Nakaseke fish farmers want help to fight water vegetation
Mr Nadduli (R), Ms Nankibirwa (pointing) and other officials, prepare for the tour of the trial fishing project on Lake Nabisojjo in Nakaseke District recently. Photo by Dan Wandera.
What you need to know:
The farmers say, the vegetation is a threat to their fishing trial projects on Lake Nabisojjo. However, the government says it is seeking ways to address the problem.
Nakaseke-Farmers undertaking trials on cage fish farming on Lake Nabisojjo in Nakaseke District have appealed to the government for technical support to help them harvest floating vegetations that threaten the success of the project.
Mr Abdul Nadduli, the Luweero District LC5 chairman, said farmers’ efforts to use manual methods to clear the vegetation has not yielded fruit. “The floating vegetation is a danger to our trials on cage fish farming. The vegetation is fast spreading and is becoming a danger,” Mr Nadduli said during a tour with Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, the state minister for Fisheries.
Mr Nadduli has patterned with a number of Nakaseke farmers to try out cage fishing farming on the four square kiliometre of Nabisojjo Lake in Wakyato Sub-county
Ms Nankabirwa said the government had recently acquired three units of machines from Japan to help fish farmers in areas that are covered with water weeds. “We are also in contact with some Egyptians who previously helped us to harvest the water hyacinth,” she said.
Ms Nankabirwa, who toured Lake Nabisojjo to assess the viability of a wider trial project in regard to cage fishing, said waters in Uganda continue to be threatened by fish depletion as a result of illegal fishing methods.
The government has recently mounted tough measures aimed at curbing illegal fish farming.
The government, according to Ms Nankabirwa, has drafted a number of ways that seek to boos fish farming as well as increasing production.
tit bits
Exports. Fish exports have grown over the years, however, revenue for the sector recently dropped due to poor methods of fishing that is threatening most fishing waters with specie depletion.
Low supplies. Recently a number of factories have been forced to close due to low supplies and poor quality fish species.
Curbing illegal fishing. The government has of late involved a number of measures including sensitisation as it seeks to curb illegal fishing as well as protecting rare fish species.
