Fishermen drying their catch of kapenta fish on the shores of Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe
Kapenta is usually dried in the sun on a clean surface such as concrete slabs, rocks or netting. Drying on racks gives the best results. Drying takes one day or more, depending on the weather. Unfortunately the kapenta season coincides with the rainy season when the fish congregates and sundrying may not always be possible causing postharvest losses. These losses are mostly economical as the lower quality dried fish fetches a lower price. In the worst case the dried fish is used as chicken feed. Salting before drying is a solution: kapenta is salted at a ratio normally of kg per 30 kg (1 lb per 12 lb) of fish, and dried in the hot Zambezi Valley sun. It is a hugely important staple, providing refrigeration-free protein to people of Africa. A cup of dried kapenta will feed a family. Dried kapenta is preferred to the slightly bitter dried dagaa from Lake Victoria, but poor people will buy dagaa because of its lower price. In Zimbabwe dried kapenta fish are shallow fried with onions and tomatoes. They are eaten with traditional staple meal called Isitshwala/sadza. The Tanganyika sardine, is known as Kapenta in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Kapenta is really two species (Lake Tanganyika sardine Limnothrissa miodon and Lake Tanganyika sprat Stolothrissa tanganicae) both of which are small, planktivorous, pelagic, freshwater clupeid originating from Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. This fish is caught at night using kapenta rigs, these rigs use mercury lights connected to portable generators to attract the fish to the rig. A dip net measuring roughly six metres in diameter and around 8 to 10 metres in length is then used to bring the fish up from anything from 40 metres (130 ft).
Size: 3529px × 5427px
Location: Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe
Photo credit: © Neil Cooper / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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