ALBERT

Description: Until the late 1990s the fisheries of Ugandan lakes had been managed by government where stakeholders were excluded from the decision-making process. In order to involve other stakeholders, co-management was adopted. Operationalising Co-management on landing sites has led to the formation of BMUs at gazetted landing sites. A BMU is made up of a BMU assembly and the BMU committee that it elects. A BMU committee should be: 30% boat owners; 30% boat barias 30% including fish processors, boat makers, local gear makers and repairers, fishing input dealers and managers and 10% fish mongers/traders; and if possible, 30% women. To operate at a particular landing site, one must be registered with the BMU. The BMU assembly is the supreme organ of a BMU empowered to elect, approve and remove the BMU committee

Description: The fisheries resources of Lakes Albert and Kyoga present a high potential for economic growth, food, employment and foreign earnings. However, livelihoods appear to be compromised with the emergence and rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in the fisher communities of L. Albert and Kyoga. HIV/AIDS is considered a silent epidemic that is unique, posing a great challenge to the fisheries managers, health service providers, development planners and the resource users themselves. Fishers have high HIV prevalence, as well as AIDS-related illnesses and mortality rates. The high HIV prevalence rates among the fishing communities in Uganda is between 10-40% compared to the national rates which lie between 6% and 7%. This indicates that the national programmes have not adequately addressed the plight of the fishing communities of Lakes Albert, and Kyoga and the consequences have been devastating. Men and women living in fishing villages across the world have been found to be between five and ten times more vulnerable to the disease than other communities (Tarzan et al 2005, FAO, 2007). The present prevalence rates among the fishing communities stands at 10 to 40 % (LVFO, 2008). Meanwhile the same fishing communities are the essential labour for the Lakes’ fishery industry which is thriving nationally and internationally. That resource potentially can alleviate poverty and the HIV/AIDS threat. Fishing communities are the hidden victims of the disease, mixing patterns with the general population could act as a reservoir of infection that could spill over into the general population to drive the epidemic. On L. Albert, a quarter of the fisher folk were HIV-positive by 1992 compared to 4% in a nearby Agricultural village. Since then, there have been no targeted studies to address or monitor the prevalence rates eight years later, yet the multiplicity factor is high.HIV/AIDS can be linked to unsustainable fisheries, as the labour force available would not go to deep waters to fish, instead would fish in the shallow waters as a coping mechanism. A further effect is the loss to National and local economies and reduced nutritional security for the wider population. HIV/AIDS remains a significant challenge that has created a mosaic of complexity in the fishery sector. This needs to be addressed. It is, therefore, paramount that a comprehensive study was under taken to address this pandemic and the phenomenon of HIV/AIDS based on the study objectives.1. To determine the trend in HIV/AIDS infection among fishing communities and the factors affecting it2. To assess the impacts of HIV/AIDS on fish production and the implications for fisheries management.

Description: The Uganda sector of Lake Victoria occupies 29,580 km2(43%). The lake used to boast of a multi-species fishery butpresently relies on three major species Lates niloticus,Oreochromis niloticus and Rastrineobola argentea. During thepast decade the total fish production on the Ugandan sectorincreased drastically from 17,000 tonnes in 1981 to about 13,000 tonnes 1991, indicating a healthy state of the fishery. This was contributed by a combination of factors including the explosive establishment of the introduced L. niloticus which contributed 60.8% in 1991 and the increase in the number of fishing canoes from 3470 in 1988 to 8000 in 1990.Isolated fishery resources studies carried out in differentareas of the lake since 1971 seem, however, to indicate contrary trends in the available stocks and, therefore, the status of the fishery. In the experimental fishery, continued decline in catch rates have been recorded. Similarly, in the commercial fishery catch per unit of effort has been considerably poor (33 kg per canoe during January - March 1992) and the average size of individual fish laRded continued to decline, obviously pointing at possible over-fishing. This, therefore, calls for further urgent research on the available stocks for proper management strategies to be formulated.

Description: The objective of the bottom trawl survey in July/August 2003, was to monitor the changes in the fish stocks in the Uganda sector of Lake Victoria with particular emphasis on species composition, distribution, abundance and population structure.

Description: During the period 25th - 29th May 1993 a team of research scientists and from UFFRO conducted afisheries resources evaluation survey of Lake Wamala. This was a follow up of the previous surveys on the lake aimed at accessing the status of the fisheries of the lake with particular respect to the species composition, size structure of the harvestable fish stocks and the relative abundance of the stocks.

