WorldFish in the News

• The Economist - Fish ponds are helping in the fight against AIDS (30 Aug 07)
  LIFE for Agnes Kanyema is looking up. The retired teacher and her husband are caring for four of their grandchildren, whose parents have all died of AIDS. Their meagre pension is not enough, so they rely on farming to eat and make ends meet. Now, with the help of WorldFish Centre, a non-profit outfit based in Malaysia, Mrs Kanyema also runs a fish pond, which not only provides extra cash and protein but also helps her grow maize and vegetables on her small plot of less than a hectare (2.47 acres). Her pond provides water for crops during droughts and she uses the sediment as fertiliser. The fish and vegetables help feed her family, and she sells the surplus at the local market.
• SciDevNet - Fish farming helps rural poor in Malawi (24 Aug 07)
  Lilongwe - Introducing fish farming to farmers in Malawi has improved the income and health of rural communities devastated by HIV/AIDS, announced the WorldFish Center in Malawi this week (20 August). Fish is traditionally a large part of the Malawian diet, but fish populations and consumption have declined due to overfishing. In addition, about 14 per cent of the Malawian population is infected with HIV, reducing farm labour and resulting in reduced farm output, according to principal secretary responsible for nutrition and HIV/AIDS, Mary Shawa.
• Daily Nation (Kenya) - Fish farming brings hope to Malawians ravaged by AIDS (23 Aug 07)
  Household incomes double as nutrition status of rural people changes for the better. Scientists at the WorldFish Center have reported that an innovative project to encourage fish farming among families affected by HIV/AIDS has doubled the income for 1,200 households. The project, they add, has greatly increased fish and vegetable consumption among rural communities. The findings were released in a review of a multi-year initiative by the Malaysia-based WorldFish Center, one of 15 centres supported by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and World Vision, an international humanitarian aid organization, to promote aquaculture among "vulnerable populations" in Malawi.
• The Daily Times (Malawi) - Fish farming methods doubles rural income (22 Aug 07)
  SCIENTISTS at the World Fish Centre have reported that an innovative project to encourage fish farming has doubled income levels of 1,200 households in Malawi. The Malaysian based fish centre reported in their multi year review that the project, which assists farmers engage in fish farming, has helped families hit by the HIV/Aids scourge more than treble their protein in take and income base. The project assists farmers by digging small rain fed ponds of about 20 metres by 10 metres on their land and raise fish species like tilapia, commonly known as Chambo. “These small fish ponds offer tremendous benefits to struggling farming families in rural Africa whose many challenges have been compounded by Aids,” reads part of the report. Regional Director for WorldFish in Eastern and Southern Africa, Dr. Daniel Jamu, said the project had helped in the economic empowerment of rural masses, especially those affected by HIV /Aids. “The purpose of this project is to develop technologies and practices in fish production that are specifically suited for orphan and widow-headed households,” Jamu said.
• Scientific American - Feeding the Hungry and Sick: Fish Farming Boosts Nutrition in Rural Malawi (20 Aug 07)
  By digging small ponds on farms in Malawi, researchers cut malnutrition in children in half—and provide a nutritional boost to families struggling with HIV/AIDS. Malawi is a landlocked country in southeastern Africa, primarily known for its tobacco. At least 90 percent of the more than 12 million Malawians are farmers, typically with small spreads of less than one hectare (roughly 2.5 acres). At least one in five adult Malawians are infected with HIV/AIDS, often rendering them incapable of heavy farm work. Researchers discovered, though, that they could boost the farmers' health—and double their income—by simply digging a 200 quare-meter (about 2,000-square-foot) pond on the property and stocking it with fish.
• Reuters - Fish farms help families in Africa hit by AIDS(19 Aug 07)
  OSLO (Reuters) - Tiny fish farms have helped 1,200 poor families hit by AIDS in Malawi to raise their incomes and improve their diets in a scheme being expanded to other African nations, a report showed on Monday. About $90 can enable construction of a small rain-fed pond that can be stocked with juvenile fish costing $10. Once the fish grow and reproduce, the ponds produce food with far less back-breaking work than subsistence farming. The project, run by the Malaysia-based WorldFish Center and targeted at families where some members have died from AIDS or are suffering from the epidemic, has doubled income for 1,200 families in Malawi and improved diets, WorldFish said.
• The Straits Times - Fewer fish in the sea and they are smaller too (27 June 07)
  Climate change has come into the picture and is slowly causing havoc in the seas by pushing up temperatures and water levels, creating more storms, making sea water more acidic, and threatening fish habitats and stocks, experts say.
• Voice of America - Asian fishing communities suffer as fish stocks in region decline (18 June 07)
  More and more often, fishermen in Asia return home with nothing but a few small fish in their nets. Fish stocks in the region have declined dramatically in recent decades, and the quality of the catch has gone down.
• Reuters - Empty nets as tide turns on Asia's fishermen (14 May 07)
• A staple in Asia with its extensive coastlines and poor populations, seafood provides up to 70 percent of the animal protein intake of most Asians. But the tide is turning as fish stocks in Asia have declined by 70 percent in the past 25 years, says Stephen Hall, head of WorldFish.
  Also appeared in: Boston.com | Globe and Mail | Washingtonpost.com | Turkish Daily News | NST Online | NZ Herald
• All Africa.com - Uganda: World Wetlands Day - Will we have fish tomorrow? (6 Feb 07)
  Also appeared in: Kenya Times | Sumernet-Uganda | Cambodia Forum | The New Nation |  | Research SEA
  Wetland fisheries provide a powerful demonstration of how conservation and human development goals coincide. Just as the fishers of Tonle Sap depend on the diverse wetlands around the Great Lake and on the annual flood, fishers across the developing world depend on preserving natural habitats and sustaining water flow. If the world’s poor are to have fish tomorrow, we must meet wetland conservation goals and find ways to better manage the fisheries they support.
• Fishupdate.com - Bangladesh to host conference on community based fisheries (4 Feb 07)
  Also appeared in: Fish Farmer Magazine
  This international conference coincides with the end of a 10-year Bangladesh Department of Fisheries and WorldFish implemented research programme on community based and co-managed fisheries in Bangladesh.
• Solomon Star - Pearl farming project for rural communities (1 Feb 07)
  Solomon Islands will soon engage in black pearl farming following the signing of an agreement between the European Union and the Government for the undertaking of a survey and developing of investment guidelines.
  Minister for Development Planning and Aid Coordination Steve Abana said the agreement paves the way for suitable international investors to come to the country to produce high quality pearls.