Salvinia in the Sepik River

Abstract

A floating water weed which has caused problems for people in places as far apart as Africa, Sri Lanka, India and Australia is now changing the lives of East Sepik villagers living along the lower and middle regions of the Sepik River. This weed is called Salvinia molesta or Kariba weed after Lake Kariba in Central Africa, where it grew rapidly in the early 1960's.