Lake Victoria not sold to investors, Kalangala MPs say
A man stands at one of the fish cages at Lutoboka Fishing village in Kalangala recently. photo by Henry Lubulwa.
What you need to know:
Legislators from Kalangala say the plan is to licence the lake to private investors to use better fishing methods.
Kalangala
MPs from Kalangala have refuted claims that government has sold off Lake Victoria to private investors who would rear fish under cage fish farming.
MPs Fred Badda (Bujumba) and Carol Nanyondo Birungi, (Kalangala woman) said government cannot tamper with the islanders’ livelihood. “Saying that government has sold off the lake is enough to show how people are not informed about government policies regarding its people,” Mr Badda said.
He clarified that government only plans to licence the lake to people and companies that can engage in fish cage farming such that the productivity of fish in Kalangala Island and its neighbouring districts that use the lake increases.
This in turn, he said, will increase government revenue.
“In fact, fish cage farming helps in the improvement of fishing through using better fishing practices. In such instances, all people engaged in cage farming cannot allow any fisherman using illegal fishing methods to access the lake since he might end up killing the caged fish,” Mr Badda said.
Mr Daniel Mwanje, a fish cage farmer near Bunyama Island, said for a cage fish farmer, the start-up-capital of about Shs50 million would fetch profits three times the initial capital in less than five months.
In a separate interview with Daily Monitor, Ms Birungi called upon investors to start cage fish farming in Kalangala and create employment for residents in the district.
