Darwin's Nightmare

In the Nile Perche inTanzania in the sixties, a voracious predatory fish was introduced into Victoria Lake as a scientific experiment. Since then, practically all the families of indigenous fish have been decimated. A profitable industry was born out of this ecological disaster since perch have been exported around the globe with great success. Today, this industry is well established in the local community, generating interests and inequalities of all sorts. Armies of fisherman, Indian factory owners, African ministers, European commissioners, Tanzanian prostitutes, and pilots of Russian cargo planes are the actors of this drama that reaches beyond the simple borders of this African country.In the Nile Perche inTanzania in the sixties, a voracious predatory fish was introduced into Victoria Lake as a scientific experiment. Since then, practically all the families of indigenous fish have been decimated. A profitable industry was born out of this ecological disaster since perch have been exported around the globe with great success. Today, this industry is well established in the local community, generating interests and inequalities of all sorts. Armies of fisherman, Indian factory owners, African ministers, European commissioners, Tanzanian prostitutes, and pilots of Russian cargo planes are the actors of this drama that reaches beyond the simple borders of this African country.