BIOST. REPT. NO. 25.

OPERATIONAL VISIT TO TORORO AND JINJA PROJECT REGIONS

19^th – 21^st August, 1991

By

J. WADANYA & E. COENEN

September, 1991

INTRODUCTION:

The team set off from Entebbe in the afternoon of Monday 19^th August on a trip lasting up to Wednesday 21^st 1991 (see itinerary).
This operation and evaluation mission was the second of that nature to be conducted in the project zones at the end of the project. The first mission was conducted in Masaka and Kichwamba Fisheries regions (Wadanya & Coenen, 1991). The major aim of this trip was to appraise the work of renovation and construction of office and habitation structures put up in different places of the Lake Victoria zone and to discuss operational matters with the RFOs.

INPUTS TO PROJECT REGIONS:

Whenever such trips have been organised, the team has always taken this advantage to ferry some remaining inputs, particularly the platform weighing scales, to the respective regions. These inputs were the last to arrive in the project and are being distributed accordingly.

ATTENDANCE AT THE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (ADP) PROGRAM SEMINAR:

On Tuesday morning, the 20^th, the team attended the ADP Fishery Component Seminar at Tororo District Farm Institute (DFI). The seminar brought together various heads of fisheries stations managing the Lake Kyoga complex.
The theme of the seminar was “Statistics and Information Flow on Lake Kyoga”, and was organised by the biologists working on ADP, based in Jinja. The authors attended this meeting based on the understanding that both projects, ADP and FISHIN, share a common vision of an integrated and harmonised Statistics and Information Systems for the Ugandan fisheries sector.

The seminar aimed at sensitising the participants on the progress of work that had been going on around Lake Kyoga since 1987. Major emphasis was laid on fish-stocks studies, statistical data collection and in general how all the collected data were, are and will be processed into useful information before being disseminated.

This was the first time to invite heads of stations to a seminar since the ADP project began. All along, project activities had been limited to the ADP researchers and only occasionally the services of fisheries assistants had been used whenever and wherever they found them along the fish landings(Wadanya, 1990). From now on, heads of stations are going to act as supervisors of field staff during project activities, particularly in the area of data collection.
Major topics covered in the seminar can be grouped as follows: Frame survey; Catch Assessment Survey; Fishery Survey component activities; Biological studies and future work on the lake Kyoga system, particularly in the area of monitoring and follow-up.
On our part, Mr. Coenen, Chief Technical Advisor, FISHIN, gave an elaboration on the UGA/87/007 project statistical work. Among others, he elaborated the methodology and procedures that have been put in place so far; progress of implementation; the work so far done and the analysis of results using the computer program, Ugastat, which has been developed for this purpose. Ugastat is now operational but it still needs a lot of program changes/additions for refining the quality of the outputs.

VISIT TO TORORO RFO OFFICE:

At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, on the same day, the team called at the Regional Fisheries Office, Tororo. The RFO conducted the team around the two newly renovated offices. The doors and windows of the offices have been properly reinforced with burglar-proof metal. They have also been painted and extra locks were purchased to enhance security.
The RFO reported that, in this region, all the renovation and construction work was now complete. Three uniports, one in Busia (with a weighing shed) and the other two in the Sigulu Islands were also complete.

Effort was made to visit Busia Fisheries Station immediately following this meeting with the RFO. The aim was to inspect the uniport and weighing shed erected in Busia market as well as deliver the platform weighing scale to the AFDO in-charge. The uniport is supposed to house the delivered scale and to be used as an office.

Upon arrival in Busia, the AFDO in-charge accompanied us to the site of the uniport in the market where we installed the scale. A quick demonstration of how the scale is operated was done before departure for Tororo. Later that evening, the team left Tororo together with the District Fisheries Officer, Iganga and the RFO Jinja. They arrived in Jinja at about 7.30 p.m. where the night was spent.

VISIT TO JINJA RFO OFFICE:

The team visited Jinja office on Wednesday, 21^st, at 9 o'clock and met the RFO. Discussions centred on the renovation and construction works going on in his region. The team inspected the office before returning to Entebbe that very morning.
The RFO reported that office renovation had generally been completed. The work generally involved partitioning of what was once a single large room into three offices: one for the RFO; another for the District Fisheries Officer; and the last one for general clerical duties. Wooden cupboards have been fixed at some elevation on the wall for keeping the office record files.

The doors and windows were burglar proofed; roof leakages sealed; walls plastered and curtain boxes put in place. Electrical installation and repairs were finalised and the floor painted in red oxide.

Three(3) uniports had been erected in the region: i.e. at Namoni, Idokwe and Lwanika landings. For the latter also a weighing shed was constructed and therefore received a platform weighing scale.
The RFO reported some minor expenses still outstanding: 2 padlocks and 2 chains for the uniports at Namoni and Idokwe landing sites. In addition, the window frame for the Idokwe uniport and three extra window glasses still have to be purchased.

DISCUSSION:

The gains made by the project in the two regions of Jinja and Tororo have effectively been realised. The new CAS methodology was successfully implemented and, according to on site checks and reports by the RFOs, all construction and repair works in the field and offices have been completed. According to them, the arrival of platform weighing scales taken their during our visits was timely as this will enable them to embark on collection of accurate market statistics.
Further, our attendance at the ADP seminar also bore fruit as we came to understand the survey activities on Lake Kyoga and had the occasion to meet and discuss with the scientists involved in this exercise. The exchange of views in the related area of fisheries statistics will go a long way in assisting to adopt a suitable, standardised method for data collection on a nation-wide basis.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Judging from the papers presented at the ADP seminar on the catch assessment plan for Lake Kyoga (Hartsuyker, 1991), and from our own views from FISHIN project at the headquarters, everybody agreed that a standard sampling system would be the best for all Uganda lakes.
It is, however, observed that the catch assessment conditions on Lake Kyoga differ greatly from those of say Lake Victoria. The catch assessment method proposed by FISHIN project is, however, quite a flexible one and allows for even difficult fisheries like those of lake Kyoga to be covered. There is also the advantage that right from its inception, the FISHIN Project had the objective of developing the most suitable CAS method that could be adopted for the whole country. FISHIN has also developed a computer program (operational, but still to be refined) to analyse both frame and catch data.
It is therefore proposed that the Fisheries Department takes an immediate decision to make ADP implement a CAS system on Lake Kyoga which is compatible with the Ugastat data entry requirements, since they appear to be going to implement another CAS system.
This would facilitate the statistical compilation work of the data processing team in headquarters to handle data for all water systems at the same time and in a standard way, rather than have to recompile ADP CAS results, collected and processed in a different manner.

PERSONS MET DURING THE TRIP:

CITED REFERENCES:

Wadanya, J. 1990 - Observations on the Catch Assessment Activities being undertaken by the ADP team on Lakes Kyoga and Kwania. BIOSTAT Report No. 16, FISHIN Notes and Records. Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems, FAO/UNDP Project UGA/87/007, October 1990.

Wadanya, J., E. Coenen, 1991. Report on the Assessment of Frame Survey Returns and on the Conduct of the Catch Assessment Course for Field Staff on Lakes Edward/George & Kazinga Channel, held at Katungulu on 26^th/6/1991. BIOSTAT Report No. 24, FISHIN Notes and Records. Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems, FAO/UNDP Project UGA/87/007, June 1991.

Hartsuyker, L., 1991 - A Catch Assessment Plan for Lake Kyoga ADP/FS 1990/1991. Document for discussion with Regional and District Fisheries Officers. Paper presented at the Program Seminar on Fishery Statistics Collection and Information Flow on Lake Kyoga, 20^th August 1991.