A report prepared for the Department for International Development (DFID) Project: ‘The Role of Fisheries in Poverty Alleviation and Growth: Past, Present and Future’

1. APPENDIX H
Malawi Case Study

2. Linkages between Fisheries, Poverty
and Growth
Case study of Malawi
A report prepared for the
Department for International Development (DFID)
Project: ‘The Role of Fisheries in Poverty Alleviation
and Growth: Past, Present and Future’
DFID/PASS Contract: AG0213

3. CONTENTS
PAGE
1. BACKGROUND 1
2. POVERTY 6
3. ECONOMIC GROWTH 10
4. FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT 12
5. POLICY MAKING 25
REFERENCES 30

4. 1. BACKGROUND
1.1 History, structure and nature of government and national politics
Politically, Malawi became an independent state in 1964 from the British ruled
federation of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi). Malawi became a
republic and a one-party state, with Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda as its first President in
1966. Dr Banda later became Life President of Malawi in 1971 (Europa, 1993). Malawi
then became a democratic multi-party state in 1994, with Bakili Muluzi as the first
democratic state President. Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika was elected as second democratic
state President of Malawi in 2004. The head of State is the democratically elected
President, whose term of office is five years. The executive power is vested in the
President and the legislative power in the National Assembly. Malawi’s economy is
agro-based.
1.2 National Policy priorities
Malawi’s development policy expresses the need for reduction of poverty, ignorance
and disease by the achievement of rapid and sustained economic growth, an
improvement in income distribution and a reduction in the instability of welfare for
both the individual and the nation. The policy recognises that if the welfare of
Malawi is to be further increased economic growth will have to exceed population
growth. The performance of agriculture will be critical, and other natural resources,
will where viable, need to be exploited.
In recognition of this, several national policies have been developed and
implemented. These include Malawi’s Vision 2020, Malawi Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper (MPRSP) and National Strategy for Sustainable Development
(NSSD).
To achieve meaningful poverty reduction and learn lessons from past experience, the
Government of Malawi decided to develop the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper (MPRSP). The Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy (MPRS), which was
launched in April 2002, is the overarching strategy that now forms the basis for all
developmental activities by all stakeholders, including Government. The MPRS is
the product of a highly consultative process involving a broad range of stakeholders
and represents a consensus about how Malawi can develop and achieve its core
objective of poverty reduction.
The overall goal of the MPRS is to achieve “sustainable poverty reduction through
empowerment of the poor”. Rather than regarding the poor as helpless victims of
poverty in need of hand-outs and passive recipients of trickle-down growth, the
MPRS sees them as active participants in economic development (GoM 2002). The
MPRS also emphasises prioritisation and action.
The MPRS is built around four pillars. These pillars are the main strategic
components grouping the various activities and policies into a coherent framework
for poverty reduction. The first pillar promotes rapid sustainable pro-poor economic
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5. growth and structural transformation. The second pillar enhances human capital
development. The third pillar improves the quality of life of the most vulnerable, and
the fourth pillar promotes good governance. The MPRS also mainstreams key cross
cutting issues such as HIV/AIDS, gender, environment, and science and technology
(GoM 2002).
After the launch of the MPRSP in April 2002, however, many stakeholders,
including the private sector, observed that policies to fulfil this strategic objective
were insufficient to achieve a sustained annual economic growth of at least 6 per cent
required to reduce poverty by half by the year 2015, primarily because the strategies
did not encompass all sectors of the economy.
To close this gap, therefore, Cabinet directed that the Ministry of Economic Planning
and Development (MEPD) should coordinate the formulation of the Malawi
Economic Growth Strategy (MEGS) in 2004. The main objective of the MEGS is to
generate high and sustainable broad-based economic growth of at least 6 per cent per
annum over the long-term (GoM 2004). It aims at achieving high economic growth
through the stimulation of trade and investment and the restoration of
macroeconomic stability. The approach is to stimulate economic growth through
promotion of trade1 and investment. The Malawi Economic Growth Strategy has
been developed through a consultative process involving both the public and private
sectors. The Strategy also highlights the main constraints on economic growth, trade
and investment and identifies corrective measures.
It is argued that the MEGS has been based on a realistic assessment of the resources
available. It focuses on strategies and actions that do not require substantial
additional spending by Government and instead can be achieved through refocusing
of existing resources and by developing a more conducive set of policies that will
stimulate private sector investment and trade in the immediate future. However, in
the medium term, donor organisations will have a key role to play in creating a
conducive environment for economic growth by supporting policy reforms and
providing resources to support government during the transitional period.
1.2.1 Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPS)
Malawi has implemented a series of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) to
address structural weaknesses and adjust the economy to attain sustainable growth
and poverty reduction. The major areas of focus of the SAPs included the
liberalisation of the agricultural sector, parastatal sector reform, privatisation, trade
liberalisation, financial sector reform, exchange rate liberalisation, interest rate
liberalisation; and the rationalisation of the Budget. Nonetheless, the adjustment
programmes have had limited impact on economic growth and poverty reduction.
Between 1981 and 1994, Malawi implemented several structural adjustment
programmes supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank (WB). From 1995 to date, Malawi has implemented three Fiscal Restructuring
1
Trade refers to export-oriented and import-substitution trade.
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6. and Deregulation Programmes (FRDP) supported by the World Bank. Malawi has
also been through a series of Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facilities (ESAF)
supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In parallel to the introduction
of the PRSP approach internationally, the IMF adopted Poverty Reduction and
Growth Facilities (PRGF) as its main instrument in Malawi (GoM 2002).
Given that Malawi is an agro-based economy, many of the reforms were focussed on
the agricultural sector. The first key reform was price decontrol, which was aimed at
allowing market forces to drive resource allocation in production. Secondly, market
liberalisation was intended to foster competition and ensure that smallholder farmers
get good input and producer prices. In particular, the repeal of the Special Crops Act
in 1995 lifted restrictions on smallholder production of burley tobacco and allowed
smallholder farmers to generate more income.
In the financial sector, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) and Banking Acts were
reviewed in 1998/99 to allow, among other things, easy entry of new banking
institutions into the financial sector and to give the Reserve Bank greater
independence in the formulation of monetary policy. The revision of the Acts also
strengthened the RBM' powers to supervise the banking industry. The liberalisation
s
of the financial sector also meant that monetary policy had to shift from direct to
indirect instruments of monetary policy (GoM 2002).
Major industry and trade reforms were implemented in 1988 through the Industrial
and Trade Policy Adjustment Programme. The programme eliminated quantitative
restrictions and rationalised trade taxes. The foreign exchange market was also
liberalised to ensure efficiency in foreign exchange allocation.
Locally produced goods were exempted from surtax in 1992 as a way of offering
protection to local producers. The rationalisation of trade taxes ensured that only
import duties were used as instruments of protection, while domestic taxes
emphasised taxing consumption rather than production.
To promote Public Sector Management the Government also undertook civil service
reform. The Civil Service Reform programme included a census of civil servants
and the retrenchment of 20,000 temporary employees. In addition, strategic and
functional reviews of Ministries formed the basis for rationalisation of Government
through contracting out certain functions and removal of operational overlaps.
The impact of the wide ranging policy reforms implemented during the adjustment
period has been mixed and mostly unsatisfactory insofar as poverty reduction is
concerned. Although there have been periods of macroeconomic stability,
sustainable growth has proved elusive. The instability has to a large extent arisen
from external shocks, inconsistent implementation of reforms, fiscal policy slippages
and the narrow base of production capacity. The inability to sustain high rates of
growth over a long period has undermined any poverty reducing impact of growth.
Furthermore, macroeconomic instability has aggravated the poverty situation.
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7. 1.3 Demographic trends
Malawi is a landlocked country with a total area of 118,484 km2, of which about
20% (24, 405 km2) is covered by water (see figure 1, map of Malawi and major
water bodies). According to the 1998 population census, Malawi had a total
population of 9,934,000 people, with an annual population growth rate of 1.98% for
the period 1987 – 1998 (NSO 2002). For the period prior to 1998 census, the
population growth rate was estimated at 3.2% per annum. This indicates that the
population growth rate has decreased. From 1980 to 2000, the population of Malawi
grew from some 6.2 million to slightly more than 10 million.
Malawi has an average population density of 105 persons per square kilometre of
land area (that is lake area excluded). The percentage of people living in urban areas
increased from 10.7% during the 1987 population census to 14.0% during the 1998
census. Calculations based on the 1998 census indicate that about 10% of the
