Rabisoni Chipangula is Chikombe Beach Village Committee chair person who also doubles as secretary for Mbenje Island committee acknowledges how the traditional environmentalist principals set by their ancestors have helped to preserve fish species.
Mbenje, a fishing Island in Salima district is according to Chipangula a very sacred place that is only visited by men and cannot be visited by any woman to avoid the wrath of the spirits who settled on the Island some 70 years a go to seek refugee from the war. He recalls one incident when a female Japanese journalist insisted going to the island and surprisingly got sick upon arrival at the island.
“Our by laws say that women can’t go to the Island, life at the island is pure and very spiritual. We don’t allow drinking or smoking at the Island those found drunk at the island are suspended for 5 years,” says Chipangula.
This he however says is not some form of gender discrimination but rather to have law and order at the fishing island which during the fishing season is home to around 3000 fishermen who are not involved in direct fish sales. Fish sales are controlled by women who buy the fish at the beach.
“We don’t just fish at Mbenje, fishing is very regulated. Our fishing season starts in April when the lake is opened for fishing and closes in December, the opening of the fishing season is marked by offering sacrifices to our ancestors who died at the island”.
He said the by laws were developed in such a way that they can allow both agricultural and fish production to thrive – allowing the fishermen to engage in agriculture production from December to April and fishing from between April to December.
Mbenje is according to Chipangula indeed a strange place, having friendly snake species that can glow as long as two meters. These snakes can’t bite and as a rule no body is encouraged to kill a snake at Mbenje.
Sumaili Kudimba a fisherman at the island says while the society at Mbenje respects gender values, they can’t compromise them with their cultural and traditional values.
“Women are also not allowed at the island because of moral factors. There are 3000 men fishing at the island and if we allow women to go to the island there would be confusion as the men would compete over getting attention of the women,” he said.
Feggie Mwale and influencer under the Reflesh project agrees that the approach being used at Mbenje is the best approach that can be replicated at other fishing villages.
“I come from a fishing village in Nkhata Bay and I can honestly say that the Mbenje fishing model needs to be replicated in other areas. I don’t think by not allowing women to go fishing is gender discrimination rather its more about women empowerment as the women control much of the fish sales,” said Mwale.
Lingson Kapindira Phiri who is also group village headman Mpilingidzo agrees that by not allowing women to go fishing the women are benefiting more from the fishing activities as they are the ones that control much of the fish sales.
Ali Mdoka, who is also senior group Nyangulu and chairs the committee that regulates the opening and closing f the fishing season at Mbenje says the community uses culture to control the environment and fish and Mbenje because this is the only sustainable way of preserving fish species that are threatened in other fishing communities.
“We have been using these laws since when our ancestors, the Makanjira and Nyangulu families settled on the island. These bylaws are easily accepted by the communities because unlike laws that come from central government, these laws are made by people from this area and we can easily enforce and respect them,” said Mdoka.
George Alimu Phiri who is village head Kachere at Likoma Island said the approach being used at Mbenje is the best that can be replicated in other fishing communities. He said by making bylaws that are influenced by their cultural, traditional and spiritual values people of Mbenje have demonstrated a sustainable approach to protecting the fisheries sector.
“I can accept that there is a problem of over fishing at Likoma where I come from and I believe if we can follow the approach being used at Mbenje we can protect our fish as well as police illegal fishing where fishermen use illegal fishing gear,” said Phiri.
Senior chief Makanjira agrees that if the laws used at Mbenje can be replicated in other areas, they can help to protect Malawi’s fish species.
“We need to replicate our ideas in other fishing communities. We can’t live in a country that breaks its own laws,” said Makanjira at the opening of this year’s fishing season at Mbenje.
Daniel Jamu, Chief of Party for the Refresh a USAID funded project that is supporting 8 fishing communities to come up with sustainable fish management laws and practices said there has been an improvement in the way communities are managing their fisheries resources since the inception of the project.
“We can’t take all the credit for what is happening at Mbenje, but through exchange visits that we have been organising we have observed an improvement in communities that were not sustainably managing their fisheries resources,” said Jamu.
Additional Reporting: Owen Nyaka
