Saving a Cameroonian Lake From an Invasive Plant

As floating weeds, salvinia form dense mats on the surface of water bodies, disrupting aquatic flora and fauna underneath and thus hindering water flow, fishing, swimming, boating, water sports, and navigation. AMMCO

LAKE OSSA, Cameroon—A Cameroonian lake choked with invasive weeds may be a science project for biologists, but for Charles Elingua, it means starvation.

“I have been fishing in this lake for more than 30 years,” said Elinga, the 56-year-old leader of fishermen in Lake Ossa and father of eight.