Page 11 - Tanzania Report

or gear of fishing such as use of dynamite, spears, use of poison, use of net which are dragged and
smashed a long the coral hence damaging them.

Coastal communities are exposed and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS due to the nature of their occupation.

Lack of supporting infrastructure Country Profile
Poor marketing and distribution of fish. The presence of bad and unreliable feeder roads make access The Republic of Tanzania
to trading points difficult. Luck of good storage also hinders quality fish to reach the local consumers.
(Fisheries 11 2008).

Post-harvest losses
Poor post-harvest greatly impacts on the income generation of quality of storage lead to loss of income
to the fishermen, processors and distributors. In the long run this leads to continuous food insecurity.

Overexploitation of f?shery resource

Coastal regions such as Zanzibar have registered a decline in annual catch due to over exploitation
of the fish resources. The total annual catch in Zanzibar was about 20,000 tonnes in the 1980s,
but currently it has dropped to less than 13,000 tonnes per annum. This reduction in fish catch can
also be observed in some localized areas such as Chwaka Bay (Jiddawi 1999b). It’s on record that a
number of species in terms of weight and numbers have declined or are rarely seen such as the Shark
fin which is rarely seen in Tanzania waters (Barnett 1997, Jiddawi and Shehe 1999)

The existence of many foreign fish industries operating in Bagamoyo area and Rufigi delta fishing
mainly for prawns and shrimp has led to a fall in the species. Mgaya et al. 1999. Also the use of
trawlers damages the habitats of the fish and crustaceans and trawlers also pose a significant threat
to the artisanal fishes because they destroy the nets and traps that traditional fishers use during fishing.

Women participation

The participation of women in the fisheries sector is very weak and if at all women are involved it is only
an informal method of trade; buying the fish, deep frying it and distribute to remote areas. The level of
women participation in the marine sector is very minimal and unrecorded. Women only handle post-
harvest activities of collecting the fish to sundry it or deep fry it and supply to the local consumers. With
poor feeder roads and lack of transportation sometimes they fail to deliver their supply. The Government
of Tanzania has no initiative or development plan to support women’s role in the fishery sector.

Data gaps

Limited availability of data and information on fisheries contribution to the household income and
to the economy at large. Gaps on the consumption patterns, distribution patterns available markets,
poverty levels and food security.

The opportunity
Economic growth
The artisanal fisheries make high contribution to the economy of Tanzania, and the coastal communities
depend the sector to improve their standard of living. The artisanal fisheries in terms of production,

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