country’s population live along the cost of lakes Malawi, Malombe, Chilwa and
Chiuta.
1.4 Economic structure
Malawi’s economy is predominantly rural and agricultural based. Its economic
performance is largely dependent on weather conditions and on an international
commodity prices. At the time of Independence in 1964, Malawi adopted an agro-based
development strategy due to the low potential of mineral resources and the small size of
the domestic market (GoM 1993). To date, the Malawi economy still remains agro-
based, with the agriculture sector accounting for over 38.6% of GDP (GoM 2004).
Agricultural production accounts for about 90% of the Malawi’s exports (NSO, 1994).
Between 1974 and 1984 Malawi’s economy enjoyed vigorous economic growth.
Gross Domestic Product in real terms increased at an average rate of 6% per year.
This resulted in an annual average growth rate of per capita income of 3%. However,
from the late 1970s, the Malawi economy started experiencing a series of external
shocks including deteriorating terms of trade, steep rise in the price of fuel following
the oil crises and external transport problems. Consequently, growth in GDP fell in
the early 1980s (from 3.3% in 1979 to 0.4% in 1980). Since then economic growth
has not been stable and has fluctuated quite a lot, with a GDP annual growth rate of
3.5% in 1999, 0.2% in 2000, -4.1% in 2001 and 1.8% in 2002.
Figure 1: Map of Malawi showing major water bodies
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8. L. Malawi
• Mangoch
i Lake
Chiuta
The extended family is the chief production unit and the main source of social
support. The village is organised under customary law with authority vested in a
traditional village headman or chief helped by village elders. Malawi’s villages are
grouped under group village headmen, sub-chiefs, and traditional chiefs. The
traditional authority plays a central role and its support is critical to any poverty
alleviation efforts at the grass-roots level.
1.5 Development status
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9. From independence (1964) through to 1979, the Malawi economy registered
impressive growth. Real output growth, mainly spurred by the agricultural sector,
averaged 6.7 percent during this period. However, the benefits of this growth were
poorly distributed, as growth was narrowly based on estate agriculture. Starting from
1979, Malawi suffered from a series of exogenous shocks, including high import
costs due to oil price shocks, disruptions in trade routes, the influx of refugees from
Mozambique and droughts that disrupted the pattern of growth. In addition, policy
weaknesses and slippages exacerbated the effect of these external shocks.
As a result of these internal and external factors, real GDP growth fluctuated
between 1979 and 1987, recovering to a high of 6.8 percent in 1984 following
droughts in previous years. The agricultural sector continued to be the main source
of growth and domestic saving.
Following another round of SAPs, Malawi started to experience relatively buoyant
economic growth between 1988 and 1991. Real GDP growth rose from 3.3 percent
in 1988 to 7.8 percent in 1991. However, the gains arising from this growth were
short-lived as growth fluctuated through the 1990s, largely as a result of external
shocks such as droughts and the reduction of donor financial support between 1992
and 1994. For example, the economy recorded growth rates of -7.9 percent in 1992
and -11.6 percent in 1994, before recovering with a growth rate of 14.5 percent in
1996. Growth has averaged 2.6 percent between 1997 and 2000 and was at 1.8
percent in 2001.
This poor economic growth performance implied that the majority of the population
experienced no change in their economic status. The situation was more serious
among the poor whose household consumption even in times of relative growth had
stagnated. Thus economic performance during the adjustment period from 1981 to
date had minimal impact on poverty reduction.
2. POVERTY
2.1 Poverty definition
Poverty in Malawi is widespread, deep and severe. Poverty, in general, Malawians
characterise it as “…as a state of continuous deprivation or a lack of the basics of
life.” 2 In this analysis, poverty is taken as a condition characterised by serious
deprivation of basic needs in terms of food, water, health, shelter, education; and lack
of means and opportunities to fulfil these basic need. The poor, in this case, are
defined as those whose consumption of basic needs (both food and non-food) is
below the minimum level estimated at MK 10.473 per day in 1998. Within this
number of the poor, 28.2 percent of the total population are living in dire poverty. In
2
Government of Malawi and United Nations Development Programme (1993) Situation Analysis of
Poverty in Malawi
3
Average Exchange Rate in 1998 was MK31.1 = 1 US Dollar.
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10. general, the poor have low levels of access to or acquisition of certain basic social
services or capabilities.
Poverty in Malawi, therefore, has many dimensions including income poverty and
human or capability poverty. Poverty exists, and is observable, at various levels: at
the individual, household, community and national levels, and has a gender
dimension.
The level of inequality is well illustrated by the fact that in 1997/98, the richest 20%
of the population consumed 46.3% while the poorest 20% consumed only 6.3% of
total reported consumption of goods and services. In urban areas, the richest 20%
consumed 58.4% while the poorest 20% consumed only 4.5%. Consumption was
also more unequally distributed within urban areas where the Gini coefficient was
0.52 as opposed to 0.37 in rural areas (see Table 1 below).
Table1: Indices of Inequality in Consumption
Gini Consumption of Group as Percentage
Coefficient of Total Consumption of Population
Poorest 20% Wealthiest 20%
National 0.40 6.3 46.8
Rural 0.37 6.7 44.3
Urban 0.52 4.5 58.4
Source: Government of Malawi (2000) Profile of Poverty in Malawi: Poverty Analysis of the Integrated Household Survey
2.1.1 Demographic characteristics of the poor
In terms of household composition, poor households in Malawi are considerably
larger than non-poor households, with larger proportions of females and dependents.
On average, poor households have 1.5 more persons than non-poor households. The
same pattern of household size is maintained in both rural and urban areas.
In terms of heads of households, studies have shown that just under 25% of
households in Malawi are female headed and that such households are
disproportionately poor GoM 2000). It was also reported that 27.4% of all poor
households are headed by women. Fewer households in urban areas are headed by
women as compared to those in rural areas.
2.2 Causes of poverty
Poverty in Malawi is caused by a number of factors. Many of these factors are
constraints on the economic productivity of land, labour, capital, and technology.
Constraints on the productivity of land include rapid environmental degradation and
limited or inadequate access to land. Constraints on labour include generally low
levels of education, poor health status including HIV/AIDS, lack of or limited off-
farm employment, rapid population growth, and gender inequalities. The key
constraint on capital is lack of access to credit. All of these factors causing poverty
are exacerbated by generally weak institutional capacity within the country.
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11. The Conceptual Framework of Poverty analysis in Malawi is hinged on four main
elements as low agricultural production, low non-farm income, low education and
poor health. Two additional elements impact on the each of the four elements above,
and these are rapid population growth, and weak institutional structure. The
framework is merely a simple schematic presentation of a complex issue that was
developed by GoM and UN (GoM/UN 1993) to guide in the inquiry on poverty. The
framework is presented as figure 2 below.
Population growth will exert strong pressures on land and natural resources, resulting
into changes in patterns and levels of agricultural productivity. Population pressure
will also impact on labour market, employment situation and productivity.
Institutional structure and systems reflect the political and social organisation in
Malawi, and play a key role in decision making process both at policy level and in
the allocation of resources. These institutions formally organised as Central
Government, Local Government, and Traditional Authorities permeate at all levels of
society. Their pivotal role determines policies and programmes that affect all levels
of the population. All these institutions have been hampered by a centralised
approach which has been unable to delegate adequate authority and resources to the
local level.
A number of studies on poverty in general have been carried out in Malawi. The first
one was carried out in 1993 by the Government of Malawi and the United Nations,
where a report titled “ Situation Analysis of Poverty in Malawi” was produced.
Following this was an Integrated Household Survey (IHS) that was carried out in
1997 and 1998 with a view of understanding the conditions under which Malawians
were living. Two reports were produced from that survey, titled “Profile of Poverty
in Malawi, 1998 – Poverty Analysis of the Malawi Integrated Household Survey,
1997-98”, and “A Relative Profile of Poverty in Malawi, 1998 – A quintile-based
poverty analysis of the Malawi Integrated Household Survey, 1997-98”. This study
(IHS) was a follow-up to the adoption of the Poverty Alleviation Programmes by
government in 1994 and the institution of the Poverty Monitoring System to provide
information on poverty and poverty trends in Malawi. Sector specific, like fisheries,
has had no studies that looked at poverty per se.
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12. Figure 2 Conceptual Framework of Poverty in Malawi
Low Agricultural Production Low Income Low Education Poor Health
Limited Land Low Climatic Malnutrition Disease
Productivity Factors
Unequal Poor Low Inadequate Limited Insufficient Inadequate Material Insufficient Health
Distribution Quality Technology Inputs Extension Household Food and Child Care Services and Unhealthy
Security Living Environment
Limited
Credit
Rapid
Population
Growth
Unequal Distribution Limited development Limited Employment Low Enforcement Poor Quality
of Income of Small & Micro Opportunities
Enterprises
Market Low Inadequate Limited Limited Lack of Limited Inadequate Inappropriate
Pricing Wages Transport Financial Vocational School Fees Facilities Resources Curricula
Support Training
Weak
Institutional
Inadequate Domestic and other Social and Cultural Factors
External Resources
Structures
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Copied from: Situation Analysis of Poverty in Malawi (GoM/UN 1993)

