RIPPLE Africa, a charity based in the Nkhata Bay district in Malawi needs your vote.
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Malawian lady laying out fish for drying in the sun -Fish conservation. Photo credit Nikki Luxford[/caption]
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Fanwell with a catch of chambo fish. Photo credit RIPPLE Africa[/caption]
The NGO has been nominated to win €30,000 (the equivalent of 19.5 million kwacha) for their fish conservation project, a project which aims to help millions of Malawians.
Fish provide both food and employment for the Malawian people and despite having more breeds of fish than any other freshwater lake in the world, the number of fish in Lake Malawi has dropped by more than 90% over the last 20 years.
RIPPLE Africa is working with local communities to help them introduce measures to protect fish, particularly during the breeding season.
Many species come into shallow water to breed and until RIPPLE Africa stepped in, millions of baby fish were being caught in mosquito nets near the shore. If these are allowed to grow and breed, fish stocks will once again start to increase.
Hence the vital need for the project which has introduced a closed season for chambo fish, monitors nets used to protect the baby chambo and currently protects over 21 breeding areas.
So how can you help?
The vote is being run by the European Outdoor Conservation Association and you can make a difference by going online, type in this website/follow the link http://www.outdoorconservation.eu/project-voting-category.cfm?catid=3 and scroll down to RIPPLE Africa and select Cast Your Vote – you don’t even have to leave a name or email address.
RIPPLE Africa is currently in third place so every vote really does count. This is your chance to help yourselves as if the charity is awarded the money we can continue the project to save Malawi’s fish, your fish.
The vote closes on Sunday October 19.