Lake Oponona’s importance in spotlight

IT is the largest water body in the Cuvelai Drainage Basin and receives floodwater twice every three years.

This is Lake Oponona, one of Namibia’s lakes of critical importance to local populations whose livelihoods depend mainly on subsistence farming and fishing. The name Oponona, according to Alweendo Iitenge, headman of the Oponona area in the Oshana Region, means “the one that swallowed up all the water”.Lake Oponona holds a lot of floodwater, as it is filled by ephemeral shallow channels draining an area of 7 000 square kilometres.Situated about 70 km north of Etosha Pan, the lake is also the source of the Ekuma River that flows intermittently into Etosha Pan, sustaining the incredibly rich animal life that congregates there.Lake Oponona provides fish and drinking water for animals and holds water for a long time – therefore it should be utilised in a sustainable manner.And as the gospel of sustainable use seems to be reaching many ears, traditional and regional leaders there are setting fishing regulations to prevent overfishing.Because the lake holds water for a long time, a number of water birds such as flamingos and others migrate there when oshanas (flood plains), swamps and other wetlands dry up.Water birds attract tourists.”Lake Oponona can hold water up to the next rainy season during good years.And it does not get salty,” says Amutenya Ndahafa, very appreciative of the lake.Ndahafa is the councillor for the Uuvudhiya constituency, in which the lake is located.He called for the proper management of Lake Oponona in an effort to make it a tourist attraction.Collectively, Lake Oponona, Etosha Pan (which is one of Namibia’s Wetlands of International Importance) and the Cuvelai Drainage Basin support 45 per cent of Namibia’s human population.The Inland Fisheries Act stipulates that people should have permission to fish in lakes, dams or any other water bodies.But Ndahafa says people in the Oponona area sometimes go fishing illegally in the lake at night.Fishing Inspector Peya Ferdinand, responsible for Oshana, Omusati, Ohangwena, Oshikoto and Kunene, says the long distance inspectors have to travel from Oshakati to Oponona to monitor illegal fishing was one of the challenges facing them in managing the lake.He says many people who fish illegally in the lake go there at night and it is difficult to do night monitoring.Traditional leaders have the power to decide when fishing is allowed in lakes such as Oponona, but regional councillors and the Ministry of Fisheries should be informed, he says.Ann Scott of the Namibia Crane Working Group (NCWG), which protects cranes in Namibia, says Lake Oponona should have conservation status because it is used by Blue Cranes and other endangered birds, including White Pelicans, Lesser Flamingos and Greater Flamingos.Scott says recent surveys have indicated that cranes are found in large numbers in Etosha during the breeding season (summer), whereas they move up to wetlands such as Lake Oponona during the dry season.”These research findings clearly show the conservation importance of Lake Oponona wetlands, which are being used regularly by Blue Cranes, in conjunction with Etosha National Park,” Scott says.Blue Cranes are classified as critically endangered birds in Namibia.In 1989, 80 individuals were counted but only 60 in 1996.This is the only sub-population outside the main population in South Africa, where numbers have declined from over 100 000 to between 15 000 and 25 000 birds.Because recent counts of Blue Cranes in Namibia also showed a declining trend, the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) initiated the NCWG, a crane research and conservation project, in 2006.According to Lake-Net, a global network of people and organisations dedicated to the conservation and sustainable development of lake ecosystems, lakes are unique and valuable ecosystems for both people and nature.”They are critical storage tanks of freshwater.More than 90 per cent of freshwater is contained in lakes and reservoirs,” says the Lake-Net website.Despite this, said Lake-Net, many of the world’s lakes are in crisis.Diversion of lake water for irrigation, invasions of exotic plant and animal species and contamination by toxic substances and nutrients from industrial farms, municipal sewage and polluted urban run-off are common on a scale today that significantly threatens lake ecosystems, it says.It says despite the rich biological resources found in lakes, there continues to be little focus on lake conservation, despite lakes’ critical role in the freshwater cycle.The name Oponona, according to Alweendo Iitenge, headman of the Oponona area in the Oshana Region, means “the one that swallowed up all the water”.Lake Oponona holds a lot of floodwater, as it is filled by ephemeral shallow channels draining an area of 7 000 square kilometres.Situated about 70 km north of Etosha Pan, the lake is also the source of the Ekuma River that flows intermittently into Etosha Pan, sustaining the incredibly rich animal life that congregates there.Lake Oponona provides fish and drinking water for animals and holds water for a long time – therefore it should be utilised in a sustainable manner.And as the gospel of sustainable use seems to be reaching many ears, traditional and regional leaders there are setting fishing regulations to prevent overfishing.Because the lake holds water for a long time, a number of water birds such as flamingos and others migrate there when oshanas (flood plains), swamps and other wetlands dry up.Water birds attract tourists.”Lake Oponona can hold water up to the next rainy season during good years.And it does not get salty,” says Amutenya Ndahafa, very appreciative of the lake.Ndahafa is the councillor for the Uuvudhiya constituency, in which the lake is located.He called for the proper management of Lake Oponona in an effort to make it a tourist attraction.Collectively, Lake Oponona, Etosha Pan (which is one of Namibia’s Wetlands of International Importance) and the Cuvelai Drainage Basin support 45 per cent of Namibia’s human population.The Inland Fisheries Act stipulates that people should have permission to fish in lakes, dams or any other water bodies.But Ndahafa says people in the Oponona area sometimes go fishing illegally in the lake at night. Fishing Inspector Peya Ferdinand, responsible for Oshana, Omusati, Ohangwena, Oshikoto and Kunene, says the long distance inspectors have to travel from Oshakati to Oponona to monitor illegal fishing was one of the challenges facing them in managing the lake.He says many people who fish illegally in the lake go there at night and it is difficult to do night monitoring.Traditional leaders have the power to decide when fishing is allowed in lakes such as Oponona, but regional councillors and the Ministry of Fisheries should be informed, he says.Ann Scott of the Namibia Crane Working Group (NCWG), which protects cranes in Namibia, says Lake Oponona should have conservation status because it is used by Blue Cranes and other endangered birds, including White Pelicans, Lesser Flamingos and Greater Flamingos.Scott says recent surveys have indicated that cranes are found in large numbers in Etosha during the breeding season (summer), whereas they move up to wetlands such as Lake Oponona during the dry season.”These research findings clearly show the conservation importance of Lake Oponona wetlands, which are being used regularly by Blue Cranes, in conjunction with Etosha National Park,” Scott says.Blue Cranes are classified as critically endangered birds in Namibia.In 1989, 80 individuals were counted but only 60 in 1996.This is the only sub-population outside the main population in South Africa, where numbers have declined from over 100 000 to between 15 000 and 25 000 birds.Because recent counts of Blue Cranes in Namibia also showed a declining trend, the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) initiated the NCWG, a crane research and conservation project, in 2006.According to Lake-Net, a global network of people and organisations dedicated to the conservation and sustainable development of lake ecosystems, lakes are unique and valuable ecosystems for both people and nature.”They are critical storage tanks of freshwater.More than 90 per cent of freshwater is contained in lakes and reservoirs,” says the Lake-Net website.Despite this, said Lake-Net, many of the world’s lakes are in crisis.Diversion of lake water for irrigation, invasions of exotic plant and animal species and contamination by toxic substances and nutrients from industrial farms, municipal sewage and polluted urban run-off are common on a scale today that significantly threatens lake ecosystems, it says.It says despite the rich biological resources found in lakes, there continues to be little focus on lake conservation, despite lakes’ critical role in the freshwater cycle.