Fishing is among of the Socio-Economic activities carried out by the number of people in Lindi Municipal Council because the council geographically located along the coast area. Fisheries activities deploy the natural resource found in water bodies and if not monitored May lead to depletion of natural resources in water bodies hence lead to environmental hazard. Fishing activities in Lindi Municipal council is formal and tend to increase as the time goes on however the rate of increase is not high due to traditional fishing techniques employed by majority of the fisheries society. Despite of the fact that fisheries activities create an employment to the people but also generate income hence contribute to the economy of the Municipal council.
Fishing dominates the human activity to people living along the shore of Indian Ocean. Catching of fish is accompanied by the use of net handcart from dugout canoes or simple plank boats. The fish are consumed locally, some preserved by smoking and sun drying for trade. Generally the fishing industry in the Municipal area is still low and under developed. Fishing is undertaken by the use of traditional fishing gears, hence ending to low catching. It is estimated that 3,267 tons of fish is harvested annually in the Indian Ocean. The Municipal has a big source of fish supplies mainly from Indian Ocean. However, these potentials are not utilised due to number of factors such as poor accessibility from the fishing grounds to the markets, unreliable preservation techniques, poor storage facilities and fishing gears.
Major Problems facing Fishing Industry in Lindi Municipal 1. Low production
Most of people engaging in fishing industry in Lindi Urban are low income earners. This is due to use of poor technology in fishing as most of people use canoe and nets hence are not able to reach in deep parts of the sea but reaches only in shallow water resulting to low production.
2. Low capital investment in fishing industry
Since most of the fishermen are low income earners and do not engage in large scale fishing, this affects further investment in other sectors as a result they earn only for subsistence life. The fishing industry in Lindi Municipality is not commercialized and its market size is very small comprising local demands.
