Fishing Difficulties in Lake Jipe

A look into the Kilimanjaro's water basins and how lake Jipe has halved it water mass and has become practically impossible to fish in.

Fishing Difficulties in Lake Jipe Female: The Pangani River Basin in North Eastern Tanzania starts high on the slopes of Mounts Kilimanjaro and Meru. From the lush foothills of these majestic volcanoes, the river travels 500 km before spilling into the Indian Ocean. The Basin covers an area of 48,000 square kilometres. Nearly 4 million people depend on its waters. But the future of this valuable resource is in the balance. Lake Jipe, one source of the Pangani River on the Tanzania-Kenya border, is dying. According to the Global Environment Fund, its water mass halved in the last ten years. Low water levels and increased nutrients have led to a vast expansion of the Typha reed. Miraji Ramadhani: My first clear memory is from the 1950s, it was a big lake, it was great, and there were not a lot of reeds. If you left this place and went just there, you would already be in deep water. I made a living as a fisherman, I caught a lot of fish; there were very few reeds. The change started in the 1970s; the reeds started growing a lot. The lake is so small now, the reeds make fishing very difficult, and you can’t get many fish. Female: A once thriving fishing industry has all but collapsed. The thick almost impenetrable reeds now cover 75% of the lake. The limited area available for fishing is difficult to reach. To survive, many people have moved downstream to the larger manmade lake of Nyumba ya Mungu. Daudi Ndunguru: I was living in Jipe in 1965. At that time, life at Jipe was very good, and there became a lot of reeds, and the fishing area was very much recused. The water was shallow and there was a lot of mud going into the lake when it rained. Also, the drinking water became salty. Life became very difficult there so I came here with my family to find a better life. Female: Lake Nyumba ya Mungu also suffered from changing water levels. A year ago, it was almost empty but this year, abundant rains came and it’s full. Daudi Ndunguru: When the water dried here, we have to travel a long way. Life was really tough. We have to go right to the other side of the lake.