ACP-EU Training   Namibia, December 1998 The course has been organized in cooperation with the regional partner for Southern Africa, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Namibia (MFMR). It took place in Swakopmund, Namibia, from November 30 to December 11, 1998. The course was attended by 14 participants from 8 ACP countries in the region. MFMR

Participating Countries:

Angola Botswana Malawi Mozambique

Namibia Swaziland Zambia Zimbabwe

 

 

 

ICLARM staff who participated in the training course were: Training Coordinator Dr. JM Vakily, Senior Research Scientist Dr. R Froese, Software Developer and Database Scientist Dr. MLD Palomares, Principal Science Adviser Dr. D Pauly, Research Assistant Ms. C Garilao, and FishBase Research Programmer Ms. MJF Rius.

Other resource persons included Mr. Boris Fabres, from CARICOM Fisheries Resource Assessment & Management Program (CFRAMP), St. Vincent & the Grenadines, with a special interest in the field of Marine Protected Area, and Dr. Guy Teugels, Curator of Fishes, Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Belgium, specialist on African inland fishes.

The course followed the curriculum developed for and successfully applied during the previous courses in the Pacific and the Caribbean.

In addition to the regular 14 participants, one observer from Namibia and two from South Africa attended selected modules of the course. As part of the training course computer hardware and software were provided for participating institutions in order to ensure that the new concepts and approaches presented during the course could be used to start broadening the knowledge base in the respective country.

The course started with a presentation of the institutional arrangements and basic objectives of the ACP-EU Fisheries Research Initiative, and an overview of the goals and objectives of the ACP-EU project on Fisheries and Biodiversity Management.

This was followed by the first series of modules, which was dedicated to biodiversity (introduction; definition and data structure; national biodiversity databases). Structure of biodiversity data were discussed and participants were shown where to find corresponding information in FishBase, both globally and within a national context.

All participants presented country reports, touching on the following subjects:

1. general structure of the fishery
2. description of their economic importance
3. institutional arrangements for managing their fisheries
4. institutional arrangements in respect to environmental protection and biodiversity
5. presentation of past and present issues in the fisheries

Guy Teugels from the Museum of Tervuren in Belgium gave a very informative overview of the freshwater fish fauna for Southern Africa by emphasizing the general characteristics of the various groups or families of fishes.

Boris Fabres, head of the CFRAMP Research Unit in Trinidad & Tobago, provided the participants with a comprehensive overview of the principle guidelines when it comes to establishing aquatic protected areas, touching on topics such as resource structure, biological design, and socio-cultural aspects. The ensuing debate revealed that except for some small protected areas (closed areas) in Angola and Mozambique not much attention is being paid to the concept of protected areas in Southern Africa. On the other hand, a substantial amount of water bodies is actually protected in most of the participating countries, simply because they are situated in National Parks or in areas inaccessible to the public (e.g. 2/3 of the Namibian coast).

Daniel Pauly presented a series of lectures and practical exercises, which took the participants from a review of traditional fisheries management concepts to the application of ecosystem-based principles in resource management. Using an existing and already balanced ECOPATH model, the participants were shown the consequences of changes in the model. They then used extensively EcoSim to explore various options for fisheries management, and EcoSpace to investigate the distribution of species in space, a tool, ideal to predict the most likely benefits (or lack thereof) of protected areas. Though this topic was clearly very demanding for the participants, it was well received and generated much debate. (For more information on the ECOPATH project, see the project's home page: www.cgiar.org/iclarm/ecopath).

As in previous courses participants had been given the opportunity for extensive literature search at the excellent library of the national fisheries institute in Swakopmund. At the end of the course, all participants presented abstracts and some background information on the research work they intended to do following the course. The topics suggested concentrated on: common names, growth, and diet composition

A formal evaluation at the end of the course revealed general satisfaction by the participants with the course, both in terms of its relevance and its conceptualization. It also indicated a few areas where the curriculum could be improved to even better suit the needs of the participants

We concluded the course with a closing ceremony during which the Ag. Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Namibia, Mr. S. Ndjaha, gave the closing address and distributed the "Certificates of Achievement" to the participants.

 

  List of participants at the training course

(Click any name to obtain more detailed information about the participant)

 

Country	Name	Position	Publication
Angola	Ms. Maria de Lourdes Sardinha	Biologist	Abstract
Botswana	Dr. Getachew Teferra	Professor	Abstract
Botswana	Mr. Shaft Nengu	Biologist	Abstract
Malawi	Dr. Aggrey Ambali	Head, Dept. of Biology	Abstract
Malawi	Mr. Dezio Augustine Banda	Training Coordinator (National)/ Deputy Principal (Mpwepwe)	Abstract
Malawi	Mr. Defrair Bandula	Deputy Director of Fisheries/ Head, SADC IFSTCU	Abstract
Mozambique	Ms. Barbara Palha de Sousa	Senior Fisheries Biologist/ Deepwater Lobster Project Leader	Abstract
Namibia	Prof. Daniel Okeyo	Head of Department
Namibia	Mr. Nico Willemse	Technical Coordinator
Namibia	Dr. Ben J. van Zyl	Deputy Director, Resource Management
Swaziland	Mr. Freddy Magagula	Fisheries Officer	Abstract
Swaziland	Mr. Themb'alilahlwa A. M. Mahlaba	Professor	Abstract
Zambia	Mr. Leonard M. Mwape	Senior Fisheries Research Officer	Abstract
Zambia	Mr. Patrick Ngalande	Senior Fisheries Research Officer	Abstract
Zimbabwe	Mr. Wilson Mhlanga	Senior Ecologist	Abstract

Note: Listed under "publications" is the title, abstract or full paper of the scientific contributions the participant intends to work on. Click this field to obtain more information.

 

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