Lenge keeping the floats up

Today’s blog was written by our son, Matt Young, a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia.

Last Friday and Saturday I helped my counterpart Sebastian harvest several of his ponds. Together with four of his sons we seined eight ponds, grading and restocking over 500 fish in order to update existing create new inventory records. (It might not look like it from the pictures, but yes, I did actually go into the water and do work when I wasn’t pulling camera duty).

Hauling the net in for a fish count

It was interesting to observe some of the parallels between this past weekend and childhood memories of working on my dad’s fish farm.

“Keep your foot on the lead line!” sounds about the same in Bemba as it does in English

“Keep the lead line down!” rang out at regular intervals, referring to the weights that prevent fish from escaping beneath the net. Several times an exasperated father could be heard remonstrating with his sons for not using common sense.

Different places, same old routine

I guess it doesn’t matter whether you’re in Central California or Sub-Saharan Africa — some things are just universal.

Matt Young

Growing up on a fish farm in California, Matt Young spent his summers up to his ears in mud and vowed never to follow in his RPCV father’s footsteps. So the fact that he now works with fish farmers in Zambia as a Rural Aquaculture Promotion Volunteer comes as a surprise to exactly nobody except himself. Matt blogs at Fishing in Zambia.

-Article courtesy of Matt Young, Fishing in Zambia

Tags: aquaculture, fish farm, Fishing in Zambia, J and J Aquafarms, Peace Corps, seining a pond