13. 3. ECONOMIC GROWTH
3.1 Economic base
The Malawi economy remains agro-based. The agriculture sector accounts for over
38.6% of GDP, employs about 84.5% of the labour force, and accounts for 82.5% of
foreign exchange earnings. Agriculture is characterised by a dual structure consisting
of commercial estates that grow cash crops and a large smallholder sub-sector
engaged in mixed subsistence farming. Maize, the staple food, accounts for 80% of
cultivated land in the smallholder sub-sector. The main agricultural export crop is
tobacco, followed by tea, sugar and coffee. The manufacturing sector is small at 11%
of GDP and declining. Manufacturing comprises mainly agro-processing activities,
including of tobacco, tea and sugar. Distribution and services represented about 22%
each over the 1998-2002 period. The fishing sector was estimated to contribute about
4% to the GDP.
In the medium-term (2004–2008), economic growth is estimated to continue be
driven by the agriculture sector. With increased investment in infrastructure,
improved credit and marketing, agricultural production is expected to increase
substantially. This, in turn, is expected to stimulate economic activity in the
manufacturing, transport and distribution sectors. Therefore, the structure of the
economy in terms of sectoral shares to GDP is projected to remain the same in the
medium term. Overall growth for the agriculture sector is estimated at 7.8 per cent
per annum over the entire period. Tables 2 and 3 show the selected macroeconomic
indicators between 1995 and 2004 and changes in GDP between 1999 and 2002
respectively.
Table 2: Selected Macroeconomic Indicators, 1995- 2004
(Annual percentage changes, unless otherwise stated)
Indicator Average
1995-2001 2002 2003 2004
GDP at 1994 factor cost 4.4 1.8 4.4 4.9
Real Exports of Goods and Non-factor 5.5 -0.9 1.4 9.2
Services
Real Imports of Goods and Non-factor 3.5 28.3 -0.6 -0.9
Services
Real Gross Fixed Capital Formation -3.2 -19.7 0.7 4.1
Gross Savings as Share of GDP* 13.7 10.1 9.1 8.6
of which: 2.9 -7.1 -6.6 -4.7
Domestic Savings as Share of GDP
National Savings as Share of GDP** 7.6 -2.6 -2.6 -1.6
Foreign Savings as Share of GDP 6.1 12.7 11.6 10.3
Gross Investment as Share of GDP 13.7 10.1 9.1 8.6
Inflation 37.4 14.8 10.0 8.0
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14. Table 3: Changes in GDP between 1999 and 2002
1999 2000 2001 2002
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at factor 13,091 13,117 12,582 12,808
cost (MK ‘million)
GDP at current market prices (MK ‘million) 79,818 103,425 123,075 147,581
GDP per capita (MK) 8,220 10,380 15,006 12,900
GDP annual growth rate (%) 3.5 0.2 -4.1 1.8
Source: National Statistical Office (NSO), Zomba
3.2 The Fisheries Sector
The fisheries sector plays a key role in poverty reduction through the provision of
rural employment and, more importantly, through its contribution to household food
security. The sector provides employment opportunities to over 350,000 people
directly and has a multiplier effect of about 1:5.
Fish provides a major source of protein supply, estimated at approximately 70% of
animal protein and 40% of the total protein intake for the majority of the rural poor.
Fish also provides essential minerals and vitamins, is available throughout the year,
is accessible to the vast majority of the people, is available in times of drought and
remains largely within the purchasing power of the majority of the population.
3.3 Fishing sector definition
The fisheries sector in Malawi is sub-divided into two, capture fisheries and
aquaculture sub-sectors. The capture fisheries sector being the major sector. Malawi
has five major water bodies important for fish production. The annual catch from
Malawi’s major fisheries is in the region of 40 to 80 thousand tons. In 2003, Malawi
produced an estimated total catch of 48,200 tonnes. Lake Malawi is the largest and
most significant water body. The fish catch from Lake Malawi contributed over 75
percent to the total annual catch from Malawi waters in 2003. The other water bodies
being: Lake Chilwa (about 750km2), Lake Malombe (about 390km2), Lake Chiuta
(about 200km2), and two sections of the Shire River (upper and lower). In terms of
fish production in 2003, Lake Chilwa contributed about 14% to the total catch, Lake
Malombe about 1.2%, Lake Chiuta about 2.4%, Upper Shire River less than 1% , and
the Lower Shire River about 4.2%. All these water bodies are of high local
importance socio-economically.
The fisheries are multi-species and multi-gear, involving a number of exploitation
techniques to harvest numerous species. They are categorically divided into two, the
artisanal or traditional fisheries and the small-scale commercial fisheries. On average,
the artisanal fisheries contribute about 85 – 90% of the total fish landings and the
small-scale commercial fisheries contribute about 10 – 15% of the total fish landings.
3.3.1 The artisanal fisheries
Artisanal fisheries are open access, highly complex, scattered in all water bodies and
mainly operate between 0-20m in Lake Malawi while in other water bodies all depth
ranges are covered. The artisanal fisheries comprises of a wide range of fishing units,
ranging from traditional fishing gears and crafts, such as fish traps and handlines
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15. operated from dugout canoes to relatively modern gears and craft, like the seine nets
operated from planked boats powered by outboard motors, and employ a lot of people.
The main target fish species for the artisanal fisheries, depending on the fishing gear,
are chambo (Oreochromis species), Kambuzi (Haplochromis species), Usipa
(Engraulicypris sardella), Utaka (Copadichromis species), Kampango (Bargrus
meridionalis) and Mlamba (Clariid gariepinus). The main fishing gears are gillnets,
chambo beach seine nets, kambuzi beach seine nets, nkacha seine nets, chilimira seine
nets, longlines, handlines and fish traps. Nkacha and chilimira seine nets are open water
seines
The 2003 frame survey results indicated that there were 15,542 gear owners and 42,312
crew members that fished with 15,316 fishing craft. Of the fishing craft, 493 were
planked boats operated with engines, 2,999 were planked boats operated without
engines, and 11,824 were canoes. A summary of the survey results are given in annex 1.
3.2.2 The small scale commercial fisheries
The small scale commercial fisheries are mechanised, capital intensive and use
mainly trawling and purse seining (‘ring net’) and are confined in the southern part
of Lake Malawi. The fishery consists of pair trawlers units (wooden boats about 8m
long with a 20-40 hp inboard engine), stern trawler (90-385 hp) units and ring nets
(90 hp) which are confined to the southern part of the lake. Thirty-seven commercial
fishing vessels have been recommended for this fishery, but the number of operating
fishing vessels have fluctuated between 10 to 25 in the last decade. Thirteen trawlers,
eight stern and five pair trawlers are currently operational. The pair trawlers fish in
waters between 18m and 50m deep and the stern trawlers are restricted in deep
waters greater than 50m. All the stern trawlers except one are bottom trawlers. One
stern trawler operate a midwater trawl.
In addition to the small-scale commercial fisheries is the aquarium trade that is based
on the exploitation and exportation of highly coloured territorial cichlids locally
known as mbuna. The ornamental fishing operations are confined to two licensees
only and fish in rock areas of not more that 100m deep.
4. FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
4.1 Principal fish resources
The Lake Malawi fisheries is a multi-species fisheries with distinct fisheries named
after fish species or gears. Chambo4 (Oreochromis spp) is one of the main six
commercially important fish species that are commonly fished in lakes Malawi and
Malombe, and the chambo fishery is named after the fish. The fishery is made up of
three main Oreochromis species namely Oreochromis karongae, Oreochromis lidole,
and Oreochromis squamipinnis. Research records indicate that the chambo fishery of
Lake Malawi has existed for over forty years, even before the start of keeping catch
statistics in Malawi. The fishing gears involved in the fishery have ranged from the
pair trawlers, through ring nets to less sophisticated gears like beach seines, gill nets
4
Chambo is a local name for the Oreochromis species
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16. and fish traps. Although the fishery experiences such a wide range of gears, much of
chambo catch comes from gillnets (about 51%).
The other commercially important fish species include Kambuzi (Haplochromis
species), Usipa (Engraulicypris sardella), Utaka (Copadichromis species), Kampango
(Bargrus meridionalis) and Mlamba (Clariid gariepinus). The haplochromines
dominate the beach seine net catches, whereas, Engraulicypris sardella and
Copadichromis species dominate the open water seine net catches. Kampango (Bargrus
meridionalis) and Mlamba (Clariid gariepinus) are either caught by gillnets or
longlines.
4.2 Historical trends of landed catches and their values
The annual fish catches have varied widely between 40,000 and 80,000mt, with
landings in most years between 50,000 and 60,000mt. Lakes Malawi, Malombe,
Chilwa, Chiuta, and two sections of the Shire River (upper and lower) form the basis
of Malawi’s fish production. Lake Malawi is the largest and most significant water
body in terms of fish production. Most of the catch (85 - 90%) is landed by artisanal
fishermen.
The size and range of small-scale fishing fleet has declined as government boat
building facilities were withdrawn in an attempt to encourage the emergence of
private sector support enterprises, and the level of technology applied to the fisheries
has fallen visibly over the past two decades.
Table 4 shows the estimated annual fish landings for all water bodies in Malawi
between 1978 and 2002)
Table 4: Estimated annual fish landings for all waters bodies in Malawi (1978
– 2002)
Year L. Malawi L. Malawi L. Malawi Lake Lake Lake Lower and TOTAL
Artisanal Commercial Total Malombe Chilwa Chiuta Middle
(tons) (tons) (tons) (tons) (tons) (tons) Shire (tons)
(tons)
1978 26,400 7,200 33,600 6,100 17,800 1,700 8,600 67,800
1979 15,300 7,100 22,400 3,600 25,800 1,600 6,400 59,800
1980 23,000 7,200 30,200 6,500 19,400 800 3,900 60,800
1981 17,700 7,600 25,300 8,500 8,600 900 4,000 47,300
1982 17,800 6,400 24,200 12,100 15,500 1,400 5,200 58,400
1983 23,400 7,800 31,200 9,700 16,800 1,100 6,100 64,900
1984 25,000 7,600 32,600 11,300 14,600 2,000 4,900 65,400
1985 21,000 8,000 29,000 8,600 15,200 1,700 7,600 62,100
1986 29,200 7,200 36,400 13,400 13,800 800 9,200 73,600
1987 41,800 8,200 50,000 13,000 8,400 3,300 7,100 81,800
1988 40,400 6,700 47,100 11,500 7,400 2,000 8,200 76,200
1989 33,800 4,900 38,700 6,200 12,600 1,300 10,300 69,100
1990 31,600 6,200 37,800 12,200 20,300 2,400 7,500 80,200
1991 30,000 5,700 35,700 9,625 7,400 1,700 9,000 63,425
1992 35,500 4,900 40,400 7,600 10,459 2,687 3,000 64,146
1993 38,200 3,569 41,769 5,811 10,810 3,532 2,900 64,822
1994 29,461 4,775 34,236 4,134 10,186 3,350 2,011 53,917
H-13

