The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kikuube, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Fisheries Protection Unit-FPU impounded and destroyed 279,900 pieces of illegal fishing gear countrywide in the months of October and November last year.
The destroyed fishing gear includes boats, monofilament nets, kokota, solar batteries, bulbs, hooks, and immature fish among others.
The 279,900 items were confiscated and destroyed from the districts of Kikuube, Ntoroko, Butiaba, Hoima, Serere, Namayingo, Mukono, Rukungiri, Buvuma, Mpigi, Kasese, Buyende, Nakasongola, Kwania, Apac, Kalangala, Jinja and Pakwach among others where the FPU personnel operate.
Lieutenant Lauben Ndifula, the spokesperson of the UPDF Marine Brigade told Uganda Radio Network in an interview on Tuesday that in the months of October and November last year, they confiscated and destroyed 154,595 pieces of monofilament nets, 7,094 pieces of kokota, 4,660 illegal boats, 12,072 pieces of illegal fishing nets and 12,719kgs of immature fish among others.
According to Ndifula, the operations against illegal fishing practices on all the water bodies in the country are ongoing until all the illegal practices are fully fought and eliminated to ensure sanity on the lakes.
In September last year, the Fisheries Protection Unit-FPU impounded and destroyed more than 319,000 pieces of illegal fishing gear countrywide.
The destroyed fishing gear included boats, monofilament nets, solar batteries, bulbs, hooks, and immature fish.
In 2017, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni directed Uganda Peoples Defense forces-UPDF soldiers to deploy on all the lakes in the country to combat illegal fishing practices to protect the fish resources that were under threat of depletion.
The operation comes at a time when Parliament is currently scrutinizing the Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill, 2021.
The Bill was recently tabled before Parliament and seeks to consolidate and reform the law relating to the management of fisheries products and aquaculture due to several challenges and emerging issues in the regulation and management of the sector which are not addressed.
During the Law Revision of 2000, the country’s laws were reorganized and the Fish and Crocodile Act became the Fish Act which was further amended in 2011 to provide for the establishment of the Fisheries Fund and to permit the retention and use of fees received by the Chief Fisheries Officer from the issuance of licenses, permits and other activities for development and management of the sector.
However, the government says that these amendments were not comprehensive enough to fully address all challenges facing the fisheries sector because they only focused on licenses, the introduction of currency points and retention of funds.
The new Bill is proposing the licensing and registration of fishing vessels and fishers, control and regulation of all fisheries and aquaculture production activities and practices, methods of fishing and fishing gear, establishment and regulation of lake management organizations and gazetting of landing sites, provide for fish breeding and regulation of fish feeds and others.
The government also proposes the establishment of a Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Committee which will ensure that fisheries resources are managed and also advise the minister on effective planning, financing and coordination of the sector.
The Committee is proposed to serve under the Directorate of Fisheries Resources.
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