112 Kitojo Wetengere and Aubrey Harris
Donor supported programs regretably did not build upon the local
‘community’s self-help spirit’^1 , the projects were not sustainable, and as soon
as the donor support ceased, the projects were abandoned.
In 2008, the Government of Tanzania declared its interest to ending
decades of neglecting aquaculture. It reaffirmed this commitment and its
desire to improving aquaculture contribution to economic growth by
establishing a full-fledged Directorate of Aquaculture (DA). The new DA has
added impetus to the development of the sector by adopting a National
Aquaculture Development Strategy (NADS) in 2009 that provides new set of
objectives, approaches and methods of a framework for the development of
aquaculture. This strategy is aimed at involving the farmers right from the
planning stage to the implementation in aquaculture development (URT,
2009). The main issue in the NADS is that aquaculture should operate and
stand as a business (ibid.). Similarly, the Revolutionary Government of
Zanzibar has given a high priority to aquaculture development so that the
sector becomes a significant contributor to social and economic development
(Bueno, 2011). The Government has plans to increase the production of
seaweed, cultured finfish, crustacean and mollusc species to complement the
declining position from capture fisheries. The associated strategies focus upon
diversification of mariculture away from seaweed and the improvement of
seaweed farming and marketing. So far little has been done in practice to
achieve the objectives of both strategies, and it appears that fiscal incentives
do not form part of the instruments which the government proposes to use to
try to achieve these targets.
Fresh Water Aquaculture Production
Fresh water aquaculture in Tanzania is dominated by Nile tilapia
(Oreochromis niloticus) and to a lesser extent the African catfish (Clarias
gariepinus). In some areas the two species were integrated. Much of fish pond
(^1) The term “self-help sprit” refers to “the willingness of the local people to actively participate in
public activities such as construction of schools, dams, roads and other community physical
assets”. It is a situation where the local people willingly participate in doing public activities
on their own with minimal external support. In so doing, the local people own these
activities or assets and therefore take care of them. However, when the outsiders come and
do these activities for the local people (particularly those activities that the local people
were able to do themselves), they ruin this valuable spirit. After ruining this spirit, the
outsiders then make the local people to depend upon them (the outsiders), thus creating a
deadly disease called “dependency syndrome”!