The mosquito nets distributed in Africa to combat malaria are being used “from the mud flats of Nigeria to the coral reefs off Mozambique” as fishing nets, says the New York Times, “an unintended consequence of one of the biggest and most celebrated public health campaigns in recent years.” The Times says the scale of use is unquantified but is common enough to be more than anecdotal. Biologists fear the insecticide-impregnated nets will release toxins harmful to fish and that the tightly woven nets will snag all aquatic life, including immature fish, and deplete a critical food source.
The Times describes fistfights between fishermen in Madagascar over use of the nets, confiscation of the nets in Congo and threats in Uganda to jail people who use the nets for fishing. The World Health Organization says the nets have cut in half the death rate from malaria in Africa since 2000.