Worry as illegal fishing returns on Lake Victoria

Following the deployment of soldiers on Lake Victoria three years ago, illegal fishing drastically reduced and fish stocks considerably increased.
Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries records indicate that fish stocks have increased by 40 per cent in the last three years.
Despite this milestone, there are fresh concerns of some unscrupulous fishermen who have taken advantage of the lockdown to engage in illegal fishing.

Capt Nathan Abaho, the commandant of the Fisheries Protection Unit in Kalangala, says the new trend of illegal fishing practices is exacerbated by some political leaders, who are supporting their electorates to engage in the vice.
“We are already in a campaigning period and some politicians think if they encourage people to engage in illegal fishing, it will make them more popular,” Capt Abaho said during an interview on Monday.

He said illegal fishing gear like trawling fish nets (amasambo) and monofilaments are now many, mostly on distant islands of Nkose and Mazinga.
“We are working jointly with Beach Management Unit Task Force to reinforce our operations at every landing site. Currently, we may not need deployment of more soldiers, but increase surveillance through our informants,” he added.
In Kalangala District, which has 84 islands, there are only six Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) soldiers carrying out operations against illegal fishing.
Capt Abaho reveals that in the past three months, they arrested 36 fishermen, confiscated more than 16 boat engines and 160 illegal fishing gear.

Mr Christopher Kigozi, a fish dealer at Misonzi Landing Site, in Kalangala District, says at some landing sites, fish stocks have dropped as a result of illegal fishing and that if the vice is not checked, they may get into a crisis like they did three years ago.
“Since the fish prices have also dropped and I can longer make much profits. I have been forced to send home almost half of the workers until the lockdown is fully lifted,” Mr Kigozi says.

Besides illegal fishing, Mr Godfrey Musasizi, a fish dealer at Mwena Landing Site, says the persistent lockdown has heavily sabotaged their business since hotels which are their biggest clients are not fully operational.
Lately, Mr Musasizi says he supplies 3,000kgs of fish fillets to hotels around Entebbe per month, up from 10,000kg he used to sell before the lockdown.
“By the time the lockdown was declared, I had three tonnes of fish which was already under refrigeration and since there was no market, I had to throw it away. I had to suspend the business for two and half months since it was not easy for me,” Musasizi says.
Some fishermen operating on Lake Victoria in Buikwe, Mayuge and Jinja districts claim that since soldiers are thin on the ground, the pirates are taking advantage of the situation to steal their boat engines and fishing gear.

“Many of my colleagues are counting losses after their fishing gear were stolen,” Mr Hillary Magero, a fisherman at Masese Landing site in Jinja, claims.
Mr Magero says soldiers under the FPU had eliminated illegal fishing on some parts of on the lake but nowadays rarely carry out operations.
“It looks like they [soldiers] are thin on the ground, but even the few rarely carry out operations,” he says.
However, Mr Stephen Mengo, a supervisor at Masese Landing Site, says some fishermen have become a problem because they conceal information about illegal fishing activities.
“We need do more sensitisation, some fishermen have failed to understand that concealing information about bad practices is affecting their livelihoods and the sector as a whole ,” Mr Mengo says.

He asks government to consider supporting fishermen with free fishing nets and boats just like it does with farmers under Operations Wealth Creation (OWC) programme.
Capt Stephen Alituha, who oversees FPU operations in Buvuma District, says their work has been hampered by turbulent winds that have been on the lake since the year began.
“But despite that challenge, we are continuing with our work and we shall defeat those engaging in illegal fishing,” he says. He dismisses allegations that boat engines are stolen by pirates, insisting that is the work of fishermen themselves.
“Fishermen know who steal their nets and engines, that’s why they don’t want to report such cases to us,” Capt Alituha says.
Mr Godfrey Ssenyonga Kambugu, the chairperson Association of Fisheries and Lake Users of Uganda (AFALU), says many boats are currently parked because fishermen cannot find in fish in the lake.

“I have 15 boats but only seven are currently on the lake because there is no fish. I am sure the army is doing its best to arrest the situation, and we are hoping for the better,” he says.
Dr Edward Rukunya, the Director for Fisheries Resources in the Ministry of Agriculture, says fresh reports of illegal fishing practices undermine the remarkable gains so far attained.
“Fishermen will always try to use all means to access the lake even if the enforcement team is there. But the good thing is that the soldiers are progressively increasing to cover all water bodies in the country and I am sure we shall be able to contain those illegalities,” he says.

Illegal fishing
Illegal fishing on Ugandan lakes has always been blamed for the dwindling fish stocks and this is what prompted President Museveni in January 2017 to establish Fisheries Protection Unit.
This intervention has in the three years seen fish stock especially Nile Perch significantly increase in size.
Although the work of soldiers under FPU has been commended by a section of stakeholders in the fisheries sub-sector, many politicians and fishermen have criticised them over their high-handedness in dealing with people suspected of engaging in illegal fishing.
Illegal fishing, according to Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries involves using less than five inch fishing nets for Tilapia and less than seven inch fishing nets for Nile Perch that results into the harvesting of immature fish measuring less than 11 inch and 20 inch in length respectively. It also entails using fishing boats that are less than 20 feet in length and with absence of life jackets.