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Namibia: A Blessing in Disguise
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New Era (Windhoek)
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 13 May 2008
Chrispin Inambao
Oshakati
On a sad note floods from the overflowing Cuvelai system displaced thousands, inundating many homes in northern Namibia, but on the other hand they are a rich source of much-sought-after catfish.
They would also serve as the most unlikely promotional tool for the Namibia Fish Consumption Trust in its quest to promote fish consumption locally.
Namibia, despite its abundance of marine resources, has one of the lowest fish consumptions per capita in Africa partly because in the past only the then low-value fish such as horse-mackerel and dentex fish were supplied locally.
One of the main reasons why Namibians consume merely ten percent of fish caught offshore is that the local traditional diet is mostly meat based.
It is much easier to find open-air stands where roasted chunks of delicious meat are sliced into small pieces and sold, unlike fried fish that in most cases has to be bought at pricey restaurants.
But with the floods in the north people selling slowly coal-roasted beef called 'kapana' are said to be losing out because many of their consumers are buying bundles of catfish freshly caught from nearby oshanas.
From sunrise to sunset Okanjengedi Bridge between Oshakati and Ongwediva and the Suicide Bridge that has gained notoriety for its high suicide rate, provide a good representative example of fishing activities in the northern regions of Oshikoto, Oshana, Omusati and Ohangwena.
Some of the more intrepid part-time fishermen have pitched up makeshift tents along the water canal that supplies the four regions with water from Angola, and now also a rich source for the Oshanas alongside it.
School children when not attending classes can be seen dangling neatly tied bundles of fresh or dry catfish for sale to motorists and to pedestrians alongside roads, more so along the main road from Oshakati to Outapi.
And the odd dried frog is also thrown into this mix of entrepreneurial spirit, while a few fishmongers could be seen going from house to house.
A kilogramme of this fish sells for as little as N$5 or N$10, unlike beef that would set back a consumer some N$20, prompting many to opt for fish that apart from its affordability also has nutritional benefits that far outweigh meat
This fish is mainly caught with hooks baited with smaller fry while others use mosquito nets and a wide array of fishing baskets strategically placed at a place where fish-rich water gushes from one oshana to another through culverts. It merely takes a few minutes to catch one fish.
After the fish are landed they are tied together and left to bob limply on a wet surface to ensure they are as fresh as possible when sold to motorists.
The mahangu harvest this year has been exceptionally low leaving many granaries almost empty and the income from the sale of catfish is used to buy millet flour, sugar, salt, cooking oil, candles and other essentials.
One of the reasons for the poor yield is an outbreak of armyworms that stripped many millet fields bare, leaving farmers high and dry.
But the floodwater teem with an extraordinary quantity of shoals of catfish that tempt men, women and children to fully seize this rare moment to cash in on this easy to catch water-dwelling manna.
Literally speaking, catfish are everywhere and hundreds of people have been transformed into fishermen who every day catch sizable amounts of fish from the oshanas and from culverts and bridges along the main roads.
Okanjengedi and Ogongo bridges that resemble a fisherman's paradise with fish being caught with all manner of improvised tools, mosquito nets and sacks is a nice representative example of the happenings in the north.
The central areas of the north comprise the lower drainage of the Cuvelai river system, which rises in southern Angola and drains through Owambo to the Etosha Pan.
The amount of annual water flow through this area of the Cuvelai depends on the level of rainfall in the headwaters and the size of the resulting floods.
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The floods, known locally as efundjas, are variable: in some years the floods reach Owambo and in some they don't and three times since 1941 the floods have been large enough to reach the Etosha Pan.
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