Member of Parliament for Okavango Bagalatia Arone has argued that the ban on game hunting should be relaxed to avoid negative effects in future such as contributing to unemployment.
In his debate on the National Development Plan 11 (NDP11) in Parliament this week, Arone called on government to consider relaxing some restrictions on the ban following some complaints that elephants were destroying people’s property, their agricultural produce and that illegal fishing in the Lake Ngami area was rife.
He called on government to adopt a selective approach on the banning, particularly in Boteti, Okavango and Chobe areas because they were the most affected as evidenced by large the population of elephants.
Arone fell short of saying elephants should be culled but said government should consider doing something because they were destructive.
“I don’t totally oppose the hunting ban but I support a selective approach as opposed to a complete hunting ban. People in the Lake Ngami area should be allowed to go into fishing businesses than a complete ban, and others should be allowed to go into game farming and to hunt animals for meat,” said Arone.
Arone said tourism had to promote employment arguing that the low numbers of local people in the tourism sector were worrisome.
He said government should encourage game farming in the Chobe District by encouraging rearing and artificial insemination on antelopes to avoid their diminishing numbers in the area.
Chobe should be known for game meat and young people should be allowed to group themselves and venture into its farming, he said.
