More soldiers deployed to fight illegal fishing in Kalangala
A Fisheries Protection Unit officer and a fishermen display fish on the shores of Lake Victoria recently. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- On average, 60 people are arrested every week in Kalangala over illegal fishing, with some caught with immature fish while others are arrested with illegal fishing gear.
The Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) has deployed 16 more soldiers to fight rampant illegal fishing in Kalangala District.
Capt Eric Muhangi, the FPU commandant in Kalangala District, said only seven soldiers had been operating in Kalangala, which has 84 islands.
“We now have a solid team to boost our operations and we are now able to reach all islands in the district,” he said during an interview at the weekend.
Capt Muhangi said when they closed landing sites over illegal fishing recently, some fishermen relocated to distant landing sites close to the Uganda-Tanzania border where they continue to engage in illegal fishing.
Closing landing sites
“We no longer close landing sites because when we do so, it disrupts other businesses. Our focus now is on arresting individuals involved in illegal fishing,” Capt Muhangi said.
At least 80 percent of inmates in Kalangala prisons were detained in connection to illegal fishing.
Prisoners
With a capacity to accommodate at least 200 inmates each, both Kalangala Town Council prison and Mugoye prison are holding more than 600 inmates.
However, Mr James Walakira, the officer-in-charge of prisons in Kalangala District, said they had relocated some of the inmates to nearby prisons in Masaka District.
BACKGROUND
In the last three months, at least 25 landing sites in Kalangala District have been closed over illegal fishing and only nine have reopened.
On average, 60 people are arrested every week in Kalangala over illegal fishing, with some caught with immature fish while others are arrested with illegal fishing gear.
Illegal fishing, according to the 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.
Illegal fishing has persisted on Ugandan lakes even though President Museveni in 2017 established the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) to crackdown on the vice.
Although there was a sharp increase in fish stocks between 2017 and 2019 following the deployment of FPU, Covid-19 pandemic, mass death of fish and flooding in 2020, caused a decline in fish that goes to the fish processing factories and some are considering temporary closure.
