On the front line of the fish for sex trade ‘spiralling out of control’

It is another busy morning at Ngala fishing camp, as hundreds of buyers flock to the banks of Lake Malawi for the catch of the day.

But for the weathered fishermen of Karonga, it’s been disappointing. Dwindling stock from overfishing has turned a once-reliable livelihood into a precarious one. As those lucky enough to snare the few fish left take their catches to shore, dozens of others with empty nets abandon their canoes on the water in frustration. 

Amid mounting shortages, an unusual trading custom has flourished in this part of northern Malawi, close to the Tanzanian border. What began as an occasional bargaining tool has grown into an uncomfortably normalised business transaction between fishermen and their customers – one that brings with it serious health risks.

Trading fish for sex has become engrained in Malawi’s fishing communities. Many buyers are women who – in a market where demand significantly outstrips supply – feel they have no other choice but to trade their bodies to guarantee a sale.

“You can’t buy fish here unless you agree to have sex with the fisherman,” Esther Kondowe, a 36-year-old mother of five, told The Telegraph. “In my case, I have been able to buy this fish because I am in a sexual relationship with the fisherman.”

She added that thousands of vulnerable women are being forced to have unprotected sex with fishermen, leading to unwanted pregnancies and exposure to HIV. 

“I was forced to have sex with the fishermen after attempts to buy [produce] normally proved futile,” Esther said. “I remember having unprotected sex under duress from the first fishermen who refused to use a condom. He said he would not sell me fish if I insisted on safe sex.”

‘I was desperate, I accepted the deal’

Chrissy Mwenda – a 42-year-old widow who is now the sole carer for three children – has been engaging in transactional sex since 2019. She says most of those targeted by fishermen are aged between 15 and 40, although some prey on children even younger.

Fourteen-year-old Joyce* is the youngest victim who speaks to The Telegraph. She says her first sexual encounter with a fisherman was in 2020, when she was just 12 years old and was sent to buy fish on behalf of her mother, who had fallen ill.

“I went to the lake three times but I couldn’t buy the fish due to high demand,” she said. “On my fourth attempt I was approached by one fisherman who promised to help me. Since I was desperate, I accepted the deal and he sold me the fish. Later in the evening, he had unprotected sex with me on the sand along the lake shore.”

Joyce’s voice cracks as she tells her story. But, like other women who spoke to The Telegraph, she still feels like this societal norm is the only way women can easily purchase food.

Traders, though, are reluctant to blame their counterparts. Shadreck Gondwe, a fisherman based at Ngala, claimed the practice only thrives because of mounting fish scarcity. 

“It’s the market forces of demand and supply dictating who to sell to first,” he said. “Only those dancing to the tune of promiscuity access the precious fish.”

But local activists told The Telegraph the abusive transaction has spiralled “out of control” and is facilitating the spread of HIV among the fishing camps of Kaonga and beyond. 

“The fishermen indulge in unprotected sex with women whose status is unknown, and end up contracting or spreading HIV from or to the customer,” said Jabess Nyirenda, who works with a network of civil society organisations in the district. 

“They later go and sleep with their spouses – or other people – where they spread the virus even further. There are many such cases in Karonga emanating from this custom,” he added.

Rhodice Mwenda – from the town Nyungwe, seven miles south of Ngala – contracted HIV in 2014 from her fisherman husband, who she claimed engaged in “sex for fish”.

“I married my husband in 2010 but he never told me anything about his [disease] status,” she said. “When I was pregnant with my second child I went for mandatory HIV testing and discovered I was positive. It was stressful but I coped with the condition until I gave birth to the child, who was HIV negative.”

The problem isn’t just contained to Ngala. It exists from the eastern shores of Nkhata Bay and Nkhota-kota right down to the southern settlements of Salima and Manchogi – the largest fishing community in Malawi.

James Chipojola, a fisherman based in Monkey Bay, admits that most of his associates have sex with female customers in every port they visit.

“As fishermen we move from one district to the other in search of good weather and availability of the catch,” he said. “And in the process we sleep with our female customers, often without condoms because they are scarce in the fishing camps.”

Chipojola claims that most fisherman engaged in unprotected sex do not get tested for HIV because they want to avoid a positive diagnosis. They are also unconcerned about spreading the virus silently to spouses or other sexual partners.

But health workers fear it will prevent the country meeting targets to end HIV as a public health threat by 2030.

“The most worrying thing is that some of these partners are engaging in unsafe sex without knowing the status of each other and they end up infecting others with the virus,” said Dr David Sabale, director of health and social services in Karonga.

Surging HIV infections

Nationwide, HIV prevalence is hovering at around eight per cent after a decade-long drive to combat the virus. But Thumbiko Munthali, the Aids Coordinator in Karonga, said sex for fish is driving a new surge in Lakeshore areas – where at least 17,000 people out of a district with a total population of 365,000 have HIV.

Kumbukani Kapiyira, an environmentalist working to mitigate the effects of climate change on the fishing industry, says empowering women economically and lifting them out of poverty can bring the murky 'fish for sex' trade to an end. Malawi's government also needs to address the root cause of the exploitation.

Kapiyira adds that environmental factors contributing to the problem – such as low water levels and depletion of fish due to climate change, massive deforestation, pollution and overfishing – must also be tackled.

The environmentalist further adds that heavy floods resulting from deforestation carry a lot of waste materials into the lake and kill fish.

He suggested that providing loans for women to start their own small businesses could be an important first step away from exploitation.

“This will address the root cause of the problem. Most of the women are flocking to fish business because it's easy to do with small capital,” he said. “We have so many potential places for irrigation here for the women to divert to irrigation farming and make a lot of money without being exploited as it is the case in the fishing industry.”

Kapila added: “All that is needed is the government's intervention in empowering these vulnerable women with loans and also training them to be self-reliant.”

Restoring forests and degraded land around the lake is also crucial to boosting fish populations, as it improves the quality of the water.

Environmentalist Mathews Malata, President of the Malawi Association of Environmental Journalists, believes women’s safety could be guaranteed through collaboration between the country's fisheries department and the Beach Village Committees (BVC).

“The fish population would thrive during the closed season if BVCs strictly enforced their own restrictions, making this formerly inaccessible resource available once more,” Malata added.

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