The Rufiji Delta Prawn Farming Project1
Full details of the project came into the public domain for the first time in May 1996, when the AFC submitted an environmental impact statement (EIS) report for discussion at a seminar held at Sheraton Hotel in Dar es Salaam. The report was prepared by Professor Clive E. Boyd, an American aquaculture expert who also works for WWF US. Those invited included Government institutions such as NEMC, environmental groups, academics and the chairmen of several villages in the Rufiji Delta, whose travel expenses were met by the AFC.
The seminar was fiercely critical of the EIS, which was quickly revealed to be seriously flawed. For example, whereas the EIS had claimed that there would not be displacement of people as a result of implementation of the project, a counter study prepared by two Norwegian academics working for the Rufiji Delta Mangrove Management Project showed that on the contrary, up to six thousand people would be displaced as a result of implementation of the project (Fottland and Sorensen, passim.) The latter study also revealed that considerable amounts of mangroves will have to be cleared to make room for the project, contrary to claims made in Professor Boyd's EIS. AFC was thus required to undertake a more thorough environmental impact assessment, a report of which was submitted to the Government in April 1997.
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