Army burns fishing gear, leave fishermen stranded

Hundreds of fishermen operating around Lake Albert in Buliisa District have had their economic activity come to a halt after soldiers under the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) of the UPDF set ablaze their fishing gear at the weekend.

 FPU accuses the locals of using illegal fishing gears, which fell short of the recommended size.
 In an operation headed by the FPU commander, Lt Col Dick Kirya Kaija, the army destroyed hundreds of boats and nets at different landing sites.
 Ms Achen Maditrwoth, one of the locals whose boat was destroyed, said fishing has been her mainstay over the years and destroying her fishing boat will push her out of business.

 “At the moment, I am stranded with nothing to feed my family members since my boat was destroyed,” she said.
 She said they would have allowed them to continue fishing until they get money to buy recommended fishing gear.
In January 2017, President Museveni established the FPU to crackdown on illegal fishing on Lake Victoria, which was blamed for the dwindling fish stocks in the country. 
This has in the last couple of years seen fish stock, especially Nile Perch, significantly increase in size.

During the FPU operations, people suspected of dealing in immature fish have been arrested and several ungazetted landing sites destroyed on the shores of lakes Victoria and Kyoga.  Illegal fishing, according to the 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. It also entails using fishing boats that are less than 20 feet in length and with absence of life jackets.
 According to fishermen, the recommended fishing boat costs more than Shs3.5 million while boat engines cost between Shs5 million and Shs9 million.

In May 2019, the government slapped a ban on commercial fishing at the lake over illegal fishing methods.  The government lifted the ban on July 27, 2020, and fewer fishermen have been cleared to operate along lakes countrywide.
Ms Evelin Uyenymungu, another local, said the government should facilitate the fishermen with loans to buy the recommended size of nets. 
Lt Col Kaija said all fishermen operating on Lake Albert have one week to see that they acquired the right fishing gears.

Fish exports
    Fish exports earned Uganda about $10.39m (Shs38.9b) in September last year, according to Bank of Uganda (BoU). The earnings were fetched from 1,375 tonnes of fish and related products, representing an increase of 14 per cent from 1,384 tonnes that fetched $8.87m (Shs33.2b) in August.  Cumulatively, however, according to BoU, fish exports, during the year ended September, declined to $147.75m (Shs554b), which was a 32 per cent fall from $195m (Shs732b), which Uganda had earned in the same period last year.