22 Oct 2014

The acting Director of Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), Mr Charles Mojalemotho says concerns raised by fishers at Lake Ngami will be attended to before the next fishing season.

Addressing kgotla meetings at Sehithwa and Toteng on October 21, Mr Mojalemotho said his department would work with Lake Ngami Trust to address environmental concerns at Lake Ngami during the fishing cessation period between December 2014 and February next year.

Mr Mojalemotho said the communities in the vicinity of Lake Ngami lived in a rich place and it was upon them to utilise it properly to benefit their communities. He implored the communities who directly benefit from Lake Ngami to rally behind the newly formed Lake Ngami Trust.

The acting Director added that the trust members were being trained on issues of finance, management and engaged in benchmarking from other successful trusts. Mr Mojalemotho said fishing was currently guided by the 2008 Act, which he said was under review as well. 

He said the new arrangement would give issuance of fishing licenses to the Lake Ngami Trust to ensure the communities benefited from the lake not foreigners. The chairperson of the trust Mr Frisco Gabokakangwe said the management plan to guide the trust was launched in Sehithwa recently.

Mr Gabokakangwe said the trust in collaboration with DWNP would ensure installation of ablutions at the fishing camps during the fishing off season between December and March.

He said they will also put measures in place to control encroachment at the lake which had caused eye sore and pollution. Mr Gabokakangwe added that the trust would be responsible for issuance of fishing permits to locals only.

Meanwhile the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) manager, Ms Bingane Setume said the Lake Ngami development plan calls for co-existence to sustain pastoral and arable farmers, allow activities such as fishing, boat cruising and bird tourism.

Ms Setume said Lake Ngami was an important bird area in Southern Africa, which could be the best if developed. She observed that the rare bird species at Lake Ngami could attract birds enthusiasts from the world over.

Ms Setume said research showed that some birds relocated between Lake Ngami to places as far as Canada and Sweden at different seasons, and as such she pointed that the bird tourism at Lake Ngami was worth developing. ENDS