(19 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Naivasha, Kenya – 13 December 2024
1. Wide of Simon Macharia and his fellow fisherman wading through water hyacinth on Lake Naivasha
2. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Simon Macharia, Fisherman:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 3 & 4++
"Since water hyacinth started growing in Lake Naivasha, we have unsuccessfully tied getting assistance from the government. Then, we came across this company called HyaPak. We harvest water hyacinth, dry it and send it to them. We do business with them, we sell to them and they pay us."
3. Various of Macharia harvesting water hyacinth
4. Macharia piling up harvested hyacinth on his boat
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nairobi, Kenya – 18 December 2024
5. A HyaPack worker picking and sorting dried hyacinth
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Nguthiru, Founder HyaPak Technologies:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 5, 7, 8, 9 & 10++
"What we are trying to look at is how do we use one problem which is water hyacinth, to (solve) the other problem which is plastic waste pollution. We’re looking into spaces that have high plastic use, but need to go sustainable and green. One of those places is agriculture where we have a lot of seedlings being packaged in plastic bags and we have our biodegradable bags that can be inserted with the seedlings into the ground. As they decompose they release nutrients that accelerate the growth of plants as well as you reduce the amount of water used in irrigation."
7. Dried hyacinth being put into a shredding machine
8. HyaPack worker walking away with shredded hyacinth in a small basin
9. Various of hyacinth by-product being folded to make seedling bags
10. Various of Nguthiru planting seedling in bio-degradable bags made of hyacinth
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Naivasha, Kenya – 13 December 2024
11. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Simon Macharia, Fisherman:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 12 & 13++
"Long before the water hyacinth invaded the lake, we used to catch a lot of fish because the breeding zones had not been affected by water hyacinth. When the water hyacinth affected the breeding zones, the fish decreased. We used to catch up to 90 kilograms of fish per day. But now since the breeding areas have been affected, we get between 10 kilograms and 15 kilograms."
12. Various of water hyacinth covering Lake Naivasha
13. Various of Macharia fishing
STORYLINE:
For someone who fishes for a living, nothing says a bad day like spending over 18 hours on a lake and taking home nothing.
Recently, a group of fishermen were said to be stranded on Kenya’s popular Lake Naivasha for that long and blamed the water hyacinth that has taken over large parts of it.
The water hyacinth is native to South America and was reportedly introduced to Kenya in the 1980s by tourists who brought it as an ornamental plant, said an environmental scientist at Mount Kenya University.
Water hyacinth was first sighted on Lake Naivasha about 10 years ago. Now it has become a large, glossy mat that can cover swathes of the lake.
To fishermen, the invasive plant is a threat to livelihoods.
Usually, the presence of water hyacinth is linked to pollution. It is known to thrive in the presence of contaminants and grows quickly, and is considered the most invasive aquatic plant species in the world, the environmental scientist said.
It can prevent the penetration of sunlight and impact airflow, affecting the quality of aquatic life.
This has caused a drastic drop in the population of fish in Lake Naivasha and some other affected areas.
The fishermen at Lake Naivasha know that well.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/ae8d9a01fabb4982acd235d2a46907f6
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in January 24, 2025, 6:04 am.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
