Inventory and Survey of Water Bodies for Aquaculture Development, Malawi. Terminal statement

Fish accounts for about 77 percent of total animal food consumption in Malawi, but production has not risen to keep pace with population growth in recent years. For this reason, the Government has wished to explore the largely untapped potential of reservoirs and impoundments in the Central and Northern Regions. A first inventory was undertaken by projects MLW/79/015 and MLW/84/003, `National Water Resources Master Plan', and published in 1986. The present project was intended to complete that inventory, and determine the possible usage of these water bodies for increased fish production. It provided the services of a consultant in remote sensing, who undertook a study of satellite imagery, and identified 112 suitable water bodies. In the process, five members of the Malawi Fisheries Department were trained in the visual analysis of satellite data. An aquaculture and fishing consultant then assisted in a ground verification of this information, as a result of which it was shown that, of the 112 barrage ponds and reservoirs identified, 86 of them alone had a total surface area of over 3 400 ha. Experimental fishing was undertaken on 12 reservoirs, which showed that all had been either poorly stocked, or not stocked at allIt was estimated that, by stocking the 112 water bodies with tilapia and catfish, an annual yield in the range of 300 tons could be achieved. This was equivalent to the annual per caput fish consumption of some 34 000 Malawians. It was therefore recommended that the Government pursue a policy of rapidly developing production in these water bodies. A Reservoir Fisheries Development Project was identified by an FAO/World Bank Cooperative Programme Identification Mission to Malawi, for appraisal by the World Bank. Irrespective of the results of this appraisal, it would be recommended that the Fishery Department give priority to this project, and to these resource