The project has made substantial progress during this first year. Twenty one biologists participated in a field seminar at Lake Malawi where they learnt a number of techniques to study the ecology, behaviour and evolution of the fish population. Students had the opportunity to widen their research skills including conducting detailed observations, recording data, use of transects/focal watches and recording findings. In addition the partner institutions are working on six different research initiatives with two papers already submitted pending publication in the African Journal of Aquatic Science and the Journal of Applied Sciences. Whilst this research is in the early stages the project team report details how DelPHE funds have facilitated data collection, the acquisition of equipment/consumables and most importantly enriched the capacity of young scientists in Malawi and the UK.
The partner institutions view this project as a springboard to securing future collaborative projects. These include complementary funds from the Iceland International Development Agency, Commonwealth Scholarship Foundation and a bid to the Darwin Initiative (DEFRA). Moreover, Bunda College partly as a result of DelPHE funding is one of the core institutions in the EU funded Sustainable Aquaculture Research Networks in sub-Saharan Africa (SARNISSA) programme.
This project also aims to strengthen the network of fisheries scientists working in Malawian HE institutions and over the next year the project team will work on improving communication and sharing best practice through newsletters, workshops and initiating discussions with appropriate policy makers.
