Export data for December, January and February show that Nile perch fillet sales to European countries tumbled by 70 percent – the biggest drop in export sales since 2000 when the EU lifted the ban on importing fish from Lake Victoria.
The news comes amid this week's conference of experts and stakeholders, who met at a Dar es Salaam hotel to discuss the escalating impacts of the global economic recession but failed to come up with solutions on how to bailout the dying sector.
The global financial crisis is just the latest hitch for the already troubled Nile perch sector, which for nearly eight years has faced domestic and international obstacles.
It all started when government officials failed to react to the flood of Chinese and Vietnamese Bassa on the global market.
While players were still weighing the invasion of the cheaper tilapia-like fish, another man-made crisis emerged depleting the Nile perch population in Lake Victoria by 50 percent by mid last year.
As President Jakaya Kikwete`s regime prepared to rescue the dying sector, the multibillion-shilling industry was further hit by the impact of Europe`s economic woes.
With the current global economic recession causing millions of the industry`s chief consumers to curb their spending, coupled with the sharp dwindling of the lake`s perch population, inside reports show that the sector is facing the worst crisis in its 17-year history.
A survey conducted recently by The Guardian on Sunday has established that fish processing plants have reduced their production by 50 percent, with figures expected to worsen before the middle of this year.
The industry, which provides direct employment to 300,000 and indirect job opportunities to another 3 million people, may shut down altogether if an effective bailout plan is not crafted.
Sunday Observer
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