7,000 fishermen registered around Lake Victoria - government

Masaka- At least 7,000 (23.3per cent) fishermen out of the targeted 30,000, have complied with requirements for registration of boats at landing sites on Lake Victoria in central region districts.

This implies that 23,000 (76.7per cent) of the targeted 30,000 fishers in the region are still reluctant to register their boats.

Early this year, government through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, issued a directive to all boat owners in the country, to register their boats upon meeting the set standards in a move aimed at regulating illegal fishing activities and conserving Uganda’s water bodies.

According to the ministry, boat owners must have the recommended size of boats and fishing gear, Tax Identification Numbers and National Identity Cards. Boat owners who are not fishermen need to first secure fishing licenses for their fishermen at Shs25,000 each guidelines in order to be registered.

According to Mr Tom Bukenya, the assistant commissioner regulations, the non-compliant fishers have up to December to register their boats, lest they will be ineligible to fish.

“We have learnt that many boat owners have not turned up for registration. This has greatly affected us because with more delays, more resources are wasted,” he said during an interview on Saturday.
He said unscrupulous fishermen are fueling the increase in illegal fishing.

Mr Bukenya said the registration is partly intended to regulate fishing and avert depletion of fish stocks as a result of illegal fishing methods.

He said the ongoing registration and re-issuance of permanent boat identification number plates will simplify their work of developing a national data base for all boat owners in the country.

“Currently, we cannot track down owners of the boats when they engage in illegal fishing. But by the end of this exercise, it would be easy to track wrong elements on our water bodies across the country,” he said.
According to Mr Bukenya, there are at least 3,000 gazetted landing sites across various lakes in the country.

The Kalangala District fisheries officer, Mr Jack Baguma, said they registered a total of 1,000 boats at the Ssese Islands.

“Whoever was registering had to pay Shs100,000 and most of them responded positively whereas others complained of lack money for registration which may affect them after the exercise,” he said adding “We are waiting for directive from the ministry on what to do to those who have failed to comply.”

Challenges
Mr Fredrick Mitware Gessa, the Masaka District principal fisheries officer, said his team lost track of the boat registration exercise due to mistreatment from soldiers fighting illegal fishing at Lambu Landing Site.

“I went with my staff, but we were denied access to the landing site by one of the UPDF officers who ordered us to vacate the area,” Mr Gessa explained.

However, Daily Monitor has learnt that a total of 700 boats have so far been registered in Masaka District.

The first attempt by government to register fishermen and boat owners was in 2011, but the programme stalled after government failed to secure funds.

The ministry had earlier set Shs100,000 as annual licence fee for small boats and Shs200,000 for large scale fishing boats.

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