The Tanzanian government has suspended fishing activities in Lake Tanganyika to boost the population of fish.
The suspension will last three months from May 15, Tanzania’s Fisheries minister Abdallah Hamis said.
Lake Tanganyika, nicknamed the African Great Lake, is the world’s longest fresh water lake.
Fish stocks in the water body have been dwindling for decades.
In 2017, the Global Nature Fund declared Lake Tanganyika the year’s “most threatened” lake.
According to the agency, a combination of overfishing, pollution and climate change was taking a toll on fish population.
In the Burundian part of the lake, production fell by a quarter – from 20,000 to 15,000 tonnes between 1995 and 2011.
Hamisa said the suspension was a collective decision by Tanzania and its neighbours Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia.
The decision has, however, faced opposition from a section of leaders in the region.
Legislator Sylvia Sigula, who belongs to the ruling party CCM, told local media that the ban on fishing activities should have involved all stakeholders in the sector, including fishermen.
She said people living near Lake Tanganyika depend on the lake to generate an income, and the move would significantly affect their lives.
Lake Tangayika is the second-oldest fresh water lake in the world, and is also the second-largest by volume.
The water body is also the second-deepest, behind Lake Baikal in Siberia.