17. 1995 21,470 5,211 26,681 2,653 1,328 1,159 2,074 33,895
1996 36,716 2,988 39,704 3,573 - 4,035 2,173 49,485
1997 25,154 3,662 28,816 2,790 4,510 2,733 1,586 40,435
1998 28,381 1,370 29,751 4,789 4,973 3,250 1,756 44,519
1999 29,051 3,674 32,725 3,717 4,742 1,519 2,146 44,849
2000 36,310 3,698 40,008 620 15,987 1,575 9,056 67,246
2001 32,013 4,928 36,941 512 536 1,058 2,140 41,187
2002 21,920 3,767 25,687 693 6,650 1,275 2,173 36,478
Source: Department of Fisheries
Despite the fluctuating pattern in the total landings, the total value of the landed
catch has shown an increasing pattern (see table 5). This is an indication that the
price of fish has been rising over the years. This could be explained in terms of
increasing fish demand versus fish supply. It is also worth noting that fish caught is
basically for consumption. There is nothing like by-catches to be discarded or fish
for fish meal.
Table 5: Annual total fish landings in Malawi and their values
Year Total Landings Landed value
(tons) (MK’000)
1978 67,800 8,790
1979 59,800 8,372
1980 60,800 10,521
1981 47,300 8,220
1982 58,400 9,346
1983 64,900 17,649
1984 65,400 20,513
1985 62,100 27,646
1986 73,600 37,128
1987 81,800 40,580
1988 76,200 71,706
1989 69,100 77,345
1990 80,200 65,000
1991 63,425 89,804
1992 64,146 96,219
1993 64,822 130,916
1994 53,917 215,668
1995 33,895 203,370
1996 49,485 742,275
1997 40,435 808,700
1998 44,519 1,023,937
1999 44,849 1,123,915
2000 67,246 1,931,978
2001 41,187 1,253,320
2002 36,478 1,140,667
In Malawi, fishing gears are usually named after the fish they target, and sometimes
in loose terms, a fishery is defined according to the fish species caught. Table 6 gives
H-14

