3. How fish are caught

Fishery in the Malawian Lakes There are many ways and gears used to catch the fish. People have developed various ways of fishing according to the kind of fish they want to catch. There are some big commercial fishing companies, but most of the fish catch are by the local artisanal fishermen. Fishing is therefore a very important as a source of income and employment.

Fishermen with machera

The Department of Fisheries and Fishery Regulations

Research vessel Ndunduma

To survey and control the fish resource, the Department of Fisheries was founded in 1945. The department operates the research programs for better management and conservation. There are fisheries regulations and co-management programs to protect the fish resource. There are various regulations such as the Closed period, and the restrictions for Minimum mesh sizes, depth and length of the nets; for certain fishing methods like poisoning or exploding; minimum fish sizes, fishing areas and so on. The introduction of fish not indigenous to the area is also prohibited to conserve the existing fish resources.

Fishing Gears and Methods

There are various methods and gears for fishing. Each gear has each character according to the target fish. Common gears are shown below. Chilimira/Khoka (Lift nets) This is a common fishing gear at offshore area.This net catches a lot of smaller fish, mainly Utaka in daytime, and Usipa at night by using lamps to gather them. This fishing requires plank boat with engine and one or two dug-out canoes and about 10 persons to roll-up this big net.

We've got fish !

Ready to go. Hooks with bites

Mbedza (Hooks and Lines) Mbedza consists of many Hooks and Lines. Fishermen who want to catch bigger fish like Catfish, Ncheni etc, use this gear. This Mbedza has over 300 hundred hooks with Usipa as bites. The length of the line is more than 2km. This is set under water for a few hours, sometimes over night.

Machera (Gill nets) This net is set at evening until next morning just on the bottom of lake. So some people call it “sleeping net”. There are various sizes of mesh according to the target species of fish from Utaka to Kampango. It requires one or two persons only. The length of the netis normally a few hundred meters, sometimes up to 1km, and the width is about 1m.

What fish have we got ?

Draw the net !

Khoka la Pansi (Seine net/dragnet) This net is suitable for wide and shoreline beach to catch Chambo and other bottom dwelling fish. At first, it is set roundly by boat in offshore, and then drawn on both sides of the net, which is over 100m long. Khoka requires a lot of hands.

Mono (Fish trap) This is a kind of fish trap made of reeds, and set in the weedy zone, swamp or slow stream, but very rare in Lake Malawi. The target fish is mainly small Carps and Catfish. There are several sizes, but normally about 1m-length. This trap is set underwater sometimes with bites inside it, and left over night.

Standing and drying Mono