Fish Node and Friends

Officially, my international youth internship placement is with the Fish Node at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR). I say officially because the Malawi government renamed the university a couple years ago but the majority of local residents, students, and professors still refer to the institute as Bunda College. One name or another, I’m here in Malawi to do work on aquaculture.

These are some of my co-workers and good friends at the Fish Node, 

Thoko on the left, Spriano in the middle and Andrew on the right.

In many aspects the Fish Node is a young group, both in its existence and the age class of the group members. The biggest advantage of a young and educated team is the hardworking attitude that group members always bring to the workplace. Their eagerness shows in their desire to learn and improve themselves, as individuals and as a team.

We were trying to conduct an experiment that would observe the feeding 

behaviours of Oreochromis shiranus when presented with three different 

types of food. floating chinese pellets, a sinking malawian feed and Maize bran.

Maize bran, which is just leftover corn husks, is commonly fed to Tilapia here. 

Fish Node is the group that you approach when you need to get something done. The processing time to scan a simple document or arrange a ride was reduced from a week, sometimes indefinitely, to a couple minutes. I've stopped asking the department for things and go directly to the Fish Node. I’m happy to be working with such a tight knit group, And they really are a tight knit group; sharing a ridiculously small office space between a dozen people may not be an ideal situation but somehow they make it work.

Standard weight and length procedure before the start of our experiment.

Thomas and I are spoiled because we share an office to ourselves. It might be for the best because we really start to stink when it gets hot in the afternoon. We need to get a fan… That’s one of those indefinite tasks the department said they would do for us.

We wanted to be able tell the fish apart from each other so we bought 

necklaces and used the beads for dorsal fish tags.

It doesn’t take a general manager to know that a team abundant in youthful vigour might seriously lack in practical experience. This is one of the challenges that the Fish Node faces. On one side I really value a group that provide opportunities for young scientists, work experiences are invaluable stepping-stones that help lead to a successful career. They help prevent that catch-22 that I hear all too often, “How can I get into my field when an entry level job requires five years of experience?”.

These solid colours were easy to distinguish in the tanks. Things got a little confusing

when we started making multicolour tags. We had a long debate on how to position our 

cameras to capture what we wanted to see. We found they may not have been in the

best position after all. Learn from your mistakes.

On the other side, these opportunities must focus on guiding recent graduates in the right direction. The development of things like critical thinking, proper scientific method, organization, and so on are extremely important for young scientists. Being led astray can be detrimental to the development of these skills and the quality of work that future scientists will produce.

Presenting the dream team @ Bunda Campus Aquaculture

Let me go to my Canadian roots and talk about hockey for a second. I follow the Winnipeg Jets as a casual religion. After making the playoffs last year the team had a disappointing season this year, all but finishing in the league’s cellar. Not a single Canadian team will make a playoff appearance this year, a truly miserable season for us Canadian sheep, “cough cough” I mean fans. It’s probably best if we just cancel springtime hockey.

A quick prick and then into the bucket for a relaxing salt bath. We don't 

want any instances of fungal infections. I think the stress of a new

environment and being handled was too much for these guys. 

Hockey analysts love discussing the topic of leadership in the locker room. They say “You got to have those veteran guys to show the young guns how to put the puck in the opponents net and keep it out of their own”. They love talking about it because it’s intangible, and really subjective, but there’s also truth in their arguments. Winnipeg lost a bunch of their veteran players in the offseason to make room for their up and coming prospects. In doing so they made themselves one of the youngest teams in the league. The team has a lack of experience at the NHL level and it shows in the inconsistency of the team’s results.

Now presenting our beautifully bedazzled
Oreochromis shiranus. (Tilapia)

 Now I’m sure you can see where this is going, so many organizations operate with the same dynamic as an NHL hockey team, or any sports team for that matter. Metaphorically I think the Fish Node would do well to bring in some of these veteran guys or girls with playoff experience who can lead by example.

 Currently the group is focusing on running experiments and producing scientific publications. These are difficult goals to achieve when “veteran” doctoral candidates and post doctorates are missing from the team. These are the people who are further in their career but eager to make a name for themselves by producing reputable work.

I think it’s time to introduce the idea of science and cake like substances here in the LUANAR aquaculture department. For those who aren’t aware of science and cake like substance meetings they originated in the Phytoplankton lab at Dalhousie University. Every week the members of the lab would be assigned a scientific article to read. On Friday afternoon we would come together to discuss the validity of the scientific paper, all while we enjoyed some cake like substances. You learn very very quickly that good science is always knowing and testing your assumptions. Thank you Hugh for that piece of invaluable advice. 

