Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Category: Pesticides | Date: Jul 13 2009 | By: Martin Odino

Lake Naivasha is amongst the few ‘living’ small akes of the Rift Valley and boasts rich bird and the once rich but now almost gone stock of Tilapia fish; the ‘living’ status is attributed to low salinity of its waters and therefore though this condition precludes the presence of many peoples’ favourite spectacle of Flamingoes from the Lake, other birds, hippos, and water life generally flourish. Like many other ecosystems however, the lake has not been spared from intoxication which is blamed behind the progressive fish declines. I should note here that in one of my surveys on areas with intensive Furadan use, Naivasha’s flower farms turned out markedly as foci in which Furadan was used in gross quantities

Just to highlight on lake Naivasha’s special importance to biodiversity, Lake Naivasha is a stronghold of one of Kenya’s iconic Eagles, the African Fish Eagle that relies on the fish from the lake; a pity the fish are pesticide laden.

An African Fish-Eagle catching a fish

Researchers claim the chemical run-off from farms around the lake, which use its water for irrigation, and the town’s sewage are the main killers of fish. The story (Fish Stocks Dwindle as Pollution Rises) was captured recently in a local newspaper, The Standard.

Kenya’s life is battered left and right with pesticide intoxication; again we have people eating the fouled fish!!!!and the fish are nose diving to their extinction!

Tags: Intoxication, Lake Naivasha, The Standard

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Category: carbofuran | Date: Sep 18 2008 | By: Martin Odino

In August this year (2008) I had a noble opportunity of viewing Lake Naivasha’s biodiversity from a fisherman’s view. I mean I hook hiked on a boat ride. The diversity of birds and the jumbo hippos as well as the varied water vegetation were nothing short of beauty. I however observed something that I had never seen before. While enjoying the boat ride, I noticed we had a tail! One Grey-headed gull seemed to be trailing us. The boat man or honourably the ‘captain’ seemed not bothered. I took courage and asked him if he was aware that one particular gull kept flying behind us! He said that it was just hunting. A clever Gull I thought. I had difficulties in distinguishing between sort of similar terns and gulls until I found out that one marked biological distinction is in their feeding mode. Terns are hunters and will hunt and eat small aquatic organisms. The bigger gulls are poor hunters or fishermen and are mainly scavengers. The Gull trailing us was simply taking advantage of disoriented fish, arthropods, etc by the turbulence of water caused by the rotating motor boat’s propeller. The disoriented fish and insects are less likely of swift escape hence the predator swoops down and snatches them. Usually, the gull would eat dead, decomposing fish on the shore due to its less efficient hunting methods. I thought this was a good adaptation, guaranteeing this dominantly scavenger bird fresh food as a hunting predator.

A Grey-headed Gull

In the meeting organized by Wildlife Direct in April, 2008, one scientist revealed that he had observed fishermen in Lake Victoria pour Furadan on the water surface then using motor boats, churn the waters with their boats manoeuvring in figure 8 manner. Evidently, fish came floating from the effects of the chemical while definitely many other organisms must have succumbed to the poison. Gulls occur in Lake Victoria as well. Learning to trail boats that churn the poison-laden waters may however lead them to their tragic end. Many fish still may escape this poisoning death but fall in the fishermen’s nets. Otters are also renowned to have learnt that net catches are rich and will spare their energy and serve themselves at the catch in the nets especially for the nets left out overnight, so more predators and more scavengers to get into this chain of intoxication and possible fatalities. What of the fisherman below, employing his teeth to hold his caught fish? I hope this fish is not an escapee from poisoned water area.

Tags: fisherman, Grey-headed gull, Lake Naivasha, Lake Victoria, otter, wildlife poisoning

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