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District leaders tasked to update govt on closed landing sites
Some boats at Kitobo Landing Site in Kalangala District. Government has tasked district leaders to update government on the status of closed landing sites. PHOTO/SYLVESTER SSEMU
What you need to know:
- Mr Edward Kisembo, a fisherman, said he relocated from Kyasa Landing Site in Kyanamukaka Sub-county to Lambu Landing Site in Bukakkata Sub-county, both in Masaka District, because he could hardly sustain himself.
Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, has tasked districts leaders to update government on the status of closed landing sites.
Mr Vincent Ssempijja, the Minister for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Fisheries, said they will base on reports from districts to either re-open the landing sites or keep them closed.
“No landing site will be reopened without a recommendation from district authorities. Fishermen should follow all the recommendations by government if they want to operate again,” Mr Ssempijja said in an interview on Monday.
The minister had earlier indicated that the landing sites will only be reopened after officials of the fisheries department and soldiers under the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) have completed registration of fishermen and manufacturing of recommended fishing boats.
He said the fishermen have to procure the recommended fishing gear and observe the set standard operating procedures (SOPs) on Covid-19 issued by Ministry of Health.
Dr Lawrence Mayiga, the Masaka District production officer, said they have already embarked on profiling all the closed landing sites in Masaka and their counterparts are also doing the same to see that the closed landing sites reopen.
He said the livelihoods of more than 4,000 families were crippled in the district after the closure of the landing sites.
“But it was for the good of people and protection of the lake as some landing sites were not only illegal but were also abetting illegal fishing methods,” he said
However, Mr Aloysius Jjuko, the Bukakkata Sub-county chairperson, said the closure of the landing sites left many youth jobless and some have resorted to crime to make ends meet.
“Government should know that many families which were deriving their livelihoods from those landing sites are jobless and they should give hope to these people by reopening the sites,” he said
Mr Jjuko said the closure of landing sites greatly affected the ruling NRM performance in the recent elections in many areas around Lake Victoria.
“A few weeks to the General Election, the same minister (Ssempijja) promised to reopen the fish landing sites, but this never happened and they [fishermen] cannot believe what they are saying now unless they first see it being done,” he said.
In 2017, government closed more than 20 landing sites in various districts around Lake Victoria saying they were ungazzeted and were harbouring criminals engaging in illegal fishing.
FISHERMEN REACT
Mr Edward Kisembo, a fisherman, said he relocated from Kyasa Landing Site in Kyanamukaka Sub-county to Lambu Landing Site in Bukakkata Sub-county, both in Masaka District, because he could hardly sustain himself.
Mr Elisha Kamanda, another fisherman in Masaka District, said: “We got excited on hearing that the landing site will be reopened, but it seems the minister was looking for NRM votes.”