Job well done, think we deserve a coke

The long weekend was a great time for reflecting on my first two months in Malawi. Thomas was working in the field for the first couple days and then his girlfriend arrived in the second half of the weekend. I was able to make it to a local reggae concert, bar hop, minibus travel to Lilongwe, visit with some other Canadian interns in Lilongwe, walk to the Bunda fish farm and then finish off the weekend by watching Jurassic World on my laptop. 

My bar hopping led to one good conversation about community engagement, in particular with a Malawian fellow named Paul. Paul works for a charitable organization that fundraises in the USA and dedicates the funds towards increasing the standard of living for impoverished Malawians. He says Malawi has big issues with receiving donated items that have no practical uses in the country. Baseball equipment was the specific example he gave me. That’s great but they don’t play baseball out here. I can just imagine wooden baseball bats being used for fire wood.

He also told me things that didn’t seem as obvious. He said there’s an enormous demand for learning materials but receiving donated books from America isn’t always all that helpful. The children in Malawi don’t relate to the material found in American learning materials.

 

Conference day was upon us. This was the final wrap up for the 

Agricultural Technology Transfer program between China, 

Malawi, Uganda, and the UK. these fancy building are beside

the Malawi parliament. They must be used to host the politicians

that come visit Malawi.

During this conversation he told me that I should get more involved with communities and to build relationships with the people. I one hundred percent agreed; I need to get out and see how aquaculture is actually being practiced in Malawi. He told me one of the best ways to get involved is to just bring a football to a local community and get the farmers playing. I can do sports and I hope to develop aquaculture in Malawi so I’ll try giving it a shot.

 

Even I decided to wear something a little fancier. Different 

than my usual shorts, flip flops and sports shirt getup.

The panel at the conference was incredibly diverse 

with people from so many different parts of the world. 

Stage two involves asking to see the farmer’s land and suggesting we try allotting a plot to aquaculture practices. The issue with this is that I only have a short time in Malawi. This would need to be a long-term project that the Fish Node or another organization would oversee after my departure. Otherwise, without added guidance, new fish farmers risk being led astray from success, sounds familiar.

I pasted a link to a news story that came out of the conference

at the end of this blog post, for anyone interested.  

My Canadian friends in Lilongwe had another idea. They suggested I start reaching out to outlets that have an audience interested in aquaculture and fisheries. This might involve doing interviews, giving presentations, writing articles for newspapers and aquaculture magazines. Who knows what might come of that, but it could be fun, and it would allow me to start chasing my older sister in newspaper mentions. She’s probably already featured in well over a hundred articles by this point. You better hope you make it into the Olympics for those extra newspaper articles Leah or I’ll be cutting your lead very quickly.

https://luanarbunda.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/feed-remains-a-challenge-in-the-aquaculture-industry/ 

A-maize-ing Thoughts and Wild Things

Corn, corn everywhere, as far as the eye can see. Corn, or maize as they call it, is incredibly important in Malawi. It’s the crop that feeds people for breakfast, lunch and supper, and from what I can tell, corn is largely responsible for keeping the country’s economy afloat, that and Carlsberg beer. As it turns out, I knew very little about the importance of corn before I arrived in Malawi. My knowledge is expanding on the topic even more thanks to book I started reading called the Omnivores Dilemma, a history of the intriguing plant and the role it played in transforming the food system of North America. I’ll write about corn production before getting into the wild side of Africa, the topics are closely connected and unfortunately biodiversity suffers due to the expansion of human development. 

Both of these animals were probably thinking the same thing. 

"First I will be incredible still to avoid detection. SHIT! How did I 

get spotted while being so still? Time to run for that crack in the rocks!"

Last weekend, Thomas and I went out for a hike towards Bunda Mountain, our goal was to reach the peak. As a note to self, I would refrain from attempting anymore mid afternoon hikes in direct African sunlight, especially if you were drinking Malawi vodka the night before and in serious need of rehydration. Thomas and I miraculously made it to the top of the mountain without fainting, however I’ll need to redo the journey another time to fully appreciate the view from the top. We’ve been told that the peak of the mountain is a popular location for locals to pray. When we finally arrived at the peak we found goats, some scattered makeshift shelters built from stones and garbage bags, and a group of locals praying to their god. It would appear that the shelters provide refuge from the intense African elements, for the people who wish to pray on the mountain for extended periods of time.  Apparently, Bunda Mountain is set ablaze every couple years to appease the gods or a singular almighty god. I don’t know the exact story or reasoning behind this tradition, but superstitious beliefs are deeply rooted in Malawi culture.

