Brenda Yufeh
6 July 2009
Most lakes in the capital city have disappeared, while those that exist are under threat of disappearance.
This is the name of a neighbourhood in Yaounde. Any stranger visiting the area for the first time would expect to see the lake from which the neighbourhood derives its name. Unfortunately, today, no lake exists in the Biyem-Assi Lac neighbourhood. The artificial lake has existed for some 30 years. Although the current inhabitants in the area cannot trace its origin, it is reported that the lake could have been created by flooding land behind a dam, by deliberate human excavation or by the flooding of an excavation incident due to a mineral-extraction operation such as an open pit mine or quarry. Oliver Cho, an inhabitant of the Biyem-Assi Lac neighbourhood says some 30 years, the lake region in the neighbourhood was a clean site surrounded by a little forest. It was attractive and harboured fishes of various types. Many of Oliver's friends fished from the lake. Today, the piece of land which hosted the reservoir of water that created the Biyem-Assi Lake is filled with deposited sediments, grassland with large water plants, filth and the area has become a wetland. Oliver says most of the houses around the lake region empty their toilets into the lake. One can hardly stand around the former Biyem-Assi Lake due to the stench coming from the area.
The disappearance of lakes in Yaounde is common as other such as the Efoulan Lake, located in the Efoulan neighbourhood, the Nkolbisson Lake in the Nkolbisson neighbourhood as well as certain lake regions in the Bonamoussadi neighbourhood. Although it is known that some lakes can disappear seasonally, most of the artificial lakes in Yaounde have disappeared for good. The "disappearing" lakes (barely noticeable on a human timescale) could not continue to exist due to human activities around them. But certain lakes in Yaounde such as the Municipal Lake and the Melen Lake located around the Obili neighbourhood are still standing the test of time. Although the sites are not as attractive as before, one can still see water in the lake regions.
Family Heritage
History traces that no lake in Yaounde is a natural phenomenon. They are all man-made. Some of the lakes are even family properties. Such is the case with the Efoulan Lake. Felix Essomba, an old man in the Efoulan neighbourhood who cannot remember when he was born, says the Efoulan Lake is an inheritance from his father in the 1950s. Essomba says his father created the very first lake in Yaounde in 1950 in the Efoulan neighbourhood. Still in the same neighbourhood, his father created another lake in 1952 and another in 1962. These lakes were jealousy kept by the Essomba family as they were a source of revenue for the family due to the cultivation and trading of fish on them. Essomba says since the death of his father, the passing of time and the human activities that took place around the lakes, two of them have completely dwindled into oblivion. One of the lake regions harbours the house on which he now lives. The third of the lakes is that which is popularly known as, Efoulan Lake and it is steadily disappearing. Since 2008, Essomba says the Government Delegate to the Yaounde Urban Council took control of the lake region to rehabilitate it, thereby rendering the site attractive. Since then, the lake region is not the same. Not only is the Essomba's family unable to fish in the lake due to polemics that reigns within the family, but also the bushy and dirty nature of the area since the Government Delegate is yet to take proper care of the lake.
Fish Pond
Just as the Efoulan Lake was a source of fish for the Essomba family and their neighbours, so too is the situation of the few existing lakes in Yaounde. Although at the Municipal Lake there is a billboard which reads "Do not fish on this lake", many fishermen invade the lake on a daily basis to fish. Some of them begin fishing as early as 5:00 a.m. When some of the fishermen were approached on why they were going against the restriction of the Yaounde Urban Council, they said they have nothing else to do to feed their families and since the lake harbours fish, they cannot help but come there to fish. At times, according to the fishermen, they can fish more than enough for their families to the extent that they do sell. At the Melen Lake, the Ministry of Livestock, Fishery and Animal Industries stationed one of its fishing posts for the promotion and vulgarisation of fish. The Director of the Melen Fish Station, Desire Mvilongo Mbassi, says the lake and the water points created around the lake are being used for growing various types of fish using modern techniques. In a bid to keep the lake clean, Mbassi says at times the ministry employs people to clean the surroundings. According to him, the Melen Lake covers a surface area of 6,700 squares metres with the deepest area being three metres. With the minimum means put at their disposals, Mbassi says they can produce four tonnes of fish per year from the lake. But if enough means are made available every 8 months, the lake can produce at least ten tonnes of fish.
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