Uproar as authorities ban fishing in Lake Eyasi

MARC NKWAME in Karatu
 

AUTHORITIES in Karatu District of Arusha Region have come up with a rather challenging directive, slamming a ban against any usage of Lake Eyasi Waters striding the Mango’la Ward.

That include seasonal fishing activities from the weather dependent water body, much to the disappointment and protests from a number of dug-out canoe floating fishermen who find the ban a threat onto their livelihood.
Karatu District Commissioner, Mr Omar Kwaang’, has confirmed the closure of Lake Eyasi citing the explosion of cholera infections in the area being the main reason behind the directive.
“Onion growers and fishermen operating around the Lake do not have latrines, which means all human waste is spread around the bush and since this rain season, everything gets washed into Eyasi which does not have an outlet, meaning much of its waters remain stagnant,” said the DC.
Mr Kwaang was of view that, cholera parasites were floating on Lake Eyasi’s waters at the moment and they were not about to risk another explosion of the waterborne disease. Previously, there have been reports that farmers and fishermen have been using the lake itself as toilet, reducing the large water body into a time bomb, as far as health issues are concerned.
Fishermen in the area said the current rains have replenished the waters in the lake and likewise the fish have multiplied and were in the verge of recording bumper harvest for sale in Arusha, when the district officials stepped in with their ban letter.
Other factors threatening the water body is drought and massive rate of siltation. Lake Eyasi, mapped within Karatu District of Arusha, Mbulu District of Manyara and Meatu District of Simiyu, is a shallow but widely spread seasonal lake whose principal inflow happens to be the Sibiti River, which flows into the Lake from the southwestern end.
Sibiti flows throughout the year but usually intercepted by farmers for irrigation which inhibits the water from reaching the lake during drought season allowing the flow during wetter times.
Other inflows are all seasonal. The second largest inflow is the Baray, approaching from the north-east. The water carried by the Baray has increased in recent years due to acts of deforestation around the Crater Highlands causing free flow of water previously prevented by large forest trees.
At the moment also, streams from the south-west slopes of Mount Oldeian, one of the Ngorongoro Volcanic peaks, drains directly into the Lake Eyasi from the North- East direction but still not adequate to sustain the waters of the lake throughout the year.