BIOSTAT RPT. NO. 20

REPORT ON THE LAKE VICTORIA FRAME SURVEY IN JINJA REGION

(19/10 – 20/11/1990).

BY

R. TUMWEBAZE
BIOLOGIST / STATISTICIAN

DECEMBER, 1990.

1. Introduction :

Jinja region was the fourth operational area to carry out the Frame Survey (FS) which started on 19th October 1990 and ended on 20th November 1990.

The Jinja survey items (Annex I) were delivered by the Project to Mrs. R. Tumwebaze, Biologist/Statistician and the supervisor of Jinja Frame Survey on 18th October 1990. The Frame Survey team for the region consisted of Mr. P.J. Etot, Regional Fisheries Officer (RFO, Jinja); Mr. J.W. Bikala, Assistant Fisheries Development Officer (AFDO, Iganga District Office) and Mr. S. Okol, Fisheries Assistant (FA, Rippon landing).

2. Frame Survey implementation :

In addition to the items supplied by the Project, the RFO borrowed an empty drum for fuel and camping equipment like tents and camp beds from the Uganda Freshwater Fisheries Research Organisation (UFFRO) in Jinja.
With the topographic maps (scale 1 : 50,000) and Frame Survey manual given during the Frame Survey refresher course, the team started off the survey on 20th October 1990 on Maloba landing (map code 1). During the survey, a pair of binoculars was used to identify hidden and small landings. Every identified landing was assigned a code. This code was then marked on the topographic map as well as on fraform A1 and fraform A2 (Annex II) to avoid confusion during data analysis.

The first supervisory trip was made on 1st November 1990 to Lingira island. The supervisor delivered more boat cards to the Frame Survey team and was received by the Officer in charge of the island, Mr. Musisi, Fish guard. The team had already completed the following islands: Musene, Ziro, Namite, Makakugi, Luzingi, Bugala, Izinga, Buvuma, Lufu, Yubwe, Lingira, Kabaganji and Nvuza. They intended to continue the FS on the mainland from Lwanika landing up to Kiyindi landing.

At the end of the Entebbe and Jinja Frame Survey operations, there remained an area which was not covered. Some confusion existed on which team should survey it. After a discussion by the representatives of both teams, the National Project Director and the acting Chief Technical Advisor, it was decided that the Jinja team should cover the remaining area.

Following this decision, a trip was made to Jinja on 9th November 1990 by the author to deliver more funds for fuel and more items for the Frame Survey (included in annex I).

The FS resumed on 10th November 1990 on the mainland from where the Entebbe team had stopped. The stretch on the mainland to be covered was between Katuba and Kiyindi landings. Islands to cover were Nsimba, Nkata, Mpuga, Nyendo, Sindiro, Bukwaya, Buziri, Mpata, Bwema, Kibibi, Kiwa, Lukalu, Marija, Waitwe, Wabuziba, Lyabana, Buguza Omuto and Buguza Omukulu.

3. Observations made :

By the time the first supervisory visit was made, the team seemed to be more experienced and have gained confidence in themselves compared to the beginning of the Frame Survey. They were now taking a shorter time to go through the questionnaire at each landing.

Filling in the individual boat particulars on fraform A2 still remained a problem, especially when the landing had many boats and no head-fisherman or with a head-fisherman without records on the boats: therefore, often a lot of time was spent trying to get the necessary information.
In general, the survey team understood the questionnaire, and communicated effectively with the fishermen, but encountered several problems, as described below.

4. Problems encountered :

4.1 Fishermen.

On some landings, fishermen took long to understand the purpose of the visit. They thought it was connected with law enforcement and a lot of time was spent trying to explain the real purpose of the FS.

4.2 Staff.

There were many landings without resident fisheries staff but with many canoes. Therefore, the survey team had to fill in all the individual boat particulars themselves at the landings.
There are islands/landings which are never visited by fisheries staff. In these places, fishermen do whatever they want like using illegal gears, illegal fishing methods, boats are not licensed, etc. Because of this, they did not welcome the Survey team as they knew that their illegal activities could be discovered.

4.3 Gears used.

Information on gears used and their number was totally at the mercy of the persons interviewed because some of the gears are left in the water and even if they were in the boat at the landing, especially gill nets, the Survey team could not count them. This was even worse for illegal gears as the fishermen would hide them when the team approached the landing. Others practice light-fishing at night for Rastrineobola, hiding the mosquito-seines during the day.

4.4 Year established.

The year when the landings were established was in most cases an estimate as it was rare to get someone at the landing who knew the exact year when activities started, especially on landings which were established before the 1980's.

5. Frame Survey Results:

At the end of the Jinja survey, 188 landings were identified and a total of 2,512 active canoes counted. Out of the total number of active canoes, 2,290 (91%) were fishing canoes and 222 (9%) were transport canoes; 2,104 (84%) were planked while 408 (16%) were dugout canoes. Canoes with out-board engines were 257 (10%). The total number of landings identified on the islands were 109 and on the mainland they were 82.

