would pay for education services on ethical fishing, business skills such as marketing and selling and distribution to the point of sale. The answers were vague. I think they had difficulties to see the abstract value of such education services. Some mentioned that they were already going to the marketplace three times a week to sell their produce. I then asked whether or not they would like to get paid for the fish without having to leave the village three times a week so that they could spend time with their families or even fishing more. Most of them liked that idea.


Summary of post-interview thoughts and further research

I brought these questions home, consulted with some experts and did some research. Fishermen outside of the cooperative would eventually lack the network, resources, strengths and opportunities of an increasing community encompassing the value chain. Paying for education services as standalone services may not be seen of value. However, building such services within the cooperative, identifying some members of the community to develop as future educators and/or partner with a third party organization or NGO to deliver such education services could be ideas to explore.

Considerations on revenue model

If paying for education services did not seem a good idea, I thought that some sort of cooperative membership fee could be explored.

Need, Drivers and Context Elements Assessment

Assumption:

I am assuming that other fishing sites, villages and marketplaces in Burundi, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo face the same challenges and threats. Given this, the opportunity to improve the relationship between communities and lake is the same that in the case of the Zambian fishing communities and marketplaces, on which this exercise, its analysis, community research and reflections are based.

I appreciate that in order to scale an effective solution, further research and empirical evidence will be needed to assess its feasibility in different settings.

Needs: 

• There is a main long-term need to safeguard and educate the communities that depend on the resources provided by the Lake Tanganyika. The beneficiaries are an estimated population of 10 million people in Zambia, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania. They live along the shores and proximity areas of the lake. This includes 100000 fishermen who fish from an estimated 800 fishing sites. 
• There is also a need to improve accessibility of fishermen to markets
• A third need is to improve access to market information for fishermen, buyers, sellers and regulatory bodies. 

Main drivers: 

1. Lack of alternative resources - fishing is one of the very few resources available along the lake's shores. Depleting fish reserves are negatively correlated with the fishermen's livelihoods and the well-being of the lake communities.
2. Unsustainable fishing practices - not respecting reproduction cycles, use of non-regulated nets (including malaria prevention bed nets) etc are positively correlated with depleting fish reserves and fishermen's livelihoods and the communities well-being.
3. High competition among fishermen - in the short term, fishermen have an incentive to use unsustainable fishing practices as this presents itself as a source of competitive advantage over those who adhere to ethical practices. This has a roll-down effect on all fishermen using them in order to preserve their livelihoods. In the long run, the nature of this sort of competition is not sustainable and is a threat to the fishing activity as a whole.
4. Remote geographical location and fragmentation of fish supplies - Most of the fishing villages/sites analysed are remotely dispersed. Access to the physical fish markets is cumbersome and expensive, especially when fishermen operate individually or in teams of three or four.
5. Inefficient access to environmental, industry and market information

Larger context:

1. The Lake Tanganyika has shores in 4 different countries Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo. Uncoordinated efforts in an already very fragmented economic activity represents a big challenge. 
2. Large-scale commercial fishing has disappeared as fish reserves have been diminishing. This is positive for smaller fishing operations, although it is a strong signal that depleting reserves must be reversed for the survival of the smaller/craft fishing operations and communities well-being 
3. Environmental experts claim that one of the reasons fish reserves are decreasing is the raising waters temperature that affect the reproduction cycles of main of the fish species. 

Additional resources

• Conservation program in Tanzania
• Traders and Fishermen refuse to pay govt fees in Mpulungu
• Zambia Lake Tanganyika Fishing Industry Adrift
• Lake Tanganyika Sustainable Management Project
• Old examples of finance available to foster fishing communities in production, processing  and marketing
• UN's FAO. Fishing Management Plan