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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Silverfish Association has appealed to Members of Parliament to put in place deterrent measures against foreigners who trade in fishing activities on different water bodies.
Members of the Association on Tuesday appeared before the Agriculture Committee of Parliament which is currently considering the Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill, 2021. The Bill seeks to consolidate and reform the law relating to the management of fisheries products and aquaculture due to emerging issues in the regulation and management of the sector.
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.
In their proposal regarding the Bill, the fishermen said that the pressure from fishermen from neighbouring countries makes it hard for them to reap dividends from the trade.
Francis Byamugisha, a member of the association from Kalangala district asked parliament to also impose heavier taxes on foreign firms that wish to transact on Uganda’s waters.
Byamugisha said that both foreigners and local fishermen are subjected to the same tax charges, yet countries like Tanzania and Kenya have a protectionist policy for their native communities which demands foreigners to pay higher charges through fishing permits.
The association also wants the number of foreign fishers to be defined in the region or districts in which fishing activities are conducted. Francis Lusembo, the Silver Fish Association chairperson also proposed that each water body in a given fishing community should have a set number of boats.
Sande Gerald Kayiita, a fisherman from Maziga, Kalangala district said that the set limit on the number of boats will help deal with the increasing pressure on the lake. Kayiita said that the lake is inelastic hence a need to regulate the number of fishing boats per fishing district so that the Fisheries Unit licenses only a certain number of votes.
Kayiita also reported that they are double taxed and appealed that government waives annual licenses for boats since they already pay taxes on fuel that they use daily in their lateens to attract the silverfish.
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