Ripple Africa on Tuesday donated three motorcycles to the Fisheries Department in Nkhotakota to ease transport challenges faced by extension workers.
The donation is part of Ripple Africa’s five-year Fish For Tomorrow Project the organisation and the department are implementing in the district aimed at promoting sustainable fish conservation.
Speaking in an interview after the handover ceremony, Ripple Africa executive director Force Ngwira said the donation was made to solve transportation problems which have hampered the implementation of the project.
“One of the challenges we have in the implementation of the project is transport. Most of the motorbikes that fisheries extension workers are using are very old and it used to cost them a lot to service them,” he said.
District fisheries officer Rogers Makwinja commended Ripple Africa for the donation.
“Our extension workers have been finding problems to reach out to communities because of lack of motorcycles so these motorcycles will help us carry out our activities successfully,” he said.
Nkhotakota District Council chairperson Manfred Kwanjiwa said the council is in the process of drafting by-laws aimed at regulating fishing in the district.
Currently, Nkhotakota has no by-laws governing fishing, a development that is likely to pose a challenge on the interventions in promoting sustainable fisheries management.
Nkhotakota has a shoreline of over 250 kilometres. n
