Fishing industry in Uganda

[1] Uganda's main sources of fish supply for both the domestic and export markets are the districts on Lake Victoria, particularly Mukono, Mpigi, Kalangala, Masaka and Luwero.

Soon after that, the government established the Sino-Uganda Fisheries Joint Venture Company to exploit fishing opportunities in Lake Victoria.

In 1989 this organization warned against overfishing, especially in the Lake Kyoga region, where the combined result of improved security conditions and economic hardship was a 40- percent increase in commercial and domestic fishing activity.

A second environmental concern in the fishing industry was the weed infestation that had arisen in lakes suffering from heavy pollution.

In late 1989, officials were relatively unsuccessful in restricting the types and levels of pollutants introduced into the nation's numerous lakes.

[5] A few fishers used explosives obtained from stone quarries to increase their catch, especially in the Victoria Nile region near Jinja.

Several people drowned in the frantic effort to collect dead fish that floated to the surface of the water.

Both bans were difficult to enforce, however; fishing with dynamite continued in 1989 despite the widespread notoriety attached to this activity.

[5] The Ugandan fisheries sector is important in terms of employment, poverty reduction and foreign exchange revenues.

Fish activities are mainly carried out in open water sources and provide a livelihood to many people in Uganda.

There are (2002) an estimated 250,000 artisan fishermen (136,000 on Lake Victoria), while nearly a million people (700,000 around Lake Victoria) benefit from fishery-related activities like local fish-processing, fish trade, boat-building, industrial fish-processing, netmaking, trade in fishing equipment, fisheries research, extension services and administration.

A vigorous fish farming extension programme resulted in the construction of 1 500 ponds by 1956; these were concentrated in the central region (Buganda) and the most southwestern part of the country (Kigezi).

Aquaculture was further promoted under the drive for rural development, and by late 1968 the Department of Fisheries recorded up to 11 000 pounds mostly producing fish for subsistence.

The Fisheries Master Plan study of 1999 established that Uganda had only 4 500 functioning ponds with only a portion stocked, producing 285 tonnes of fish annually.

[6] With the government's strategic intervention and support from development partners such as FAO, aquaculture has picked up once again reaching 15,000 tonnes of fish currently (2005) produced from 20,000 ponds of an average size of 500 m2.

Due to the limited availability of fish seed, carp has fallen out of favour, and North African catfish, along with Nile tilapia, has taken its place.

The majority (an estimated 60 percent) remain at a subsistence level of production with little or no technical inputs or management.

[7] Until recently, most fish farmers in Uganda were poor people in villages who practiced aquaculture for subsistence with ponds of usually less than 500 m2 constructed using family labour.

Fish that are the target of most commercial and subsistence exploitation include species of Lates (Nile perch), Oreochromis (Nile tilapia), the herring-like Alestes, the catfishes Bagrus and Clarias, Hydrocynus (Tiger fish), the small pelagic "sardine" Rastrineobola, Protopterus (lungfish), and the haplochromines.

In a number of localities, traditional methods including baskets, traps and mosquito nets continue to be used.

The method developed in the 1980s for the effective exploitation of predatory fish e.g. Lates niloticus, Protopterus, Clarias, Bagrus, etc.

This is a prospective commercial fishery on Lake Victoria, Kyoga and Albert, targeting predacious species like Nile Perch and Hydrocynus.

Angling for Lates niloticus on Lake Victoria or for Trout on River Sipi in Kapchorwa District is a lucrative activity particularly for the foreign tourists who adopt this fishing method.

Conical traps are used most commonly for catching fish species e.g. Clarias, Barbus, Schilbe in marshy shallow waters of lakes, rivers and in permanent and seasonal swamps.

The gear is strategically set as a barrier and fish voluntarily or involuntarily enter it, but their escape is hindered by a special non-return valve or device.

In another instance, lamps are set in a straight line (about 200 m long) by connecting the rafts with ropes (at intervals of about 15 m) and positioning them perpendicular to the shoreline.

On Lutoboka landing site on Bugala Island in Kalangala District, fishermen use hooks of number 12 to fish Nile perch.

The major fresh water sources have several landing sites that act as centres for fishing activities.

The fish are moved in containers with ice, unlike before when they were simply dropped inside a boat and then delivered.

[16] Lutoboka landing site is found on Lake Victoria, in Kalangala District, on Bugala Island.