In October 2024, we launched the 1st fish pond project of CWC, as we stocked it with 1500 fingerlings. This is one of the anti-poaching initiatives at LUMO Community Wildlife Conservancy aiming to strengthen wildlife protection and create awareness against bushmeat, aiming to provide an alternative source of protein for the LUMO community to substitute the bushmeat market. We are therefore establishing a fish pond project, that will produce fish to be sold within the LUMO community. The project is based on one of the community members’ lands, thus, being responsible for its security, overseeing the fish feeding, marketing the produce among community members, and creating wildlife conservation awareness.
From community engagement meetings, who agreed to support and buy from the project to providing an employment opportunity to youths who are tempted to engage in poaching as a source of income. The project will also provide a learning ground for other community members who will be interested in hosting such a project thus increasing the base supply of affordable fish to the community and reducing the bushmeat market. Some other benefits the project will have to the community include;
• The pond will be a learning ground for the community, so they can develop such a project, with our help or not.
• The fish pond will employ one of the community members – a suspected poacher, who will be identified by the committee chosen by the community.
• The pond should at least fund one/two students in the local day school who will be identified by the project committee.
For the project, we worked closely with the Officers from the Department of Fisheries – Taita Taveta County, the Area Assistant Chief, a community representative from villages in Mwashuma/Mlughi Sublocation, and a representative from LUMO Conservancy management.