A view of Bunda mountain, surprisingly the field directly in front of the

 picture was not planted with corn. The reeds and long grasses are usually 

used to build little huts and fencing. 

On our way home we came across two young farmers at the base of the mountain, Paul and Maxie. We greeted them and politely asked for the quickest directions home. They gladly showed us through their fields of maze, which had little paths leading in different directions. It reminded me of walking through the corn maze in Winnipeg; the plants grow so tall that you can easily get lost in a sea of corn. If you do get lost in Malawi at least you always have a source of food at your disposal during the rainy season. That is if things get desperate. Crime is considerably low in Malawi but certainly isn’t taken lightly. Mob justice is one reaction to theft in a community. I don’t want to experience any mob violence so I’ll just keep buying my own goods and won’t mistake a corncob as a free meal.

Hey would you look at that, some planted fields of corn and beans. 

I'm not sure which bean variety they grow, maybe soy beans or pigeon peas? 

Maxie and I started chatting about agriculture during our walk through the maize maze. This conversation gave me some valuable insight into the popularity of maize in Malawi. The value of maize comes from the crops productivity. Maxie said that his fields take approximately 90 days to grow from a kernel in the soil to a fully develop, cob bearing plant. This meant he could harvest from the same plot of land up to three times in a single year. If I understood Maxie correctly which I don't think I did hence the lazy edit, that would truly be impressive productivity.

The best selection of vegetables you can find at a single market stand. 

Notice the table of small dried fish in the background. 

Dried fish from lake Malawi are a favourite food item all across malawi.  

Maize is also attractive for several other reasons. In particular it can be stored without spoiling for an extended period of time. This keeps people fed throughout the harsh dry season in Malawi. The kernels can also be ground into maize meal for easy cooking and storage. One of the biggest advantages of maize is the huge amount of stored energy in each starchy kernel. There’s a big distinction between the sweet corn we normally eat in North America and the corn produced here in Malawi. I prefer our sweet and juicy corn at home, but the starchy corn would easily win the contest for highest energy content per cob of corn. Let’s just say one corn cob is equivalent to a single meal, it keeps me full for hours.

There are also many drawbacks for producing corn. The crop requires heavy fertilization and can lead to the degradation of soil health and pollution of local watersheds. The crop also requires lots of water and can be vulnerable to droughts during specific life stages. In an extreme environment like Sub Saharan Africa, corn is highly vulnerable to the variable drought and flood conditions that Malawi might endure. The country can produce surplus corn during a good year but have famine the next due to a widespread crop failure. It’s like putting all you’re eggs in one basket or however that expression goes.    

Monkeys are often seen stealing corn. People throw rocks and branches at

 them to try and deter them. I like them but locals just think of them as pests.

I’ve been here for over a month now and still haven’t seen any wildlife bigger than a monkey. The only large animals I’ve come across are domesticated goats, donkeys, dogs and cattle. This has been disappointing for me because: one: I’m a wildlife enthusiast, and two: African animals are so famous and symbolic of the continent. The “big five” is an old hunting term used to classify five popular African game animals including the lion, rhino, elephant, leopard and buffalo. Hunting may have an impact on the populations of these animals but from what I can tell it’s habitat loss, due to agriculture and deforestation that will forever reduce the population of exploited wild animals in unprotected areas. I hope to visit some of the national parks in the up coming months for a chance to see larger protected animals. In the mean time I’ll keep my eyes open for any surprising animal sightings during my walks around the guesthouse.

These are two snail species. The one on the left is really common and I thought it was large until I found the giant sucker on the right (I don't believe giant sucker is a common name or scientific name for the species).

Biodiversity may not be as high as it has been historically, but to me the diversity of smaller animals is still exceptional. A new insect, bird or reptile will catch my eye every time I leave the guesthouse. Some animals are more common than others but I always stop to take a closer look at birds perched on a tree branch or to stalk a frightened lizard. The locals always laugh when they see me taking pictures of butterflies or snails. Everything that I find fascinating and new has always been a part of their environment. Still, the vibrant colours and strange morphologies of the animals are truly spectacular.

A drop in the bucket for bird diversity in Malawi. 

