Mixed reaction as govt plans three-month fishing holiday

Fishermen at some water bodies have expressed mixed reactions over government’s plan to impose a three-month fishing ban to help replenish the dwindling fish stocks in the lakes.

This follows a shortage of fish in some lakes across the country in the past nine months, rendering fishermen and fish dealers unemployed. 

Addressing journalists at the media centre last week,  the State Minister for Fisheries, Ms Hellen Adoa, issued a raft of guidelines which fishermen have to follow to address the dwindling fish stocks, especially Nile Perch. 

These include a ban on all small boats below 28 feet from the lakes, all fish leaving the landing sites must have fish movement permits indicating the landing site of origin, quantity and destination, all Nile Perch fishers must use gillnets of a maximum of three panels (78 meshes and 90 metres), and maw dealers must only obtain it form designated points.

Others are smocking of fish must be done at landing sites within designated areas by licensed artisanal fish processors,  FPU [Fisheries Protection Unit] ordered to deploy at all border points to stop entry of illegal gears and immature fish, and all fish on transit must be checked at border points by fisheries inspectors and URA should not seal the containers before they are inspected.

She warned that if the guidelines were not followed, government would suspend fishing activities on all water bodies for three months effective December.

Mr Jackson Baguma, the Kalangala District fisheries officer, said suspending fishing activities has been considered as a last resort since fishermen have failed to stop engaging in illegal fishing activities.  

“When government banned fishing on Lake Kyoga in 2019 for over a year, the fishermen there now have plenty of fish. Of course revenue to the local and central government will be affected when all lakes are closed but that will be for a short time,” Mr Baguma said.

Mr Wilberforce Buwembo, the secretary of the Association of Fishers and Lake Users of Uganda (AFALU), said fishing activities could have been suspended early this year when fish stocks started to decline.  

“As AFALU, we support government’s plan [to suspend fishing activities] for the good of protecting the fisheries sub sector. We had earlier proposed the same, but they never listened to us,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.

He added that the major challenge at many landing sites is the smoking of immature fish which is mainly done in secluded areas that are rarely visited by fish inspectors.

“Now that government has issued guidelines that smoking fish should be done in gazetted places, may be this problem will be addressed,” Mr Buwembo said.

But Mr Fred Sserwada, the chairman of Mayanzi Landing Site in Kigungu, Wakiso District, said government is to blame for the dwindling fish stocks after failing to stop illegal fishing gears from entering into the country. 

“This sub sector [fisheries] is dying just because some people in government are not doing their work. If illegal fishing gears were not being cleared to enter the country, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” he said. 

He said even though some fishermen engage in illegal fishing, the mass death of fish particularly the Nile Perch between January and April, left Lake Victoria with depleted stock.

“Our fishermen here are law abiding and they do not engage in illegal fishing. All boats are of the recommended size and the ones below 28 feet have been destroyed by the soldiers. All trucks carrying fish have movement permits and fishing gears are of the required standard,” he said.

The vice chairperson of AFALU-eastern, Mr Joseph Lukwago, said many landing sites have already been closed.

“The only remedy to the current situation is to join efforts to end illegal fishing. If we fail, we will remain with water bodies without fish and our livelihoods at landing sites will completely be threatened,” he said.

The Kisoro District fisheries officer, Mr Dennis Bilungi, said three out of the four lakes, where fishing takes place in the district, have been closed to allow fish multiplication.   

“Fishing at Lake Mutanda were closed because of increased illegal fishing, especially using mosquito nets, while at Lake Chahafi and Lake Kayumbu fishing was closed in July 2020 to allow fish multiplication,” he said.

Mr Bilungi said the only lake where fishing is active is Lake Mulehe although poor farming methods are causing silting on the lake thus endangering fish multiplication.  

“Plans are under way to establish fish enforcement officers at every lake to curb illegal fishing activities. The enforcement teams will also deal with issues of poor farming methods around our water bodies where fishing activities are taking place,” Mr Bilungi said.         

Mr Sande Gerald Kayita, a fisherman at Kachungwa Landing Site in Kalangala District, said: “Government should ban the importation of the illegal fishing gears. It is the only solution for illegal fishing practices, otherwise the lake will be closed and illegal fishing resumes soon after reopening.” 

Mr Gideon Oumo, a fish dealer at Lwampanga Landing Site on in Nakasongola District, said government should consider the livelihoods of the affected communities before instituting the fishing ban.

“In Nakasongola District, the different fishing communities went through a one-year fishing ban. We are not convinced that the fishermen are the problem yet the soldiers still patrol the lake to weed out any illegal fishing activities. We need a clear explanation from the government,” he said.

Mr Samuel Ssemuswe, a fishmonger at Ninga Landing Site in Nakasongola District, said the ban on fishing will be a vote of no confidence for the technocrats in the Fisheries Ministry.

“We cannot buy the idea that the fish stock has reduced in Lake Kyoga. Government should give us explanations in regard to their proposed intention to slap another fishing ban,” Mr Ssemuswe said.

Mr Godfrey Sseguya, the chairperson of Kyogenza Sub-county in Gomba District and a fisherman on Lake Wamala, said fishermen need to be sensitised first before enforcing the new government guidelines. 

“We have not got any official communication from the district fisheries officer on the new guidelines. But soldiers just raided our landing site last Thursday and ordered us to enforce guidelines which we don’t know,” Mr Sseguya said.

Illegal fishing 

Illegal fishing, according to government, involves using less than five-inch fishing nets for Tilapia and less than seven-inch fishing nets for Nile Perch that results in the harvesting of immature fish that measure 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. 

This vice has persisted on Ugandan lakes even though President Museveni in 2017 established Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) to crackdown on illegal fishing in the country.

Although there was a sharp increase in fish stocks between 2017 and 2019 from 19,447 tonnes in 2016 to 57,4096 tonnes following the deployment of FPU, the Covid-19 pandemic, mass death of fish and flooding in 2020, have caused a decline in fish that goes to the fish processing factories and some are considering temporary closure.

Compiled by Compiled by Al Mahdi Ssenkabirwa, Sylvester Ssemugenyi,Dan Wandera, Denis Edema Ambrose Musasizi, Eve Muganga, Noeline Nabukenya, Alex Ashaba, & Robert Muhereza