01 Feb 2017

A joint operation to clean Lake Ngami made up of the Department of Wildlife, Botswana Defense Force, the police, Lake Ngami Conservation Trust and members of community has bore fruits in a spate of two weeks, the North West wildlife regional director, Mr Timothy Blackbeard, has said.

Mr Blackbeard said the team had so far managed to destroy about 200 illegal fishing camps.

The illegal camps, he said, were erected on islands surrounded by high water level and long grassland for cover therefore took long to identify.

He said although the campaign was not meant to arrest suspects, about 20 illegal fishers found at the illegal camps have been arrested.

He was briefing public officers from State President in the North West region who were on a Community Service Day aimed to help the team in cooking and appreciating the clean-up campaign.

Mr Blackbeard said although the clean-up campaign was far from over the Lake was now at an acceptable state; the said patrols were carried out twice a day.

The other task from destroying illegal camps is to remove fish nets from the Lake.

However, Mr Blackbeared said the team was challenged by some perpetrators who were harbored by the locals which deemed it hard to make arrests.

Sehithwa Police deputy station commander Inspector Thulani Goringo said the joint operation was aimed to remove illegal fishers to protect Lake Ngami which has potential for tourism and environmental researches.

Inspector Goringo said the Lake attracted many people who were in search of a living, however some engaged in unlawful acts. BOPA