Africa-Press – Uganda. The authorities in Nakasongola District have started battling the renewed use of illegal fishing gear on Lake Kyoga.
The vice is reported to have resumed at the height of the political campaign period in December 2020.
It is reported that the renewed illegal activities were detected by the fisheries officials and Fisheries Protection Unit soldiers just four months after authorities lifted a one-year ban on all fishing activities, that had been imposed in 2019 as one of the measures to stop the vice.
The district officials told Sunday Monitor that fishermen took advantage of the relaxed regular patrols by soldiers at the height of the political campaigns and the elections to resume their illegal activities.
Although the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) soldiers have managed to seize a number of illegal fishing gear, including small boats that are at times hidden at selected areas on the floating vegetation and abandoned sand mining areas on the lake shores, district officials believe that the arrest of more than 45 fishermen, acquisition of more standard fishing boats and establishment of the fishing committees could partly resolve the problem.
“It is unfortunate that the illegal fishing gear is back on the lake at a time when the district is finalising the distribution of standard boats. A total of 967 boats were manufactured under the first phase and we have now secured another 766 boats” Mr David Nsamba,the Nakasongola District fisheries officer, said last week.
Mr George William Lubega, the Lwampanga Sub-county chairperson, said illegal fishing activities are high in his area.
“The fishermen secured small boats that cost between Shs280,000 and Shs300,000, yet they were outlawed. Many claimed that they could not afford the standard boats that cost Shs1.7m. Besides, illegal fishing nets are on the market. We call upon government to consider banning the importation of the undersized nets,” Mr Lubega said.
But Mr Baker Omara, a fisherman at Lwampanga fish landing site in Nakasongola District, blames government for failing to secure the entire lake from the illegal fishermen who continue to sneak into the water body.
“Failure by the soldiers to patrol the entire lake is a big problem. We have areas on Lake Kyoga that continue to have the undersized nets,” he said.Mr Solomon Kamya, a fisherman in the area, advised government to empower the local fishing community committees to oversee activities on the lake instead of relying on the soldiers.
“The soldiers are complicated people. They only believe in what their commanders tell them to do. We got information about plans by some fishermen to acquire the small boats after failing to secure the standard boats, but we could not inform the FPU soldiers because they don’t listen to civilians,” Mr Kamya claimed.
But Nakasongola District chairperson, Mr Sam Kigula, who also doubles as chairperson of the Lake Kyoga Integrated Management Organisation (LAKIMO), said the illegal fishing gear could be a setback if authorities fail to handle the problem.
“For LAKIMO, we have already come up with a plan that will soon be announced as part of the control measures. We are also mobilising for the establishment of strong fishing committees at each of the landing sites to help monitor the fishing activity,” he said.
Background
On July 27, 2020, government lifted the fishing ban on Lake Kyoga after FPU cleared more than 80 per cent the illegal fishing gear.
Although 23,000 fishing boats were operating on the lake before government deployed the soldiers, only 11,000 boats have been cleared to operate.
Illegal fishing, according to 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 that results into the harvesting of immature fish that measures less than 11 inch and 20 inch in length, respectively.
It also entails using fishing boats that are less than 20 feet.
