Thank you very much indeed ...

Thank you very much indeed for initiating discussion on water hyacinth issue in Lake Tana among scholars. I have been working seriously on this case for the last four years and produced various reports (you can find them on Bahir Dar University web site) of the weed in Lake Tana. It is rapidly expanding (more than 130 km or a third of the shoreline is infested). The lake is too shallow (8m average depth) and most of the hyacinth is rooted on the shore land and the lake has no sand beaches. Road access for heavy trucks to transport the harvested weed is limited. 

Under this circumstance, it is possible to use small weed harvesters to reduce the biomass. The cost of operation is very high. I can imagine the interest of the community and the government is to use harvesters to quickly eradicate the weed. But from my experience sharing visit (in L. Victoria and Nile Delta), use of machine has little impact. They used weevils and they almost controlled it. 

Use of harvesters for me is just like an anti pain to get instant relief but it can not be long lasting solution. Using harvesters could be good to reduce the current biomass, however, use of weevils (biological control) looks viable solution for Lake Tana. I share Vince Williams idea.