Police smash fish chemicals racket

HUMPHREY NKONDE
Correspondent | Friday July 11, 2008 00:00

Zambia last year passed a law that restricts the consumption of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), which includes fish. Solomon Jere, leader of the police anti-piracy squad that cracked the racket, said what was particularly worrying was the fact that the chemicals were also being administered to chickens, making them mature in one and two weeks' time. Jere said that the police have confiscated the chemicals, which were imported illegally and surrendered the contraband to the Ministry of Health for laboratory analysis.

He said the short period in which the fish and chicken were made to mature had health implications for the consumer, which was why the police handed the confiscated chemicals to the ministry before taking further steps. Some unscrupulous dealers have been capitalising on the fact that Zambia has a shortfall of about 70, 000 metric tones of fish per annum.

To help fill the gap, Fresh Water Harvest Limited, a Danish company, has announced that it will invest US $ 10 million in a fish farming project on the banks of Lake Kariba in Gwembe district, which is near the border with Zimbabwe.

Project leader Athanasuis Kalafatis said the fish farming project would run for five years and roll it over to areas depending on its viability.

Kalafatis said their company, which has similar projects in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, has decided to invest in the enterprise because  fish in most rivers in the SADC region are being depleted at a faster rate. He said the company would construct fishponds from which 5, 000 tones of tilapia would be bred annually.

The other components of the project include a hatchery and a processing plant. The fisheries department has estimated that Zambia has a fish deficit of about 70, 000 metric tones. Last year, a mysterious disease that caused blisters on the bodies of various fish species struck in the Zambezi River, causing death to thousands of fish, which further reduced the country's fish stocks.
(Sila Press Agency)