Birds, in particular, are plentiful in Malawi. Apart from the rooster calls in the morning I can hear hundreds of unique chirps and chimes throughout the day. Most of the birds are small but they display spectacular colouration. Many of the bird species are currently visiting Malawi for the productive rainy season. The migratory birds will fly back to North Africa when the rains end.

Thomas bought a field identification guide for the birds of South Africa. The book comes into use when we try to identify randomly encountered species of birds during our hikes. My camera doesn’t take highly resolved pictures from a distance, which means I have to be really sneaky to get close enough to a bird for a clear picture. My stealth ability needs some work, so in the meantime Thomas is taking good pictures with his high quality point and shoot camera. He said I could use the pictures in my blog posts, thanks Thomas. I can’t speak for Thomas but I think searching out birds is great excuse for leaving the house once in a while.

Many animals in Malawi have evolved to be inconspicuous in their natural 

environments. The guest house wall is not the leaf insect's natural environment. 

My search for the elusive Chameleon continues. I have a strange fascination with chameleons. It must be their quirky characteristics, the protruding eyes that rotate independently, the camouflage skin, and an irregularly slow walk that makes me want to know more about this mysterious animal. I always look in the bushes during my walks between home and work with the hope of finding a chameleon, still without luck. Most people tell me that they’re easiest to find when they're crossing a road. In any case I have five more months to find one of these reptiles. I would prefer to find one alive, not dead as road kill. Maybe I can post a bounty for a live chameleon to the first kid who can find me a chameleon alive. I can only imagine a schoolyard full of kids lining up to receive their 500 kwacha reward for each having found their own chameleon. 

Two different lizard species. I think the one in the tree is my common house gecko 

but it could be an entirely different species than the ones I have as roommates. 

Not a chameleon but there are three or four distinct lizard species that I frequently see from day to day. One lizard has a characteristic vibrant blue tail. Another is slightly larger than the blue tailed lizard but sports a less distinct orange tail. The third lizard type has a sand coloured body and grows to the same size as the blue tailed lizard. The fourth and most common lizard is the gecko species that I find living inside the guesthouse. Lizards are a new and welcomed change to my environment. Large cockroaches on the other hand took a couple weeks to get comfortable living with.

The millipedes can be huge. I would guess the one in the picture is 20 cm long.

Another segmented arthropod with an abundance of walking appendages.

Insects aren’t my favourite but they are abundant here. It’s also hard to deny that some of them are really cool. I try to take pictures of the ones that have strange morphologies, colours or other interesting characteristics. One that I find most interesting, which isn’t actually an insect at all, is the millipede (Belongs to the class Diplopoda). The millipedes are completely novel to my environment. They can grow to huge sizes and I’m still not entirely sure what they eat or where they spend most of their time. My MacBook pro dictionary tells me that they’re herbivores that shun light and live in the soil, under stones and under logs. I should really start actually searching under stones here in Malawi. It was one of my favourite techniques for finding amphibians and other critters back at home and in fact is the inspiration for the name of my blog. The reason I haven’t started searching under stones is probably due to fears of increasing my chances of a venomous snakebite.

Malawi is full of surprises. Ever wonder where pet hedgehogs originated from?

This prey mantis was posing so nicely on a contrasting pink leaf. It was so
exciting to see onefor the first time in the wild. I think it was
going to attack my finger if I got any closer.

Bites and stings can occur even if you’re being careful; a wasp finally stung me today. It made the fatal error of acting like its insect relative; I mistook the wasp as a common housefly. It landed on my arm like a regular fly so I made a slight movement to make it fly away. Unfortunately for the wasp, and myself, it was not a fly. When I moved my arm it got squished against my elbow and the chair. It decided to release it’s toxic stinger into my elbow as its last mortal action. The little thing packed a painful punch but the sting subsided in a couple minutes. Not ten minutes later did Thomas get stung in exactly the same way as I described above. Poor wasps.

The hugely famous savannah game animals often overshadow the smaller organisms found throughout different regions of Africa. Finding these small animals has been incredibly fun for me as I try to identify specific species and come up with ideas to explain their behaviour and morphological adaptations. I hope you enjoy the pictures I take of the little buggers and credit to Thomas for the letting me use his bird pictures.  

Next time I will write about my first visit to lake Malawi, the story about how I perforated my eardrum. It’s will also be due time that I write about the aquaculture work that I'm participating in for my placement at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

-Shaun