News on Screen

Series

Series Name

Rhodesian Spotlight

Issue

Issue No.

28

Length of issue (in feet)

826

Stories in this Issue:

• 1. Up in the Highlands
• 2. N. Rhodesia’s New Police Depot
• 3. Fishing Methods on lake mweru
• 4. Nyasaland’s Cotton

Story

Story No. within this Issue

3 / 4

Summary

Rhodesian Spotlight synopsis: Research and the introduction of a new type of sailing canoe boost the African Fishing Industry on Lake Mweru.
Rhodesian Spotlight Commentary - At first sight Kasikisi on Lake Mweru might seem an unlikely place to find an ice factory. But here it is - Not because it’s a nice hot place for an ice factory, but because the fishing industry on Lake Mweru needs it. For some years now this fishing industry has been expanding. Until recently it was done from canoes, but now a power driven vessel, which can fish further out and withstand sudden storms, operates with a satellite fleet of canoes. It’s the only one of its kind owned by an African. While they’re loading the ice, we may as well look at a new type of craft designed to enable the average African fisherman to venture some distance from the shore. It’s a sturdy sailing canoe which they are being taught to build themselves.
Returning to our motor vessel, the nets are laid from the accompanying canoes. Nowadays the nets are made of nylon instead of the fibres from old motor tyres. And so working in teams, fishing progresses in several places at once. There are 29 known varieties of fish in Lake Mweru, and catches consist largely of Tilapia, Bream, Barbel, Tiger Fish and Lake Salmon. 8 or 10 pounders are frequent.
The canoes return to the power boat, where they offload their catch to be preserved on ice. Thus weather permitting they can stay out on the Lake for several days.
The fishermen receive fourpence a pound less a farthing levy to be used for development. Most of the catch reaches towns on the Copperbelt where it finds a ready market. It’s a further case of prosperity from developing Africa’s natural resources. For under European supervision and guidance, the African fishing industry on Lake Mweru literally nets an income of a hundred thousand pounds a year.

Keywords

Ships and boats; Industry and manufacture; Fisheries

Written sources

Movietone boxfile no.1   Used for synopsis

Credits:

Production Co.

Central African Film Unit

Length of story (in feet)

202

This series is held by:

Film Archive

Name

British Film Institute (BFI)

Email

For BFI National Archive enquiries:
nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk
For commercial/footage reuse enquiries:
footage.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7580 7503

Address

21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN

Notes

The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).

Series held

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