Jimmiel Mandima

Director of Policy, Program Design
Kariba, Zimbabwe

 

There’s something fishy about Jimmiel Mandima – and that’s a good thing. Mandima was the first aquatic ecologist to join the AWF team and was instrumental in leading a multi-national working group that worked on shared water resource management on the Zambezi River, the lifeline of the Zambezi Heartland. He holds a Masters degree in Fisheries Management from the University of Kuopio in Finland and joined AWF in 2002 from the University of Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba Research Station where he had worked as a research fellow since 1992.

Mandima was awarded a partial fellowship to finalize his PhD in Fisheries Ecology that he had earlier started at the University of Zimbabwe. He completed his studies at the University of Limpopo in South Africa; his research focus was the offshore pelagic fishery for the freshwater sardine, Limnothrissa miodon, an introduced species, which has created a big commercial industry on both Lake Kariba (shared by Zambia & Zimbabwe) and Cahora Bassa (in Mozambique). This knowledge from the study will inform adaptive management decisions with regard to regulating entry into the fishery, designating allowable fishing zones; and in that way allow for sustainable use of the resource which will result in improved entrepreneurial developments in these countries. This is in line with AWF’s goal in the Zambezi Heartland where it seeks to guide management interventions for aquatic resources on the basis of good scientific knowledge.

Mandima continues his work today as Director of Policy for Program Design, where he works with agencies to secure resources for AWF's programs in the Heartlands.

> Learn more about the transboundary aspect of Mandima's Zambezi work.