Fishermen locked out of fish maw business

Fish displayed for sale at Gaba landing site. Fish maw made from swim bladders of fish are found in large fish such as Nile perch. Photo by Racheal Mabala

In spite of the growing business of fish maw (nuni), there has been limited information about the business.

Fish maw made from swim bladders of fish are found in large fish such as Nile perch, Catfish, Sturgeon and Croaker.

Known for various uses, these swim bladders are a special delicacy in China and ranked as fourth among sea treasures.

High in protein, fish maw soup is reportedly taken by surgically operated patients to quicken recovery thanks to its healing properties.

Fish maw is also used in manufacturing some aircraft, car parts and melamine plates and cups.

Trade partners
The largest trading partners of fish maw worldwide are Hong Kong and Southern China.
Uganda’s fish maw is ranked fourth in the world. In Hong Kong, fish maw is sold on the black market due to high protectionism.

“It is a booming business indeed,” says Mr Sempijja Bamulangaki, Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries because, “In Uganda, a kilogramme of Nile Perch can fetch about Shs1.5m which is far more costly than the fish itself that goes for about Shs0.7m.

As a result, fishermen continue to cheat rich boat owners by cutting the fish, extracting the maw and dropping the fish carcass back into the lakes.

“The fish maw trade which has a lot of economic value can be short lived if no proper regulation is put in place to sustain fishery,” he adds.

But Buvuma Islands Member of Parliament Robert Migadde and a member on the committee of Parliament for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, says fishermen have not been given the opportunity to tap into this business. Instead, only factory owners sell fish maw which is not fair to the fishermen who catch the fish from the lake.

“Many local people have resorted to selling fish maw on the black market because they are only allowed to sell whole fish and not fish maw only. Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China for Uganda to export fish maw.

But they did not involve the local people which is more worrying. So where is government going to get the fish maw to export to China, this will be from the local people,” Migadde says.

“There is need to put a capping for sale of fish and also a cap for fish maw. We need to see the ordinary people also benefiting from the fish maw business now that there is ready market for fish maw in countries like China but leaving the business to factory owners most of whom are foreigners is not fair because the actual fishing from the lake is done by local people,” he adds.

“We are in a liberalised economy and everyone has to benefit from the fish industry,” MP Mukasa Julius Opondo Bujumba Constituency Kalangala District says.

“This calls for amending the Fish Act. If fish maw was not regarded as a product which Ugandans can export and earn money from it, then the Fish Act should be amended with immediate effect,” he says.

Currently, it only allows selling of fish as whole but other products such as fish maw were not considered. It is time they considered it as an economic value.

“Government should stop playing ping-pong by only allowing few fish factory owners who are only ‘foreigners’ in disguise. They should permit local people to do fish maw business,” Mukasa adds.

However, according to Mr Bamulangaki, this is unstainable because if they do not control the supply of fish maw on the world market, this will lead to unstainable fishing and handling practices, including over fishing and capturing of immature fish. There will be a decline of Nile perch as fishermen will be targeting only fish maws to make more money.