Fishing and Fish Farming in Rwanda
Senior 2 · Geography and Environment
Fishing and Fish Farming in Rwanda
Lesson 3 of 3
22 min
Fresh fish starts to spoil within hours in warm weather, and fish that rots before it is sold is income thrown away. Wild stocks can also be emptied: on Lake Kivu the recorded catch fell from 24,199 tonnes in the 2017–2018 season to 16,194 tonnes in 2019–2020, a fall blamed on fishing methods that stop fish from breeding. This lesson covers how fish are kept, how stocks are protected, and why the whole activity matters.
Fish spoils because bacteria grow in its moist flesh, and warmth speeds them up. Every preservation method removes water, cools the fish, or adds salt or smoke.
| Method | How it works | Strengths and limits |
|---|---|---|
| Sun-drying | Fish are spread on racks, mats or clean concrete in the sun. Isambaza dry in a day or more. | Cheap and needs no power; fails in the rainy season, when damp fish spoils and sells for less |
| Salting | Salt draws water out of the flesh, often before drying | Keeps fish for months; adds cost and makes fish salty |
| Smoking | Fish are hung over a smoky fire, which dries and flavours them | Tasty and long-lasting; burns firewood, adding to pressure on trees |
| Chilling and freezing | Fish are packed in ice or kept in cold rooms and freezers | Keeps fish fresh and of high value; needs electricity and cold rooms at landing sites |
| Importance | Problem | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Cheap protein for families | Overfishing and illegal nets | Closed seasons, mesh rules, patrols |
| Jobs for fishers, boat builders, traders | Post-harvest losses: no cold storage, rain spoils drying | Cold rooms, drying racks, salting |
| Income, including sales to the DRC | Costly fish feed; few quality fingerlings | Local feed factories; more hatcheries |
| Productive use of lakes and marshes | Siltation and pollution from eroded hills and mines | Terraces, buffer zones along shores |
| Tax and licence revenue; the fishers' songs at dusk on Kivu attract tourists | Competition from cheap imported fish | Cooperatives, better quality and packaging |
Use the Lake Kivu figures above. Calculate the fall in catch and the percentage fall, and suggest two measures.
Tip
Exam technique: pair them up. When asked for "problems and solutions", write each solution on the same line as the problem it fixes (overfishing → closed seasons; spoilage → cold rooms). Examiners reward matched pairs, not two separate lists.
Solution: the fish cannot dry before bacteria spoil it, so it rots or sells cheaply.
Solution: 120 ÷ 30 = 4 batches; 4 × 2.5 = 10 kg of salt. The ratio of salt to fish is 1:12.
Solution: closed seasons and mesh-size rules (also licences, patrols, restocking, protecting breeding areas).
Solution: eroded soil washes into lakes, making the water muddy and burying breeding grounds, so fewer fish survive.
Solution: partly. It keeps fish fresh and worth more, but it needs electricity and money; for small, cheap isambaza, drying on racks is still more practical in many places.
Summary
Sources and credits
The tables, the worked example and the practice items are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
