Kinondoni joins WWF, NEMC to battle illegal fishing

DAR ES SALAAM: IN a move to intensify fight against illegal fishing activities in Indian Ocean, World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), National Environment Management Council (NEMC) and Kinondoni Municipal Council in Dar es Salaam are about to implement joint strategies to fight dynamite fishing in Kinondoni District.

WWF Country Director Dr Amani Ngusaru said this after finishing cleaning up of environment at Coco Beach area in Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam Region over the weekend, being part of the ’60 Minutes’ World Environment campaign.

“Blast fishing is not friendly to our ocean, creatures living in the ocean and it threatens coastal tourism,” he said, adding that joint efforts by the government and its stakeholders like WWF will definitely solve the problem.

Speaking about World Environment Day, which reached its climax over the weekend, Dr Ngusaru said that WWF in collaboration with the government and other environment stakeholders managed to plant about 10,000 trees in different districts in the country including Kisarawe in Coast Region and Longido in Arusha Region, as part of initiatives to motivate communities on importance of protecting environment.

“Climate change effects are obvious all over the world. We have to start acting from where we live, to minimise these effects by planting more trees and stop all acts which are dangerous to our environment,” he emphasised.

The Head of Unit Solid Waste and Environmental Sanitation for Kinondoni Municipal Council, Mr Shedrack Maximilian who represented Kinondoni District Commissioner, Mr Saad Mtambule said that the council has launched a special sanitation campaign, which is involving all households in the area.

“In our district, there is this bad habit of throwing wastes into the rivers and gorges. We have a total of 19 rivers in our district; nine of them flow their water into the ocean and others ten are small.

Those who do these acts believe that the wastes they throw into rivers will fill the rivers, slow down speed of the water in the rivers and save their houses which they have built near river banks from falling “, he stated.

He said the council is working hard to conduct awareness sessions in each street whereby the residents are also given time to express their views on environment and sanitation issues.