18. the total annual landings of selected fish species/fisheries that dominated the catches
between 2000 and 2003. Table 7 gives the corresponding monetary values of the
landed catches of the selected fish species.
Table 6 Estimated annual total landings of selected dominant fish species
Annual total landings by species
Species 2000 2001 2002 2003
Chambo 3,349.71 2,389.98 3,175.41 6,202.63
Kambuzi 3,454.50 2,698.15 1,765.24 1,948.42
Kasawala 592.95 2,163.12 66.79 228.92
Kampango 1,086.17 1,268.28 929.34 1,615.12
Mlamba 9,211.82 6,713.03 3,320.59 3,898.65
Mbaba 1,283.39 3,928.82 2,575.02 3,277.69
Mcheni 649.98 1,277.79 1,715.43 1,081.66
Ntchila 11.13 17.83 8.78 27.86
Sanjika 45.67 18.53 7.24 22.78
Usipa 8,751.73 3,726.62 4,293.08 4,986.87
Utaka 16,638.20 11,329.10 7,146.33 15,061.80
Chisawasawa 360.44 1,272.41 338.12 403.55
Ndunduma 3.31 13.94 131.04 166.62
Mpasa 84.51 37.64 214.24 482.46
Nkholokolo 58.43 281.94 13.34 148.74
Other tilapia 433.98 171.86 460.09 1,517.74
Table 7: Estimated annual total monetary values of selected fish species (in
MK ' 000)
Annual total values by species (MK '
000)
Species 2000 2001 2002 2003
Chambo 191,262.86 156,005.94 164,253.37 537,230.46
Kambuzi 46,647.27 52,029.33 33,774.93 64,041.32
Kasawala 10,290.65 31,412.11 1,038.03 10,589.46
Kampango 24,587.27 29,411.41 15,493.65 61,942.54
Mlamba - 108,762.27 71,608.52 92,079.62
Mbaba 39,258.90 109,077.14 61,989.31 150,713.65
Mcheni 13,466.50 28,784.35 47,214.35 45,325.16
Ntchila 64.94 - 131.70 92.87
Sanjika 228.35 58.83 - -
Usipa 144,578.58 78,209.33 96,372.49 178,862.40
Utaka 289,005.53 264,156.85 157,123.98 564,491.16
Chisawasawa 2,343.46 6,665.31 2,272.73 1,394.94
Ndunduma - 22.65 335.46 662.31
Mpasa 745.38 123.46 - -
Nkholokolo 423.13 1,595.31 70.19 1,482.19
Of these fish species, eight of them have shown that they are commercially important
as they bring in a lot of revenue to the fishers and fish traders. Table 8 gives a list of
H-15

19. the top eight commercially important fish species over a period of four years, from
2000 to 2003.
Table 8 Estimated annual total monetary values by species of commercially
important fish species ('
000)
Annual total values by species (MK '
000)
Species 2000 2001 2002 2003
Utaka 289,005.53 264,156.85 157,123.98 564,491.16
Chambo 191,262.86 156,005.94 164,253.37 537,230.46
Usipa 144,578.58 78,209.33 96,372.49 178,862.40
Mbaba 39,258.90 109,077.14 61,989.31 150,713.65
Kambuzi 46,647.27 52,029.33 33,774.93 64,041.32
Mlamba - 108,762.27 71,608.52 92,079.62
Kampango 24,587.27 29,411.41 15,493.65 61,942.54
Mcheni 13,466.50 28,784.35 47,214.35 45,325.16
4.3 Fisheries sector and food security
Fish plays a vital and unique role in nutritional status of many Malawians as a source
of protein, vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients. The nutritional benefits from
fish are even higher among the poor because fish offers the only affordable option
for obtaining these nutrients. In this regard, fish is crucial for addressing some of the
most important concerns about nutrition security in Malawi, which include: child
malnutrition, maternal malnutrition, nutritional anaemia, vitamin A deficiency and
other nutrition related diseases. In addition, the high nutritional value of fish provides
an important tool for mitigating the health impact of HIV infection.
Because fish is on high demand, it is easily traded in both rural and urban
communities. As a result, the sector is employing a significant proportion of the
population as fishers, processors and traders enabling them to earn income for
purchase of food to meet their household food and nutrition security. Households
which vend in fish find it advantageous to sell fish and purchase other food items to
improve their household food security and nutritional status and studies have shown
that fish farmers and fishing communities are better off in terms of meal frequency,
meal composition, meal diversity and availability of household assets.
Because of the role fish can play in mitigating against food security at household
level, among other factors, the estimated per capita fish consumption in Malawi has
been declining over the years. Table 9 below gives population trends against annual
fish catches and the estimated per capita fish consumption.
Table 9: Malawi Population, Estimated Total fish catch and per capita fish
consumption
H-16

20. Year Population Total Catch (tons) Fish supply/kg/person/year
1980 6,200,000 60,800 9.8
1981 6,400,000 47,300 7.4
1982 6,700,000 58,400 8.7
1983 6,900,000 64,900 9.4
1984 7,200,000 65,400 9.1
1985 7,400,000 62,100 8.4
1986 7,700,000 73,600 9.6
1987* 8,000,000 81,800 10.2
1988 8,100,000 76,200 9.4
1989 8,300,000 69,100 8.3
1990 8,500,000 80,200 9.4
1991 8,600,000 63,425 7.4
1992 8,800,000 64,146 7.3
1993 9,000,000 64,822 7.2
1994 9,200,000 53,917 5.9
1995 9,400,000 33,895 3.6
1996 9,500,000 49,485 5.2
1997 9,700,000 40,435 4.2
1998* 9,934,000 44,519 4.5
1999 10,100,000 44,849 4.4
2000 10,300,000 67,246 6.5
*1987 and 1998 are actual NSO survey years. The population increased at an annual rate of 3.8% until 1987 and
subsequently decreased to around 2% between 1988 and 1998 (NSO, 2000). Incremental growth rate was
projected based on NSO 2000 data.
4.4 Fisheries Management approach
Fisheries have a number of characteristics that suggest that management will be
necessary in order to avoid overexploitation of fish stocks. Fisheries management
policies in Malawi have for a long time been guided by the conservation paradigm, that
is a biologically based philosophy, focusing on the protection of fish stocks. The
approach to fisheries management in Malawi has been the conventional government
centred, with the Department of Fisheries (DoF) as the only management authority. Of
late the approach has shifted from the government centred to community participation
or co-management in some areas.
Functionally, the Department of Fisheries has 6 major sections namely: Fisheries
Administration, which covers issues of Policy and Planning; Research; Extension;
Enforcement; Training; and Aquaculture. The Fisheries Administration section is based
at the Departmental Headquarters in Lilongwe, while Research has its main base at
Monkey Bay, and Training at Mpwepwe in Mangochi, where the Malawi College of
Fisheries is based. Extension and Enforcement have centres in all fishing districts along
the major water bodies in Malawi.
H-17

