REFRESH Malawi

The USAID Restoring Fisheries for Sustainable Livelihoods in Lake Malawi (REFRESH) is a five-year project (October 2019-September 2024) with the overall goal to conserve Lake Malawi’s fish biodiversity and improve capture fisheries management in lakeshore districts (Karonga, Rumphi, Likoma, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Salima, Dedza and Mangochi). REFRESH will work with stakeholders to realize the potential of sustainably managed lake by integrating political, biological, ecological, and socio-economic considerations to sustain the composition, structure, and functions of the lake’s ecosystem.   

The Coastal Resources Center (CRC) is partnering with Pact, an international non-governmental organization, that is leading the implementation of REFRESH in collaboration with the Government of Malawi, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and local communities.

CRC’s interventions center on the integration of sound science and local knowledge and building the capacity of governmental and non-governmental organizations in co-designing and co-implementation of an ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) in Lake Malawi. REFRESH will build on lessons learned and successes of the USAID-FISH project implemented by Pact and CRC from 2014 to 2019.

Lake Malawi is home to over 800 cichlid species of which 99% are endemic and is considered to be the most species-rich Lake on earth. The Lake’s biodiversity supports a vibrant fishery which plays important ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural roles. This fishery is largely being managed unsustainably and independently of the ecosystems in which they exist, with little to no integration of science-based management, development planning and adequate resource allocation, and overall weak implementation of decentralized fisheries governance.

REFRESH is tasked with the development and implementation of an integrated and participatory approach for improved ecosystem-based fisheries management in Lake Malawi including, strengthening governance and regulatory frameworks, improving science, information, and technical capacities in stock assessment and data management, strengthening decentralized fisheries co-management, commercializing conservation enterprises and building constituencies for effective, accountable, and transparent EBFM.

For more information on this topic, contact Najih Lazar at nlazar@uri.edu.