Beware Rift Valley fish!

THE Zimbabwean government’s recent ban on the importation of all fish, animals and animal products from Namibia following the outbreak of Rift Valley fever is threatening the viability of the country’s fish industry, operators have said.

The Zimbabwean Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development announced the ban on May 14, saying it was a precautionary measure.But a Zimbabwean fish trader said the fish industry found the inclusion of seafood products strange. He described the decision as ill-informed and an ’embarrassing joke’.’My company now cannot bring fish into Zimbabwe for a minimum of three months due to a tick-borne disease which cannot be passed on by physical touch or through the air,’ said Victoria Falls operator Mark Norman.’The question I want to ask the Veterinary Services Department is how many scaly fish have they found with ticks and that can breathe onto each other!’Norman said the fish industry was also not comfortable with the regulations that all food suppliers must have their warehouses inspected.’So, if I order mussels, calamari, prawns, salmon, hake and mackerel, I must now send a team of three vet inspectors at my own cost to New Zealand to inspect the mussels, to Argentina to inspect the calamari, to India to inspect the prawns, Norway for the salmon and a Russian factory ship in the middle of the Atlantic to inspect the hake and mackerel,’ Norman said.’So, if I want to order US$6 000 worth of seafood it will cost me $68 000 to have them inspected.’Due to the last five years of economically tough times our standards have slipped, why then must top European Union-regulated companies have to be inspected by a rag team of veterinary trainees from Zimbabwe to see whether their food is good enough to come here?’Unesu Ushewokunze of the Veterinary Services Department agreed that Rift Valley fever does not affect fish.’The disease is spread by mosquitoes and yes, it does not affect fish and pigs,’ Ushewokunze said. ‘It only affects ruminant animals which include cattle, sheep, goats and wild ruminants.’The blanket ban is however a precautionary measure to enable us to screen the products and institute bio-security measures.’She said the Ministry of Agriculture was reviewing the ban on fish and other non-susceptible species.In its announcement, the ministry said it would lift the ban as soon as the Namibian government came up with strategies to rectify the problem.Rift Valley fever is a disease that affects livestock and people.It is mainly transmitted through mosquito bites and people can get infected through contact with infected animal blood or organs.The Zimbabwean government had earlier banned meat imports from South Africa because of the same disease.Norman said the fish industry suspected the government had imposed a blanket ban ‘to protect a handful of chicken producers who are upset about the importation of cheap chickens, thus affecting their 300 per cent mark-ups’.- The Standard (Zimbabwe)

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