Fishermen ask govt to declare fishing holiday   

Fishermen operating at various landing sites on Lake Victoria have asked government to impose a six-month fishing holiday to replenish the fish stocks in the lake.
Fish stocks have drastically reduced in the past two months, rendering fish dealers  unemployed. 

At some landing sites, which are usually a beehive of activity, there is no business going on.
Sector players are blaming the situation on the recent mass death of fish on the lake. 
Mr Aron Ahikiriza, a fisherman at Bukakkata Landing Site in Masaka District, said when they go to the lake, they return with few or no fish.

“The only remedy for the current situation is to spend some period without fishing. We ask government to enforce a six-month fishing holiday if  we are to register some positive change,” he said during an interview on Sunday.
He said poor fishing methods, practised by unscrupulous fishermen could have caused the problem.
 “Some of our colleagues have already crossed to Kenya and Tanzania where fish is available, but this is not sustainable and puts their lives at risk,” he said.

Mr Godfrey Ssenyonga Kambugu, the chairperson of the Association of Fishers and Lake Users of Uganda, said illegal and over fishing is partly to blame for the current situation.
He said this is because Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers, who were patrolling the lakes, withdrew from some of the landing sites.
“We would not have reached this level if the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) operations were still effective. The soldiers were doing some good work, but they withdrew from some areas and this is where illegal fishing is rampant,” he said.

FPU suspended its operations in October last year which gave fishermen free rein for several months.
Although FPU recently resumed its operations, the soldiers are still very few in some districts.  
Ms Ivan Ssemuddu, a fisherman at Bugaya Island in Buvuma District, said:  “It is a good idea [to declare fishing holiday] but it can only work if the government offers free food and other basic items to people living in the fishing communities. This is because there are some small Islands where fishing is the only source of livelihood for all inhabitants.”

Mr Tom Bukenya, the commissioner of the fisheries regulations quality control assurance at the Ministry of Agriculture, said: “If they [fishermen] are honest in what they are saying, let them do it on their own because they are responsible for all the wrong things happening to the lake. If they sustain it for a week, we shall know that they are serious and come in to support them.” 

Mass death
Between December 2020 and February communities living in and around the shores of Lake Victoria complained of mass deaths of fish, especially Nile Perch, which were being washed ashore. 
Preliminary investigations carried out by experts in Ministry of Agriculture revealed that the mass deaths were a result of upwelling. 
Lake upwelling is the movement of poorly oxygenated water from the bottom to the top. 
The process causes mixing of water resulting in the suffocation of fish due to lack of oxygen.
 

Compiled by Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa, Wilson Kutamba, & Denis Edema