21. The Department of Fisheries is mandated to protect and conserve the national fish
heritage of Malawi through appropriate control mechanisms. Currently, the
operations of the Department are guided by the Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy of
2001, the Fisheries Management and Conservation Act of 1997, and the Fisheries
Five Year Strategic Plan (2002-2007) that outlines the major strategies for the
development and management of the sector. The Fisheries Policy and Strategic Plan
development took into account the provisions of the FAO Code of Conduct for
Responsible Fisheries.
In a bid to fulfil its mandate, the Department of Fisheries developed its operational
goal and objectives as follows: The Departmental goal is “to provide professional
services to ensure sustainable fisheries resource utilisation and enhanced aquaculture
through principles of good governance”.
The Departmental operational objectives are:
a) To ensure that all fisheries are managed according to operational management
procedures.
b) To restructure, reorganize and strengthen Department of Fisheries for effective
internal, national and international communication.
c) To strengthen user institutional capacity for fisheries resource management and
governance, and
d) To update legislation and policy in line with other national policies and legal
instruments.
4.4.1 Basic fishery management structure
As stated above, in Malawi, the Department of Fisheries’ management policies have
been influenced by the principles of the conservation paradigm, i.e. a centralised
biologically led approach that has its roots in the theories of Maximum Sustainable
Yield (MSY). The approach is centred at the national level, with lower degrees or none
at all of user5 participation. It is documented that in principle, the approach is less costly
and less time consuming in establishing, but it tends to be less sustainable and more
costly over time. The major costs of this kind of fishery management approach are the
transaction costs (Hanna, 1995), and these involve the costs of gathering information,
designing regulations, co-ordinating participants, monitoring conditions and enforcing
regulations. In the short-run, this approach is said to be less time consuming and less
costly to establish, because in the establishment phase, the approach relies on a small
number of experts to gather the initial information, design the regulations, and involves
very little participation by resource users. In the long-run, the approach is more costly
and less sustainable, because there is a shift in the transaction costs. The transaction
costs of monitoring and enforcement are high since the approach creates an incentive to
the users to sabotage the programme because uncertainty about the goals of the process
tends to shorten time horizons of users, encouraging short-term actions at the expense
of long-term sustainability (ibid. p65).
Based on this approach, the research section of the Department carries out planned
research activities annually in the fields of Stock Assessment, Limnology, Frame
5
The term user(s), or resource user in this paper will be used to mean the fishing communities, and therefore, the
terms may be interchangeable.
H-18

22. Surveys (annual census of fishers, fishing craft and gears), Catch and Effort
monitoring, as well as demand-driven research to address specific fishing community
problems. Results from these research activities are used to review the management
plan developed in the previous year and develop one for the forth-coming year. Some
of the information is developed into extension messages for the target groups.
Research – Extension meetings and in some cases Research – Extension – Fisher
meetings are held to share information on the fishery.
4.4.2 Development of fisheries legislation in Malawi
The first fishing regulations in Malawi, the then Nyasaland, were introduced in 1930,
by adding a section (Section 3: Fishing Rules MP.437 of 1930) to the Game Ordinance
(Chirwa, 1996). The ordinance statutorily enabled the Ministry of Natural Resources to
implement, through the Department of Fisheries6, regulations with regard to the sector.
In 1949 the objectives of these regulations mainly aimed at controlling fisheries, to
regulate commercial fishing, to assure its taxation, and to provide, as far as it was
possible, an equitable return to the largest possible number of fishermen and all those
engaged in the fishing industry.
By 1973, the Malawian political institutions noted the need to formulate a new Fisheries
Act. It became necessary to take into account: a) the need to conserve fishing stocks to
give a long term optimum catch; b) to adapt fishing methods regulations to modernised
gear; and c) the dangers of pollution.
Consequently, a completely new statute, namely the Fisheries Act, 1973, replaced the
Fisheries Ordinance of 1949. By mid 1990s, there was a gradual shift in the fisheries
management philosophy from the conservation paradigm to the social/community
paradigm, i.e. focusing on fisher community involvement in fisheries management. As
such, the Fisheries Act of 1973 was reviewed with the intention of including
community participation in fisheries management. A new act known as Fisheries
Conservation and Management Act, 1997, was then passed in parliament in October,
1997 to replace the 1973 Fisheries Act.
Current fishing regulations for the various water bodies in Malawi include a series of
technical restrictions of fishing gears, i.e. type, mesh size, head line length,
prohibition of fishing periods and times. Consequently, the chambo fishery has had
the greatest impact on the development of management measures for most of the
fishing areas in lakes Malawi and Malombe. Closed seasons and areas have been
instituted in the areas that were found to be breeding areas for chambo.
The following are some of the practical regulations that are being used, which target the
artisanal fishers in the chambo fishery.
a) Closed Fishing Season and Area: This regulation was designed to protect
chambo stocks during their spawning period. Selected fishing gears that target
chambo (especially beach seines) are prohibited to be used in the closed areas
and during the closed season. The closed season runs from 1st November to
31st December of each year in Lake Malawi for all beach seines and ring nets,
6
The Department of Fisheries in Malawi was established in 1946 (Chirwa, 1996, p 369)
H-19

23. and from 1st January to 31st March of each year in Lake Malombe for all seine
nets and from 1st November to 31st March in the Upper Shire River.
b) Mesh size restrictions: This regulation was formulated to supplement the one on
closed season and areas, in order to protect juvenile chambo from being caught
before they are mature to breed. Minimum mesh sizes for various types of
fishing gears are set based on the size at maturity information for chambo.
c) Minimum takeable size of fish: Based on size at maturity information, this
regulation was designed to supplement the mesh size restriction regulation by
protecting juvenile fish. Apart from chambo, different fish species have
minimum allowed takeable sizes.
For the small-scale commercial fishers, the following regulations apply:
a) Code end minimum mesh size for trawl nets should be one inch (1 inch)
b) Trawl nets to be operated in waters not less than 1.8km (1 nautical mile) from
the shore
c) A fishing unit has to have a valid fishing licence and fish in prescribed
fishing zones. The license fee depends on the fishing gear, the power of the
fishing vessel and the fishing zone.
d) Fishing licences are not transferable.
e) Closed season for ring nets, these are the same as those for the beach seine
nets, i.e. The closed season runs from 1st November to 31st December of each
year in Lake Malawi for all ring nets.
As can be observed from the fishing regulations above, they are all biologically
based. None of these regulations addresses the initial ideas that led to the
development of management regulations of assuring fisheries taxation to provide, as
far as it can be possible, an equitable return to the largest possible number of fishermen
and all those engaged in the fishing industry.
Prior to 1993, the fisheries management regime in Malawi was entirely based on the
top-down approach with central government agencies deciding on the issues and
needs for the industry. Compliance with management regulations, however, has been
low due to inadequate enforcement of fisheries regulations exacerbated by financial
constraints and the “open-entry” nature of the traditional fisheries. The collapse of
the Chambo stocks in Lake Malombe and the Upper Shire River in the early 1990s
revealed the ineffectiveness of the centralised management measures used hitherto.
In response to this, a management plan based on conventional technical measures
was formulated by the Chambo Project in 1993 and was to be implemented through a
more consultative and participatory approach referred to as Participatory Fisheries
Management (PFM) approach. The objective of the PFM approach was to restore and
sustain the collapsed stocks in Lake Malombe and the Upper Shire River system.
Again, the approach in this case was biologically based.
The PFM initiative, which was envisaged as an alternative fisheries management
arrangement was introduced by Government in Lake Malombe on a pilot scale in
1993. Since this concept was not supported by a policy statement and legal
H-20

24. framework when it was introduced, it became necessary that a policy statement be
formulated and incorporated in the new National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy
and Legislation. The PFM sub-policy which was approved in 2001 has the following
key objectives:
1. To achieve the active participation of local fishing communities in the
management of the fish resources
2. To promote legal instruments and procedures for the participation of local
fisheries management authorities in the management of the fish resources,
and
3. To develop and maintain the capacity to monitor, support and conduct
research on participatory fisheries management within the Department of
Fisheries.
4.4.3 Participatory Fisheries Management (PFM)
Participatory Fisheries Management (PFM) or co-management as understood in the
Department of Fisheries in Malawi refers to the participation of fishing communities
in the management of fishery resources. It is worth noting that community
participation in natural resource management can take different forms ranging from
where the government (or managing authority) takes much of the control, in what is
commonly termed top-down or instructive to where the communities take full control
of resource management, in what is commonly termed community based
management.
The participatory fishery management system in Malawi, does involve all the key
stakeholders. Basically the key stakeholders are the fishers, the DoF, and the donors
of projects in the fisheries sector.
Following the conceptual requirements of the PFM approach of the need to assign
resource ownership rights and user rights for effective resource management and
sustainability of the PFM programme, it became necessary that fishing areas be
demarcated into fishery management units (FMU) based on biological or ecological
indicators. An example of this is that of Lakes Malombe, Chilwa and Chiuta. This
developed from the provisions in the Fisheries Management and Conservation Act of
1997, where these FMUs are supposed to be managed by Fisheries Management
Authorities (FMAs). According to the Fisheries Act, the FMAs are provided for in
the PFM section.
Based on lessons learnt in the PFM pilot areas, there is an on going debate of
whether the demarcation of the FMUs should basically be on the premise of
ecological zones, or it should also take into account the socio-cultural background of
the fishing communities around the ecological zones. The debate was sparked
realising that the FMU concept, in the case of Malawi, falls under the Participatory
Fisheries Management approach, and brings into play the issues of property rights,
access rights and controlled access to the fishery, especially in the artisanal fisheries
sub-sector.
Since the PFM approach is yet to spread to Lake Malawi, the Department of
Fisheries is in the process of designing various studies that will generate both
biological and socio-cultural information for the FMU demarcation and development
H-21