Description: A relatively small (180 km) and shallow (4.3 metres maximumdepth in 1974) Lake Wamala, in central Uganda, was in 1956stocked with the tilapiine species mainly Oreochromis niloticus (Tilapia nilotica), O. leucostictus (T. leucosticta) and Tilapia zillii (Okaronon 1987). The Lake provided a successful and profitable commercial fishing after it was opened to commercial fishing in 1960. During the 1960s and early 1970s the annual landed catches were estimated at 5000 metric tons on average; over 50% of the landed catch was composed of O. niloticus. A maximum of 250 canoes were licensed to operate on thi lake annually and each canoe was permitted to use a maximum of 10 gillnets of not less than 127mm mesh. Most of the fish was sold fresh to local communities and also to distant markets including Kampala.Following increasing number of canoes during the late 1960sand increased use of small mesh-sized (illegal) gillnets - and other illegal fishing practices - the annual fish production from the lake declined by about 93% from 7100 tons in 1967 to 500 tons in 1982 (Okaronon, op. cit). The average weight of the landed individual fish of O. niloticus - the predominant commercial fish species - also declined by about 57% from 716g in 1969 to 305g by 1976. During the period 1981/86 the area surrounding the lake was subjected to a guerrilla war and period of drought, resulting in a virtual halt of fishing activity and reduction in the size of the lake, respectively. These, too, inevitably led to stunting in the fishery and, consequently, to almost no commercial fish production.In 1988, following the end of the guerrilla war, scientificsurveys of the lake's fisheries resources were resumed. Thesurveys aimed at assessing the status of the lake's fisheryfollowing the 1981/86 period of no fishing activity and prolonged dry season. The specific objectives included the determination of (a) catch composition, (b) the size structure of the harvestable fish stocks based on length frequency distribution, and (c) an estimate of abundance of exploited fish stocks based on catch per unit of effort. This paper, therefore, presents some of the results of the surveys during the period 1988-1991.

Description: Lake Victoria had a multi-species fishery dominated until the 1970s by the tilapiine and the haplochromine cichlids (Kudhongania and Cordone, 1974). From about 1930 to 1960, the fisheries of Lake Victoria were managed by controlling the mesh size of gill nets. Gill nets of stretched mesh sizes less than 127 mm (5 inches) were prohibited as they cropped immature Oreochromis esculentus (Ngege), the most important commercial species on the lake (Graham, 1929). The catch per night in the legal 127 mm mesh nets was over 30 fish of O. esculentus prior to 1921 but dropped to 6 and 1.5 fish in 1928 and 1954, respectively, (Beauchamp, 1955), indicating overfishing of the stocks. The overall aim of the survey was to determine the available fish stocks being harvested by the gill net fishery. The specific objectives included the determination of the species composition and catch levels. Gill nets of mesh sizes from 25.4 mm (1 inch) to 228.6 mm (9 inches) were used.

Description: Fisheries activities are the main source of livelihood for the communities that live at Lake Edward fish landing sites. The landing sites include: Kazinga, Katwe, Kayanja, Kishenyi Rwenshama and Katunguru and are located within Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area (QECA).In spite of being the main source of livelihood, 74% of therespondents in a 2013 survey reported that catches forthe main targeted fish species namely: Bagrus docmak(Semutundu), Oreochromis niloticus (Tilapia) and Protopterusaethiopicus (Mamba) were declining due to overfishingand catching of immature fish by the rapidly increasingpopulation. Lake Edward Frame surveys had shown that thenumber of fishing crafts increased from 302 in 2008 to 330 in 2011, while the number of fishers increased from 355 to 600 during the same period. Between 2008 and 2010, catch perboat, for Bagrus docmak (Semutundu) declined from 5.25kg to 4.04 kg and for Protopterus aethiopicus (Mamba) from2.63 kg to 1.03kg.It has been suggested that reducing pressure on the lakeshould be handled using different approaches, one of whichis introduction of programs for enhancing livelihood optionswhich do not conflict with conservation of Queen ElizabethConservation Area (QECA). The main goal of this study wastherefore to identify, prioritize and pilot livelihood options at selected landing sites of Lakes Edward and George.

Description: Since mid 1980, the Government has been faced with a collapsing economy in which coffee generated 96% of the export earnings and financed 70% of the import bill (MPED, 1987). To redress the macroeconomic imbalances, itlaunched a number of economic reforms aimed at economic rehabilitation, growth and development (MPED, 1987; MFEP, 1992a). One of the reform objectives has been to reduce the deficit in the Balance of Payments (BOP)current account through export promotion and diversification.The results have been mixed. Whereas hitherto non-traded products (at least officially) such as fish entered the export market, the' external imbalance increased. Fish exports increased from 0.1% of total export value in 1988 to 3.0 % in 1991 and are projected to rise even further (EPADU, 1992; MAAIF, 1991). The Balance of Payment current account deficit, on the other hand, increased considerably from 1.7% of GDP in 1987 to 5.6% in 1990 as a result of a rapid rise in imports and a dramatic decline in coffee export prices (Bank of Uganda, 1992). Further, the ratio of coffee exports to total export value fell from 96% in 1989 to 65% in 1991 (MFEP,1992b).