Fish is highly nutritious food and it is valued for its high quality protein compared to that of meat and eggs (Ojutiku et al., 2009). Small sized fish species which are consumed whole are an important source of many micro-nutrients such as vitamins A, B and D, calcium, selenium, phosphorus, potassium, iron and iodine (FAO, 2005). However, fish stocks in Malawi are dwindling due to over-fishing worsened by increased demand as a result of over-population, weak-enforcement of regulations, open-access regime in fisheries exploitation management, increased economic activity and pollution. The dwindling in catches is also making fish on the market scarce and expensive due to high rate of spoilage as a result of an developed post-harvest process hence the need for proper processing methods to prevent the rate of spoilage as well as reduce nutrient loss to consumers. Many processing methods in Malawi are carried out and they include; para boiling, smoking and sun drying. However, fish drying is very challenging during the rainy season due to high humidity and cloud cover. Sun drying is also fraught with problems such as contamination by dust and insect infestation that carry faecal material and result to poor quality of the processed fish due to high microbial load (Doe, 2002). This results to an increase in post-harvest fish losses estimated at 40% (FAO, 2014). This means that fishermen loose considerable portion of their profit, as well as, the general public losses considerable nutritious food where fish provides the best source of animal protein and unique micronutrients and long chain omega-3 fatty acids that have health benefits (Ruxton et al., 2004).
the project will bring a technology (Solar tent dryers of fish) to the fishing communities that will make fish processing simple, environmentally friendly and quick. Eventually the processed fish will be of high quality and nutritive value on the market and will fetch good prices hence making fish sellers realize even more thereby advantaging their livelihoods. This will ensure that fish as an alternative source of protein is made available on the market continually through this postharvest cost effective renewable technology. There is a need to carry our research activities alongside implementation of the technology to find out the best fitting model for the specific community as communities might have different needs, expectations for the project and cultural factors that must be factored into the project to ensure its success when the project finalized. As a result, issues of product acceptability are very important among others.
The project will also strengthen the community efforts to conserve their fishery by enabling them to formulate their own fisheries management by-laws which will be recognized and backed by the district council. This will encourage the fishing community to police each other more efficiently as in the past those found employing illegal gears were not satisfactorily dealt with by the courts due to absence of fisheries management by-laws. This phenomenal were letting down the community efforts in participating in fisheries management as the courts were not recognizing their by-laws. The district fisheries office with other relevant government offices, non-governmental organization will be empowered to lead the communities to come-up with effective by-laws.
The project will also provide capacity building in collaboration with district magistrate court office to fisheries enforcement officers to enable them to effectively bring to court cases of illegal fishing gears which will successfully lead to conviction. The enforcement officers have to know the court proceeding to effectively fight the illegal gears on the Lake Malawi such as mosquito nets. This is the reason this project suggest such capacity building to the enforcement officers.