25. of FMU management plans. It will be based on these management plans, that fishery
resource management agreements will be signed between the FMAs and the DoF.
4.4.4 Access to the fishery
The Malawi fisheries can be described as a regulated open-access fishery. As
indicated above, the small scale fisheries are divided into two categories of fishers,
the traditional fishers (artisanal fishers) and the semi-commercial fishers. Based on
the fishing efficiency of the gears used by each category of fishers, the traditional
fishers do not have any serious harvesting control measures or access to the fishery
as opposed to their colleagues in the semi-commercial group. The measures that are
in place that control the harvest levels in the traditional category are hinged on the
control of fishing effort, that is the size of the fishing gear, in terms of net length, and
observation of closed seasons. In addition to this, the traditional fishers are free to
join or exit the fishery. While in the semi-commercial fishers category, the control
measure is through the acquisition of a fishing licence and allocation of such fishers
in designated fishing zones. Each zone has a prescribed number of fishing units that
can be allowed to fish there.
The quota system of catch control in the semi-commercial fisheries is currently under
discussion but has not been finalised. The potential problem that has been identified
with the quota system is the implementation of a mechanism that will enable
effective monitoring and enforcement of the system. This is in view of the fact that
some crew members of the trawl units sell the fish while in the fishing grounds, and
when they land the catch, it is recorded less the fish sold off-shore. These crew
members do this to beat their masters due to low wages.
There are management provisions that are backed by the legislation that areas with
stocks that show a serious decline can be closed to fishing for a prescribed period of
time. Similarly, the legislation empowers the Director of Fisheries and the Minister
responsible for Fisheries to cancel or re-allocate licensees from areas that have high
fishing efforts to areas with low fishing pressure. The provisions in the Fisheries Act
do not allow the semi-commercial fishing licences to be transferable.
However, the licensing system has not been used as a tool to restrict entrants and to
convey exclusive and limited fishing rights. Consequently, there are no legal
instruments to empower fisheries management authorities such as Beach Village
Committees (BVCs) to limit entry into the fishery. This has resulted in conflicts
between resource users whereby fishers migrate from one beach to another.
4.4.5 Economically Rational Management
The management system currently in place does not include subsidies to the fishers.
In the past the government used to control the fish prices at the markets. It was later
discovered that this approach to fish marketing was disadvantaging the fishers. To
create an enabling environment for the fishers and to earn as they should from the
fishery, the government liberalised the fish trade. All capable fishers survive in the
fishing industry at their own cost.
H-22

26. Government has never seriously looked upon fisheries as a source of revenue. The
only way that government collects revenue from the fishery is through sales of
fishing licences and sales of fish from research vessels. It is very unfortunate that
sales of fishing licences to artisanal fishers has not seriously been enforced, and in
most cases only about 20% of the fishers renew their fishing licences annually. On a
similar note, efforts to calculate resource rents from the fishery have never been
taken serious. This could be attributed to the way fishery managers seriously think of
the other benefits the nation could get from the fishery apart from contributing
towards food security and at microeconomic level the benefits to the fishing families.
If careful considerations could be given to the issue of estimating the resource rent
and how this could be utilised for effective fisheries management, appropriate
management measure could be developed. However, it should be remembered that
the management approach in fisheries has for a long time been dominated by the
concepts of MSY. This is evidenced from the fishing regulations that were developed
and are currently in use. It is only of late that new dimensions in fisheries
management are beginning to incorporate socio-economic factors.
5. POLICY MAKING
In line with the National Development Policies, the National Environmental Policy
(NEP) and National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy (NAFAP) were formulated.
The NEP was prepared in 1994 in response to the Rio Summit under Agenda 21. It
aimed at: a) promoting the efficient utilisation and management of natural resources;
b) facilitating the rehabilitation and management of essential ecosystems and
ecological processes; c) enhancing public awareness of the importance of sound
environmental management; and d) promoting cooperation among Government, local
communities including women groups, non-governmental organisations and the
private sector in the management and utilisation of the natural resources and the
environment.
The Fisheries Policy (NAFAP) aims at maximising the sustainable yield from the
national waters of Malawi with emphasis on local community participation. The
secondary objectives are to improve the efficiency of exploitation, processing and
marketing, promote investment in the fishing industry, promote rural fish farming
units, exploit all opportunities to expand existing and develop new aquatic resources.
NAFAP supports the development of the fisheries management strategies as guided
by the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (Article 7).
Fish drives the commercialisation of rural economies, with a multiplier effect of 1:5,
between the point of production and consumption, thus improving food marketing.
Within the agricultural and natural resources sector, fisheries is the second largest
employer, second from the crop sector. It has the largest number of employees (4)
per enterprise, compared to 3.8 under crops; it generates the largest profit per
employee per hour (K50.15) compared to mining (K16.64) and crops (K5.94).
In addition to capture fisheries production, the Department is mandated to increase
and sustain fish production from rural small scale farmers as well as large scale
commercial aquaculture (fish farming) operations in order to improve fish supply
within the country and for export.
H-23

27. The commitment of the government, therefore through the Department of Fisheries is
to promote fish production so that the standard of living of the rural communities is
improved through income generation.
5.1 Fisheries and Economic Growth Strategies
Fish Production is identified as one of the sources of pro-poor growth in the Malawi
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (MPRSP) and falls under Pillar 1 (Promotion of
rapid sustainable pro-poor economic growth and structural transformation). Under
fish production, the aim is to maximize the sustainable yield from the waters of
Malawi and man-made water bodies. As indicated earlier, this approach targets the
individual fishing community households, rather than through the resource rents at a
much higher level of development.
For positive contribution to Pillar 1 of the PRSP, the Department of Fisheries
advocates for enhanced fish production from both Capture fisheries and Fish
Farming. Recent research studies have indicated that there is about 30-35,000 tonnes
of fish that can be caught annually from the unexploited deep waters.
The Malawi Economic Growth Strategy (MEGS) which was developed in 2004 aims
at achieving high economic growth through the stimulation of trade and investment
and the restoration of macroeconomic stability as a follow-on to the PRSP. In the
MEGS framework, the fisheries sector has not been considered as one of the sectors
that could contribute to economic growth through investment (see figure 3), instead,
under natural resources, it is the mining sub-sector that has been highlighted.
H-24

