Macrines Nyapendi
20 August 2008
Kampala — DISREGARD for economic efficiency, pandering to special interests and a lucrative market continue to place enormous pressure on fish stocks, making the possibility of extinction more real.
This happens in the face of regulations intended to limit abusive exploitation.
"The declining fish stock is a result of our failure (fisheries authorities) to introduce or limit access to the most exploited lakes (Victoria, Kyoga and Albert). This has given opportunists with special interests rather than economic rationale a chance to abusively exploit the fishery resources," a senior fisheries officer who preferred anonymity said.
The increased human activity on the lakes' surroundings and the use of indiscriminate and environmentally-damaging fishing practices is undermining the resources' potential to renew themselves.
The use of illegal gear to indiscriminately wipe out the commercial species has pushed the Nile Perch's mortality rate in Lake Victoria to over 86%.
The official said according to scientific data obtained from a recent biomass study of lakes, the lakes can be salvaged if management of the fish stocks is taken out of politicians' hands.
Patrolling the lakes is expensive and leads to tension and conflicts. Most fish exporting countries have quotas that ease pressure on the lakes.
The introduction of fishing quotas would be the best way to protect the lakes from abuse but because Uganda is a Tropical country, its lakes have multiple species that would complicate implementation of the system.
According to sources in the fisheries department, the fisheries policy has failed to attain its main objective because it was put in place by the colonialists in the 1950s.
The European Union's efforts to streamline quotas and limit fishing efforts of the maritime countries for better management of its fishery resources gave Uganda a unique opportunity to cash in on a lucrative white flesh fish market. Nile Perch replaced some species on the European shelves.
What was thought to be a good market opportunity for Uganda's fish exporting sector has turned out to be the most risky to the lakes.
The fishing community is an assortment of investors, businessmen, professionals and opportunists. Uganda has over 160 productive lakes but only five have been exploited for commercial purposes. Nile Perch is under pressure because it is the most sought after.
"The reason the other lakes are not exploited is because they have not been restocked with the major traded species." The major traded species are Nile Perch and Tilapia.
Restocking lakes and rivers with new species requires massive capital, which is not available. Also, our system has not developed river fisheries.
A mature Nile Perch should be at least 20 inches (1.5kg), while Tilapia should be 11 inches and weigh about 600 grammes.
Nile Perch costs $5/kg (sh 8,200) on the international market, while it goes for between sh3,500 and sh4,000/kg on the landing sites.
"A drop of over $60m (sh98.4b) in the value of the fish exports that was reported in the press recently was not true. According to our monthly export statistics, the value of fish exported in the first half of the year is $55,937,739.12 (about sh91.7b) from 11,056.85 metric tonnes. This excludes returns from regional markets."
He added that the current international fish prices are better than last year's.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
