OMG! The internet training for journalism lecturers here at SAUT has been a wakeup call for me. I had since forgotten the adrenaline rush to write a good story which involved a little bit of research. The luxury of reading other people’s work, marking, criticizing and grading creates a fallacy of one’s ability. I am gridding my teeth to say this but I have to for the truth shall set me free. I actually thought that I was well furnished on the internet searching skills only for Piek Johansson to ask “find the highest UEFA Champion League scorer 2016?” and to my dismay I couldn’t…Lol! Maybe it because I have no interest in sport. This was not the end, we were told to find the fourth highest mountain in Tanzania. Alas! I could not find but I managed to open up more than ten tabs on my window ‘choosing the right search words’ is paramount in obtaining correct information and avoiding a junk of irrelevant materials. Today is  Saturday 10^th September, 2016 the four-days training is coming to an end, how I wish it could continue for a month since I have discovered that I still have so much to learn. Nonetheless, just to mention a few; I have learned to open up a blog, how to link information and be able to follow links provided by other publishers in order to obtain factual and specific information. I cannot thank enough the Vikes – The Finnish Foundation for Media and Development in collaboration with Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) for sponsoring and facilitating the training. 

Recently I was requested by a friend from Dar es Salaam to purchase a bucket of Nile Perch for her. I could not believe how hard it was for me to find nile perche medium size to fill a bucket. I decided to contact Mr. Moses who is a long time fish monger to assist me in acquiring fresh Nile Perche from the fishermen. In vain, he waited two days at the lake shores in a place called Luchelele, luckly on the third day he was able to purchase medum size nile perche that could fill a bucket. Now that was not the end of story, then came the price. The last 3 years, the cost of a full bucket was about Tshs 40,000 to 50,000 so you can imagine how astonished I was  to learn that the cost has shot to Tshs 100,000. Mr. Moses and I spent almost 30 minutes bargaining the price lastly I had to give in because he was adamant. 

I have come across various reports that indicate the declining of Nile Perch in the Lake Victoria. The lake is shared between three countries; Tanzania 51%, Uganda 43% and Kenya 6%. One significant reasons for this predicament is over fishing, over-capitalization and high levels of non-compliance to regulations in fishing. Apart from that, water level in the lake dropped, a situation associated with luck of rainfall consequently resulting to the unfavorable environment for all fish species to thrive including Nile Perch. 

In the East Africa, there has been various interventions done by Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization by the member states that share the lake i.e Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Since 2008, the member states has been trying to reverse the stock decline through a management plan. In the year 2009, the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO) launched its first management phase I from 2009-2014 titled Nile Perch Fishery Management Plan (NPFMPI). One major characteristic of the fishery resources is that it is natural renewable since it is produced by the ecosystem. However, management initiatives of these resources has been difficult to implement since it is publicly-owned henceforth anybody can access the fishery. The Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization went further to introduce the Nile Perch Fishery Management Plan phase II (2015-2019). 

It has been documented that in the past two decades, the fishing industries within the member states was registering 250,000 tonnes per year which was in turn contributing USD 222 million in terms of turnover and USD 158 million in terms of wealth (value added) generated by the Nile Perch fishery to the economies. However the nile perch is expected to decrease from 250 000 to 200 000 tonnes per year for the next five years to come. 

The decline of Nile Perch has had a huge social-economic impact to the local people. The Nile Perch has become expensive commodity and many fishermen have been jailed for lack of compliance to regulations. These regulations range from failure to utilize the correct fishing gears proposed by the players in the fishing industry such as the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization in their Nile Perch Fishery Management Plan both phase I and II. Also those caught fishing during bans that are usually announced and the fishing ban can be up-to 6 months. Those that depend on fishing as their only economic activity find it difficult to comply with the regulations bringing about hostility between the local people and the marine police. 

The Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization strongly believe that if the fishermen and fish processors in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda observe the so called "6-months annual fishing holidays" or bans in other words it will increase the number of nile perch in Lake Victoria since the species has a very high breeding ability of up to 20 millions eggs per day with the chances of 80% of them being hatched. 

Hello!

I had a very interesting day at the Internet Training for Journalism lectures at St. Augustine University of Tanzania. I have learnt how to create a blog, write, publish and edit posts. The exercise was very simple and required very few steps that I can easily share to my students or any other person who will be interested to open up a blog. 

The facilitator Piek Johansson took us through various internet websites that had an impact on peoples' lives around the world for many years for example ebay, wikipedia, blogger, amazon just to mention a few. Moreover, there was a discussion on the continent with the highest internet users whereby Asia was the first one with 46.6% of its population using the internet while Africa had 9.4%. Apart from that, it was pointed out North American has the highest internet penetration of 89.0%. However, Africa was at the bottom of the list of internet penetration with 28.6%. You can find these statistics from internet world statistics.

Surprisely, I was happy to see how quickly we could get factual information about my own country Tanzania on the popular websites people visit to obtain information. The most popular website in Tanzania is google.com followed up by youtube, facebook, yahoo and millardayo.com. Other website were google.co.tz, jamiiforums.com and zoomtanzania.com. 

Generally, I learnt that people use internet for various reasons including reading international news, chatting, researching, blogging and sharing of information through social media. 

Personal Introduction of Madam Abbie

Hello!

Ms. Abishagi Bhoke Christopher holds a master degree in Media Studies from Daystar University Nairobi, BA in Mass Communication from St. Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT) and certificate on Television and Film production from Mohamed Amin Foundation Kenya. She has been lecturing in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication for eight years; on writing for electronic media, audience research, programming, scriptwriting, camera, editing skills and facilitating production of various radio and television programs at SAUT.  She also works as a private consultant in training public speaking and facilitation skills in various organizations.  


I reside in Nyegezi near the SAUT Main Campus Mwanza. Currently I am attending Internet Training for Journalism Journalism Lecturers by VIKES-The Finnish Foundation for Media and Development. The facilitator is Peik Johansson. 

I expect to learn how to search for authentic information that I can use for my lectures and for research. I also expect to learn how to publish and share information on the internet.