A complete list of all the landings in the surveyed area in Jinja region is given in annex IV. Out of the 109 landings on the islands, 67 landings had less than 10 boats and 39 landings had less than 5 boats. For the mainland landings, out of 82 landings, 37 landings had less than 10 boats while 24 landings had less than 5 boats.

The area surveyed is staffed by 16 field officers: 3 Assistant Fisheries Development Officers, 11 Fisheries Assistants and 2 Fish Guards (Annex V). All the staff locations and all the surveyed landings were plotted on a map to get a clear picture of their distribution (Annex VI). The names of the main landings, recieving both fresh and processed fish from the islands in Jinja region are indicated on the same map.

6. Conclusion:

The FS was properly carried out and completed despite the difficulties encountered. It now gives a clear picture on the fishery of Jinja, especially concerning the number of landings, the number and types of canoes, gears used and other important information. A comparison between certain findings of the Frame Survey for the islands and the mainland is given in Annex III. The predominance of canoes with out-board engines on the islands might be attributed to the necessity to cover long distances among and between islands and the mainland. On the mainland, however, there are more dugout canoes mainly used for fishing in shallow and sheltered bays.

ANNEX I

Jinja Frame Survey items.

  1. 3 pairs of gum-boots
  2. Transmission oil, 1 litre
  3. 1 Pair of Binoculars
  4. 10 Empty jerrycans
  5. 3 Life-jackets
  6. 1 Rope
  7. 2 Pencils
  8. 20 Litres of outboard engine oil
  9. 1000 litres of petrol
10. 1 polyethylene sheeting
11. 1 Torch
12. Frame Survey forms FRA A1 and FRA A2
14. 1 pair of spark plugs.

ANNEX II

FRAFORM. A1

	FISHIN PROJECT UGA/87/007
	QUESTIONNAIRE FOR FRAME SURVEY

2. Landing characteristics.

                                 √
Access to landing: (tick)

Tarmac road                                 Murram road                                 Footpath                                Only by water                      

If landing is on island, specify island name:                                                                                                                                   

3. Staff establishment of landing:

If not permanently staffed, is it ever visited by fisheries staff?
(YES/NO)            

4. In which year was this fish landing established (since when in use)?                                                                                          

5. Is the landing used all year round? (YES/NO)                 

- If YES, do fishermen also use any other landing(s)? (YES/NO)                   

If YES, Which landing(s)?                                                                              ,                                                                            ,
                                                                             ,                                                                            

- If NO, during which period(s) is it not used?

(Month) from                                 (Month) to                                 

Reason: (√) Floods                                , Scarcity of fish                                , Other                                

(Month) from                                  (Month) to                                 

Reason: (√) Floods                                , Scarcity of fish                                , Other                                 

6. Is processed fish landed here? (YES/NO)              

If YES;
Type(s)? (√) Smoked                ,             Sundried                ,               Salted                

How often?) (√) Daily                                   ,     Once a week                                   ,     Twice a week                                       ,
Other                                     

* TRANSP. ONLY = FISH. TRANSP.            + NON FISH. TRANSP.          

8. Gears used (√)

9. Fish Species (√)

10. Are the fisherfolk (operators and/or traders/processors) of this landing organised into any society/societies? (YES/NO)     

If YES, Specify society name(s) and number of members:

11. Market Destinations for Catch: Is there Market at landing site? (YES/NO)              

12. Facilities/Amenities at Landing only (Number)

13. Fishing risk at landing:

(a) During the calender year 1990, were any fishing/transport boat from this landing involved in any capsizing or sinking accidents?

(YES/NO)               

(b) How many separate accidents occurred?                   

How many boats from this landing were involved in each, per type of boat (P, D, F, T, N) and for what reason?

No. Acc. 1:                    No. & Type Boat(s)                      Reason                                                                                                   

No. Acc. 2:                    No. & Type Boat(s)                      Reason                                                                                                   

No. Acc. 3:                    No. & Type Boat(s)                      Reason                                                                                                   

No. Acc. 4:                    No. & Type Boat(s)                      Reason                                                                                                   

(c) Was there any loss of life? (YES/NO)                  

If YES, how many died (total for all accidents)?                  

(d) Was there any loss of property (Boats, Equipment, etc.)?

(YES/NO)                 

If YES, specify                                                                                                                                                                              

General Remarks:

FRAFORM. A2

FISHIN PROJECT UGA/87/007 - - FISHERIES DEPARTMENT

INDIVIDUAL BOAT PARTICULARS

NAME RECORDER :                                                                                                                             DATE :          /         /         

ACTIVITY OF OWNER 1 = Part of Crew           2 = Supervisor           3 = Other

NUMBER OF CREW                                                   LENGTH OF BOAT (m)                                                                              

TYPE OF BOAT : 1 = Planked           2 = Dug-out           3 = Fibreglass           4 = Trawler           5 = Not Classified.

ENGINE (Y/N)           IF YES, WHICH HORSE POWER :                                                                                             HP

ACTIVITY 1 = FISHING ONLY           2 = TRANSPORT ONLY           3 = FISHING and TRANSPORT

GEAR TYPE(S) USED

REMARKS:                                                                                                                                                                                      

ANNEX III

Comparison between island and mainland FS findings in the Jinja region.