International Day of Protected Areas : the EST organization warns of the threats to Lake Edward
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Acting for wetlands is acting for humanity and nature” is the theme chosen by the environmental organization EST to celebrate the international day dedicated to wetlands every February 2nd.
For the choice of this theme, the environmental organization member of the Congolese forum of the Nile basin FCBN would like to raise the awareness of the communities bordering the wetlands to be managed in order to preserve the aquatic environments. It is among other wetlands of international importance in Lake Edward, one of the parts of the Virunga National Park
Knowing the importance of wetlands on the socio-economic life of local communities ; this theme highlights the urgency of acting effectively for the preservation of these highly diversified aquatic ecosystems.
For this year 2022, EST celebrated the day with the residents of Lake Edward. Objective, to stimulate this community bordering the Virunga National Park to act effectively for a sustainable management of the halieutic resources of these waters.
In its press release made public for this purpose, EST denounces the threats to the fisheries resources of the Lake Eduard basin in this part of the DRC. “Overfishing translated by the excess number of canoes currently estimated at 6,000 instead of 1,117 and more than 14 fisheries instead of five recognized ; the destruction of spawning grounds and the practice of prohibited fishing methods (trap, mosquito net, beach seine, tam-tam,) in complicity with certain State service agents”.
According to the same document “the result of these threats results in the arrests of Congolese fishermen by the Ugandan navy for failing to fraudulently cross the lake border in search of fish in Ugandan waters ; the scarcity of fish on local markets, thus contributing to food insecurity in the area ; the flight of certain waterfowl to secure areas,” read the press statement.
