Monrovia- An environmental project that will help avert the decline in the population of prawns, locally known as crawfish, in the St. Paul River on which the Mt. Coffee Hydro Dam is built, the Millennium Challenge Account-Liberia has announced.
MCA-L Director of Environment and Social Performance, Paul Kennedy said his institution is carrying out the project, according to a press release from the US-funded entity.
Mr. Kennedy made the disclosure at a recent retreat of the country`s Environmental Sector Working Group in Kakata, Margibi County, where he chronicled the efforts MCA-L has undertaken to ensure that the lives of project affected people are improved after projects are implemented by the agency.
Mr. Kennedy said MCA-L wanted to ensure that the dam’s impact on the wildlife was minimized, so the agency ordered a study of the various species of fish and other animals in the St. Paul River. The study suggested that the dam would cause a decline in the river’s prawn population.
The prawns migrate between fresh water and saltwater to lay eggs during the rainy season and if nothing is done, the dam could block the river prawn migration. This can result in increased rates of schistosomiasis infection, which is spread by freshwater snails that the prawns eat.
The World Health Organization estimates in 2016 that 206 million people required treatment for this disease.
To avoid an outbreak and a need for drug treatment, Kennedy said MCA-L is building a prawn passage to allow the prawns to successfully migrate and lay their eggs.
Additionally, to mitigate the impact of the construction of the hydro dam on the surrounding community, Mr. Kennedy said contractors not only took steps to manage erosion and waste management, but they also built improved community roads, a health clinic, hand pumps, and provided electricity to communities that were previously not connected to the grid.