28. Figure 3: The Framework for the Malawi Economic Growth Strategy
Resources Policies
Political
W ill
Macro-economic conditions for growth
Opportunities &
Supportive Legal/ Reg. F ram ework
Incentives for:
Public Sector Investment Program me
U tilities/Communications/Infrastructure/Finance/Irrigation
Development Partners
Private Sector
Supporting
Investment
Agriculture N atural R esources Manufacturing Services
Tobacco, Tea,
Sugar, C otton, Mining Text/Garm en t, Tourism
M aize & cassava Agro-proces s ing
Distribution/Import/Export/W holesale/Retail/Transport
Trade B odies/ Domestic/International Trade
Agreements
G rowth of at least 6% per annum
Source: MEPD/Task Force
This Malawi Economic Growth Strategy recognises that Government resources are
limited. It, therefore, seeks to deliver higher growth rates by stimulating investment
in high growth sectors. Generally, an improved business climate would result in an
increased revenue base for Government with which it can meet additional
expenditure requirements. Due to current fiscal gaps, Malawi requires budgetary
support by development cooperating partners to finance a large portion of its
development programmes. The Malawi Economic Growth Strategy also relies on
mobilising the resources within the private sector at micro, small, medium and large-
scale levels (GoM 2004). It is envisaged that the Malawi Economic Growth Strategy
will seek, as a central theme, to improve the business climate in Malawi so as to
unlock and attract new investment and trade.
The Department of Fisheries has undertaken some strategic steps in order to ensure
that the sector contributes positively to the national economy so as to make a dent in
poverty reduction as well as food security.
Therefore its priority focus is to achieve the following objective:
Stimulate contribution of the fisheries sector to sustainable economic growth
The major strategies include:
• Promote sector investment program
• Enhance post harvest utilization of fish and fisheries products
• Enhance aquaculture production
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29. • Carry out resource assessment programs of unexploited stocks
• Promote sustainable production in capture fisheries through the development
of sound management plans
• Disseminate research findings to all stakeholders
• Implement and ensure effective enforcement
Supplementary strategies include:
• Develop and maintain human capacity to manage fisheries resources.
• Enhance timely information exchange at all levels
• Clearly define roles, targets and responsibilities of DoF Officers.
• Review of DoF activities in research, management interventions and project
objectives and activities
• Develop and implement performance plan management system
• Enhance capacity of DoF administration.
• Increase knowledge and skills base for both private and public sector.
• Review and implement DOF devolution plan
• Develop fisheries management agreement with communities
• Policy review and harmonization
• Legislation review and harmonization
• Master plan production
• Conduct economic sectoral study
The strategies outlined above will be achieved by implementing activities
summarised in the departmental strategic plan. The Departmental Strategic Plan
places much priority and emphasis on fisheries and Aquaculture Development for
maximum impact. Specific areas of emphasis on fisheries include enhancing post-
harvest utilization of fish and fisheries products; sector investment and development;
enhancing aquaculture production; carrying out resource assessment programmes of
unexploited stocks; promote sustainable production in capture fisheries; implement
and ensure effective enforcement and reviewing of fisheries policy and legislation.
6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The preceding sections allude to the fact that the fisheries sector has the potential to
contribute towards national economic growth and poverty reduction. There are a
number of issues in the case of Malawi, that have prevented the sector to make full
contribution towards these developmental goals.
The original fisheries management approach the Department of Fisheries had in the
1940s were going to pave way for the fisheries sector to effectively contribute
towards economic growth and poverty reduction. This led to the development of the
first fishing regulations that aimed at controlling the fisheries, regulating commercial
fishing, ensuring its taxation, and providing, as far as it was possible, an equitable return
to the largest possible number of fishermen and all those engaged in the fishing
industry. The problem came in when the fisheries sector was reviewed in the early
1970s following the production of a new fisheries act in 1973. The new management
approach was only biologically based with its roots in the MSY concept. Since then the
fisheries management approach has been biologically based.
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30. However, the Malawi fisheries sector has the potential to make a substantial
contribution towards economic development and poverty reduction. This is based on
the fact that, despite the government taking the biological approach to fisheries
management, the sector still employs and supports the livelihoods of a substantial
amount of people, as well as contributing about 4% to the GDP. In view of this, the
following recommendation are made that can, if implemented, enable the fisheries
sector contribute effectively to economic growth and poverty reduction.
The fishery management approach has to shift from the conservation approach to either
the rationalisation paradigm or social paradigm approaches. The rationalisation
approach focuses on economic efficiency and wealth creation in the fishery. This
requires reduction to optimal level the number of fishers, and instituting private
property rights. The social paradigm approach focuses on community welfare,
distributional equity and other social and cultural fishery benefits.
For a meaningful switch from the conservation approach to either of the two above,
there is need to carry out a number of studies that should provide background
information for the formulation of the new management approach. Such studies include
in general terms, a fishery sector study review. Within the armpits of the review,
fisheries sector investment profiles will be developed based on socio-economic and
cultural studies, the impact of the fisheries sector on the national economy and poverty
reduction based on different management scenarios and approaches.
Finally, the current desk study has been of great benefit in the sense that it has sparked
an interest in reviewing the current fisheries management approach in line with
economic growth and poverty reduction. The major challenges in the review will be the
generation or capturing of adequate data for such a review, considering that there are a
lot of gaps in data and information at hand; secondly, the creation of awareness and
convincing the policy makers that the fisheries sector has a high potential to contribute
towards national economic growth and poverty reduction.
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31. REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL READING
Chirwa, W.C. (1996) Fishing rights, Ecology and Conservation along Southern Lake
Malawi, 1920 – 1964. African Affairs, 95, p351 – 377.
Europa (1993) The Europa World Yearbook. Vol. II, Europa Publications Limited
GoM/UN (1993) Situation Analysis of Poverty in Malawi
GoM (2000) Profile of Poverty in Malawi, 1998, National Economic Council
(Poverty Monitoring System)
GoM (2002) Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy paper
GoM (2004) Malawi Economic Growth Strategy
Hanna, S. (1995) Efficiencies of User Participation in Natural Resource Management.
In Property Rights and the Environment - Social and Ecological Issues. Beijer
International Institute of Ecological Economics and The World Bank. Washington DC.
NSO (2002) National Statistical Office, Malawi – An Atlas of Social Statistics
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32. Annex 1
Table 1: 2003 Frame Survey counts of fishing craft, gear owners,
crewmembers and fishing gears by District Fisheries Office.
Indicator District
MH7 MH SA KK NB KA LA ZA LS Total
L. Me L. Mw (2003)
Fishers resident 449 1431 697 2102 2109 1871 387 895 1828 11769
Fishers non-resident 39 478 451 118 128 347 21 1534 657 3773
Crewmembers
resident. 3170 8318 2489 5962 4794 3974 1410 884 800 31801
Crew non-resident 527 3860 1446 1082 782 1080 207 1235 292 10511
Plank boats with
engine 0 270 74 128 21 0 0 0 0 493
Plank boats without
engine 372 1087 318 541 230 7 35 407 2 2999
Dug out canoe 56 1634 968 1454 2218 2471 326 1451 1246 11824
Gill nets 568.5 10633 7719 19040 7618.5 8440 2580 16500.5 4568 77668
Chilimira nets 0 640 218 442 728 818 233 0 0 3079
Chambo seines 28 6 1 35 0 1 0 0 0 71
Longlines 65 322 387 369 180.3 483 89 504.8 487 2884
Kambuzi seines 1 78 26 107 95 78 0 0 0 385
Mosquito nets 80 185 7 56 3 10 0 2 19 362
Fish traps 1001 10 116 72 0 95 0 20472 5305 27071
Beach seine nets 0 0 21 0 3 11 8 19 36 98
Scoop nets 0 0 1 46 1 0 0 2 33 83
Nkacha nets 184 100 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 309
Cast nets 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 759 766
Handlines 0 100 139 223 477 376 16 11 41 1383
Kandwindwi 3 37 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 42
Matemba seines
nets 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 276 0 276
Ndoloma 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Chomanga 0 0 0 0 0 0 24350 0 24350
7
These are abbreviations for fishing districts : MH = Mangochi, L. Me = Lake Malombe, L. Mw = Lake Malawi,
SA = Salima, KK = Nkhotakota, NB = Nkhata Bay, KA = Karonga, LA = Likoma, ZA = Zomba, LS = Lower
Shire
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