River reserves allow communities to protect crucial resources
Fisheries reserves boost fish stocks
In some areas, fish stocks have increased by as much as five times within the reserve and have doubled in adjacent fishing areas.
Freshwater fisheries are a vital natural resource for rural communities residing along Namibia's northern perennial rivers.
According to the State of Communal Conservation Report of 2023, fishing provides a crucial source of protein for communities who live alongside the Okavango, Kwando, Zambezi and Chobe.
However, the report warns that fisheries have experienced declines due to illegal fishing methods, commercialised fishing by non-Namibian companies, the increase in population in riverine areas and the impacts of climate change.
The report notes that the fisheries ministry provides for the establishment of fisheries reserves, which allow local communities to protect and manage their fisheries resources.
“Fisheries reserves are integrated into conservancies in order to manage them more efficiently.”
In 2023, the total number of fisheries reserves remained at 20, spread across seven conservancies in the Zambezi, Kavango East, and Kavango West regions.
The Nsundwa and Kabulabula conservancies submitted applications for the official registration of five individual reserves, while the Maurus Nekaro and Kapinga Kamwalye conservancies requested the gazetting of their entire river boundaries – approximately 75 km in total – as fisheries reserves, promoting a new “riverscape” approach, the report added.
Fisheries reserves provide protected areas for fish populations to increase in number, size and diversity.
"The recovering stocks then spill over into the wider river system, helping improve fish populations overall,” the report points out.
In some areas, fish stocks have increased up to five times within the reserve and doubled in fishing areas adjacent to the reserve.
“Improved fish stocks benefit communities who rely on the fish for the provision of food, the availability of fish for sport fishing and the increased value of intact ecosystems to tourism," the report states.
Guard duties
Fish guards and monitors work together to reduce illegal fishing and assess the status of fish stocks in the fisheries reserves.
Seventy fish guards were tasked with regularly patrolling the reserves to detect illegal fishing activities and remove illegal nets from the river.
They are also trained as fish inspectors and thus greatly increase the capacity of the fisheries ministry to control illegal fishing.
“If arrests are required, the fish guards work together with fisheries inspectors and the police," notes the report.
According to the report, 40 fish monitors regularly collected data on legal fish catches by visiting boat landing sites in their area to determine how much fish was caught and the methods that were used.
They were trained by fisheries scientists to accurately identify fish species and complete data collection sheets.
Standard procedures
The report stated that adaptive management principles could then be applied based on the information collected over time.
“The fishers model has been so successful in providing a framework for communities to protect and manage their fisheries that it has been shared and taken up throughout the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TCFA).”
In 2023, two newly formed transboundary natural resource management forums, between Namibian and Angolan cross-river communities on the Okavango River, were institutionalised in order to better manage overlapping fisheries.
The guidelines to establish fisheries reserves and the tackle box for community fisheries launched in 2022 by the fisheries ministry are now accepted as standard procedures.
These documents are used extensively to further capacity among neighbouring KAZA countries, particularly in Angola and Zambia, to support the establishment of community fisheries reserves on both sides of the rivers.
According to the State of Communal Conservation Report of 2023, fishing provides a crucial source of protein for communities who live alongside the Okavango, Kwando, Zambezi and Chobe.
However, the report warns that fisheries have experienced declines due to illegal fishing methods, commercialised fishing by non-Namibian companies, the increase in population in riverine areas and the impacts of climate change.
The report notes that the fisheries ministry provides for the establishment of fisheries reserves, which allow local communities to protect and manage their fisheries resources.
“Fisheries reserves are integrated into conservancies in order to manage them more efficiently.”
In 2023, the total number of fisheries reserves remained at 20, spread across seven conservancies in the Zambezi, Kavango East, and Kavango West regions.
The Nsundwa and Kabulabula conservancies submitted applications for the official registration of five individual reserves, while the Maurus Nekaro and Kapinga Kamwalye conservancies requested the gazetting of their entire river boundaries – approximately 75 km in total – as fisheries reserves, promoting a new “riverscape” approach, the report added.
Fisheries reserves provide protected areas for fish populations to increase in number, size and diversity.
"The recovering stocks then spill over into the wider river system, helping improve fish populations overall,” the report points out.
In some areas, fish stocks have increased up to five times within the reserve and doubled in fishing areas adjacent to the reserve.
“Improved fish stocks benefit communities who rely on the fish for the provision of food, the availability of fish for sport fishing and the increased value of intact ecosystems to tourism," the report states.
Guard duties
Fish guards and monitors work together to reduce illegal fishing and assess the status of fish stocks in the fisheries reserves.
Seventy fish guards were tasked with regularly patrolling the reserves to detect illegal fishing activities and remove illegal nets from the river.
They are also trained as fish inspectors and thus greatly increase the capacity of the fisheries ministry to control illegal fishing.
“If arrests are required, the fish guards work together with fisheries inspectors and the police," notes the report.
According to the report, 40 fish monitors regularly collected data on legal fish catches by visiting boat landing sites in their area to determine how much fish was caught and the methods that were used.
They were trained by fisheries scientists to accurately identify fish species and complete data collection sheets.
Standard procedures
The report stated that adaptive management principles could then be applied based on the information collected over time.
“The fishers model has been so successful in providing a framework for communities to protect and manage their fisheries that it has been shared and taken up throughout the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TCFA).”
In 2023, two newly formed transboundary natural resource management forums, between Namibian and Angolan cross-river communities on the Okavango River, were institutionalised in order to better manage overlapping fisheries.
The guidelines to establish fisheries reserves and the tackle box for community fisheries launched in 2022 by the fisheries ministry are now accepted as standard procedures.
These documents are used extensively to further capacity among neighbouring KAZA countries, particularly in Angola and Zambia, to support the establishment of community fisheries reserves on both sides of the rivers.
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