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i've donated nets in the past, but I wonder if they ended up being used for fishing instead. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/25/world/africa/mosquito-nets-for-

i've donated nets in the past, but I wonder if they ended up being used for fishing instead. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/25/world/africa/mosquito-nets-for-malaria-spawn-new-epidemic-overfishing.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/25/world/africa/mosquito-net... I recently made it to (South) Africa for the first time. It was an incredible trip: https://www.instagram.com/p/BVtyKWylFkt/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BVtyKWylFkt/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BVtyq0flJvL/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BVtyq0flJvL/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BVty4K8FjBG/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BVty4K8FjBG/ I wish they/we could eliminate the malaria problem.

miscur 9y ago
"The reporting in this case presented an unbalanced view of the magnitudes of the benefits and harms of distributing bed nets" more here: http://blog.givewell.org/2015/02/05/putting-the-problem-of-bed-nets-used-for-fishing-in-perspective/ http://blog.givewell.org/2015/02/05/putting-the-problem-of-b... Another analysis: "A comprehensive analysis of 14 surveys in several countries with 14,196 households showed that that the overwhelming majority of nets were used for malaria prevention, and only 255 nets were repurposed (which make up less than 1% overall). Furthermore, the majority of the repurposed nets were already considered too torn, indicating they had already served out their useful life for malaria prevention[62]. The authors conclude that national programmes and donor agencies should remain confident in the appropriate use of bednets." https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2015/04/update-against-malaria-foundation/ https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2015/04/update-against-...
jstanley 9y ago
> I've donated nets in the past, but I wonder if they ended up being used for fishing instead. If the reason for donating the nets is to save lives, then this is no bad thing, right? Those people are putting the nets to the most effective purpose they can find for them. No problem, I say. EDIT: OK, maybe these nets are suboptimal for fishing. Fine. If the people the nets are going to are in more desperate need of fishing nets than mosquito nets, and you don't want them to use mosquito nets as fishing nets, then you should be sending fishing nets instead of mosquito nets. There's no honour in telling a hungry fisherman that the mosquito net he is using to catch fish is harmful to the environment. He doesn't give a shit. He either fishes with the net he has, or he starves.
- alain_gilbert 9y ago
  I'll save you the reading: - Mosquito nets have much smaller holes than normal fishing nets, so they trap almost all living organism, which is bad. - The nets are treated with toxic chemicals which kills the fish in the ponds/rivers, and might be dangerous for humans who drink the water. I would say it's bad.
  - yardie 9y ago
    Mosquito nets make poor fishing nets. Maybe a few fishermen have tried, failed, and passed that bit of knowledge along to other fishermen. For the same reason no one uses rubbing alcohol in an automobile. Technically it's a hydrocarbon but using it in a ICE will lead to poor results.
  - thanksgiving 9y ago
    > The nets are treated with toxic chemicals which kills the fish in the ponds/rivers, and might be dangerous for humans who drink the water. Are we at fault for handing them out without proper education? Do they know that these nets are laced with poison? I mean if it only hurt the people who are fishing, maybe I could live with it but it hurts everyone (kind of makes me think of second hand smoke but worse). Something they didn't bring up in the video is that a lot of fish (the net is indiscriminate) can help keep mosquito population in check. Just another thing to pile on the list. Maybe we need to stop sending nets treating with toxic chemicals to that part of the world. This just looks like a road paved with good intentions.
    - maxerickson 9y ago
      No, it's a sensible trade off. Go look up pyrethroid insecticides and malaria and then contemplate whether you'd rather risk sleeping in a treated net all the time or be sickened at length or maybe dead.
- dguo 9y ago
  According to the article, the main problem is an unclear environmental impact. Those nets are treated with insecticides, which are washed into the water when used for fishing. They also have much smaller holes than actual fishing nets, which leads to potential overfishing (because fish can be caught before adulthood).

miscur 9y ago

"The reporting in this case presented an unbalanced view of the magnitudes of the benefits and harms of distributing bed nets" more here: http://blog.givewell.org/2015/02/05/putting-the-problem-of-bed-nets-used-for-fishing-in-perspective/ http://blog.givewell.org/2015/02/05/putting-the-problem-of-b... Another analysis: "A comprehensive analysis of 14 surveys in several countries with 14,196 households showed that that the overwhelming majority of nets were used for malaria prevention, and only 255 nets were repurposed (which make up less than 1% overall). Furthermore, the majority of the repurposed nets were already considered too torn, indicating they had already served out their useful life for malaria prevention[62]. The authors conclude that national programmes and donor agencies should remain confident in the appropriate use of bednets." https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2015/04/update-against-malaria-foundation/ https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2015/04/update-against-...

jstanley 9y ago

> I've donated nets in the past, but I wonder if they ended up being used for fishing instead. If the reason for donating the nets is to save lives, then this is no bad thing, right? Those people are putting the nets to the most effective purpose they can find for them. No problem, I say. EDIT: OK, maybe these nets are suboptimal for fishing. Fine. If the people the nets are going to are in more desperate need of fishing nets than mosquito nets, and you don't want them to use mosquito nets as fishing nets, then you should be sending fishing nets instead of mosquito nets. There's no honour in telling a hungry fisherman that the mosquito net he is using to catch fish is harmful to the environment. He doesn't give a shit. He either fishes with the net he has, or he starves.

alain_gilbert 9y ago
I'll save you the reading: - Mosquito nets have much smaller holes than normal fishing nets, so they trap almost all living organism, which is bad. - The nets are treated with toxic chemicals which kills the fish in the ponds/rivers, and might be dangerous for humans who drink the water. I would say it's bad.
- yardie 9y ago
  Mosquito nets make poor fishing nets. Maybe a few fishermen have tried, failed, and passed that bit of knowledge along to other fishermen. For the same reason no one uses rubbing alcohol in an automobile. Technically it's a hydrocarbon but using it in a ICE will lead to poor results.
- thanksgiving 9y ago
  > The nets are treated with toxic chemicals which kills the fish in the ponds/rivers, and might be dangerous for humans who drink the water. Are we at fault for handing them out without proper education? Do they know that these nets are laced with poison? I mean if it only hurt the people who are fishing, maybe I could live with it but it hurts everyone (kind of makes me think of second hand smoke but worse). Something they didn't bring up in the video is that a lot of fish (the net is indiscriminate) can help keep mosquito population in check. Just another thing to pile on the list. Maybe we need to stop sending nets treating with toxic chemicals to that part of the world. This just looks like a road paved with good intentions.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    No, it's a sensible trade off. Go look up pyrethroid insecticides and malaria and then contemplate whether you'd rather risk sleeping in a treated net all the time or be sickened at length or maybe dead.
dguo 9y ago
According to the article, the main problem is an unclear environmental impact. Those nets are treated with insecticides, which are washed into the water when used for fishing. They also have much smaller holes than actual fishing nets, which leads to potential overfishing (because fish can be caught before adulthood).