We won’t quit lakes without Museveni order, says UPDF

Soldiers under the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) of Uganda People’s Defence Forces have vowed not to withdraw from various lakes as directed by Parliament until they get a final order from President Museveni.

Last month, Parliament passed a motion calling for immediate withdraw of UPDF soldiers from the lakes, accusing them of torturing fishermen suspected of engaging in illegal fishing.

Legislators representing fishing communities around Lake Victoria, Lake George, Lake Edward, and Lake Kyoga have consistently been raising the issues of UPDF brutality at the different sittings of Parliament.

However, Capt Nathan Abaho, the FPU commander in Kalangala District, said the legislators can suggest some changes concerning the deployment, but not entirely withdrawing the soldiers.

“We heard Parliament ordering the army to withdraw from water bodies, however, we are still waiting for this order to come from our commander-in-chief, who is the President,” he said on Tuesday

This comes barely a few days after the FPU arrested 10 fishermen during an operation against illegal fishing in Kalangala District.

“We arrested the fishermen with their immature fish and illegal fishing gears,” he said, added that another suspect, Gerald Kisitu, was arrested at Kachanga Landing Site at the weekend.

“When we intercepted him, he had immature fish weighing 600kg and was in transit to Entebbe. All suspects are going to be charged with possession of immature fish according to the Fish Amendment Act of 2011,” Capt Abaho added.

Illegal fishing on Ugandan lakes has caused a reduction in fish stocks, especially in species such as tilapia, Nile perch and sliverfish, something that has drastically affected the country’s export earnings from fish.

Significant sector
The Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Mr Vincent Ssempijja, said the fisheries sub-sector plays a very important role in the country’s economy and should be well managed.

“Fisheries contributes Shs150 billion every year. However, if the sector is well managed it can contribute $2 billion in a year,” he said.

Mr Ssempijja said the army has played a big role in curbing illegal fishing. He, however, advised that individual soldiers, who torture fishermen, should be dealt with.

Although the work of soldiers under FPU has been commended by a section of stakeholders in the sector, many politicians and fishermen have criticised them over their high-handedness in dealing with people suspected of engaging in illegal fishing.

During FPU operations, suspects have been arrested and several ungazetted landing sites destroyed on the shores of Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga, Lake George, and Lake Edward. The soldiers are yet to extend their operations to Lake Albert.

The Agriculture ministry indicates that Illegal fishing involves using less than five-inch fishing nets for Tilapia and less than seven-inch fishing nets for Nile Perch that results into the harvest of immature fish.
It also entails using fishing boats that are less than 20 feet in length and carrying out fishing with out life jackets.

Background

In January 2017, President Museveni establish FPU to crackdown on illegal fishing on Lake Victoria, which was blamed for the dwindling fish stocks. This has in the last couple of years seen fish stock, especially Nile Perch significantly increase in size.

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