WE were approaching Mkapa Bridge on Rufiji River when I saw a pile of some dark brown (almost black) things piled on a wooden stool on the roadside. A fresh cat fish weighing about five kilogrammes hung on a pole a couple of metres away from the pile on the stool.
“On our way back to Dar es Salaam make sure you stop here. I want to buy those things,” I told the driver. The three of us were on our way to Utete and later on to KilwaMasoko on a mission to document issues related to land rights.
“What do you want to buy; those black things?” asked a colleague. It was not really a question but a kind of derogative statement. It appeared that he did not like the “things” and despised anyone who bought them, let alone ate them.
“By the way they are not things…those are smoked fish. If you have never tasted them then you are missing something very nice,” I told him. He just swung his head slowlyfrom one side to another as if to show pity to me and anyone who ate smoked fish.
“Yes, you are missing something; smoked fish is a delicacy,” I insisted. He reminded me of an incident a couple of years ago when we were out in the rural areas on a study tour.
The food was not very good so I decide to buy smoked fish that would go with rice. One Mama Ntilie had agreed to cook for us. So when I brought the fish, one of colleagues would not believe that the “black stuff” was edible. “Are you sure this is fish? Why is it so dirty?” he queried.
I tried to explain to him that there was nothing wrong with the fish;only that it was smoked in order to preserve it, hence its black appearance. He would not be convinced. He had rice with vegetables for dinner while the rest of us had a hearty meal comprising stewed smoked catfish and rice.
Below Mkapa Bridge the river is wide. In fact it is so wide that it has almost lost its course. One section on the northernand the other on the eastern side are clearly defined by strong currents and swirling water, an indication that the water is deep. No vegetation can be seen here as it has all been submerged.
The central part is relatively shallow and one can see a lot of reeds “dancing” with the water waves and the wind thatblows at about 60kph.
“Sometimes rivers behave in a funny way, they would cut large chunks of soil form onebank and deposit it on the other but in this case the soil from both banks has been deposited in the middle of the river, dividing it into two parts,” explained one of my colleagues.
It was in April when the rainy seasons peaks in most parts of the country. In yesteryears the river would be heavily pregnant with water and it would probably have broken the banks and caused floods. But this time around it was not the case; there was a conspicuous reduction of water in Rufiji River.
Last year I crossed the river in August and by then the central part was dry. An enterprising small-scale farmer had made good use of the land by putting up a small garden in which he had grown maize, tomatoes and okra.
The crops were doing very well, what with plenty of water which flowed on either side of the ridge. But the water in both “arms” of the river was still deep and the farmer had to use a canoe to reach his garden.
Environmental experts say that there is a significant reduction of water in many waterbodies bodies in Tanzania. Besides effects of climate change, human activities are to blame for the situation.
Rufiji River has not been spared by climate change and it is also heavily impacted by human activities around upstream rivers which eventually join to form the Rufiji River. Such rivers include the Great Ruaha (or what used to be)Kilombero and Luegu all of which have been severely degraded in recent years with the result that the diminishing water flows have seen reduced fish stocks as well.
The Great Ruaha River supplies 22 per cent of the total flow of the Rufiji catchment system. Thirty-eight species of fish have been identified in the Great Ruaha River.
However, decreased flows in the riverthat have been recorded since the early 1990s have resulted not only in complete drying of sections of the river in 1993 and in dry years since, but also led to the extinction of some fish species.
The drying has been attributed to uncontrolled and poor management of water resources, with the large rice irrigation schemes playing a major role. Climate change has also had a hand in complicating the situation.
On the other hand, the Kilombero Valley is among Tanzania’s highly degraded wetlands. Throughout the recent decades it has attracted increasing numbers of pastoralists and fishermen, as well as small-scale agriculturists and commercial companies.
Consequently, the riparian zone along the Kilombero River is increasingly being cultivated and subjected to permanent and seasonal settlements, as well as fishing and reed-cutting. Degradation of the wetland has reduced flows in the numerous rivers that traverse the Kilombero Valley, resulting in depleting fish stocks in rivers and swamps.
In order to respond to reduced flows in waterbodies, the national message for this year’s World Environment Day (WED) calls for the public to step up efforts to conserve and protect water resources so as to sustain life.
As a way of addressing the problem, some stakeholders have been implementing strategies to conserve and protect waterbodies as well as sustain flows in rivers.
For example, the 2030 Water Resources Group Tanzania Partnership through The Great Ruaha Restoration Campaign (GRRC) is set to embark on activities to restore perennial flows of the Great Ruaha River by protecting and conserving the Rufiji Basin’s diverse habitats and ecosystems through strict observance of environmental flows.
This will go hand-in-hand with the promotion of integrated land, pasture, forest and water resources management to enhance sustainability of agriculture and related activities.
The organisation also seeks to consolidate water governance so as to scale up institutional coordination and stakeholders’ participation as well as institute equitable allocation and efficient use of water resources.
Elsewhere, the Journalists’ Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) plans to step up efforts to educate and raise awareness of the importance of conserving and protecting water resources among communities as part implementation of this year’s WED call.
“Our focus will be downstream among communities located adjacent to Rufiji River where deforestation threatens to degrade the catchment area.
Halting deforestation and wanton degradation of natural vegetation would protect the river and sustain availability of water for rice farming, which is a major source of livelihood for the communities,” explains John Chikomo, JET Executive Director, in his WED message to members of the association.
He says that this year’s national WED message emphasizes the responsibility of the public, especially those who live clause to water sources, to protect and conserve ecosystems for the benefit of all Tanzanians.
“It is time everyone realised that conservation of water resources is not the responsibility of government alone but it is for all of us because conservation and protection of water bodies leads to food security, energy security and consequently, sustainable development,” he adds.
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