Fisheries was established as a fully fledged Department in 1961 (Cadwalladr and Stoneman 1966). Through the powers conferred upon it under the Fish and Crocodiles Act (Cap. 228, codified in 1964), the UFD has the sole responsibility for national fisheries planning, development, and management in all aspects -- resources, production, and marketing.
UFD is at present a part of the Ministry of Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAIF), together with the Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry, the Tsetse Control Department, and the Planning Department. Although the main offices of MAIF are in Kampala, Fishery Headquarters are located in Entebbe.
The UFD is headed by the Commissioner for Fisheries who is assisted at Headquarters by a Deputy Commissioner, two Assistant Commissioners, and three Senior Fisheries Officers (SFOs). Other SFOs and Fisheries Officers (FOs) head Regional and District Fisheries Offices throughout the country (map, Fig. 1).
The divisional structure of the Department is summarised in Fig. 2.
Central to UFD's role as a regulatory and monitoring agency are the tasks of licensing and collection of statistics. In reference to the latter, the law (Cap.228, Sect.38(a)) states that:
[Any authorised officer may] for the purpose of obtaining statistics, weigh, measure, and check any captured fish or crocodile or any dried fish or fish product and the person in possession of such fish or crocodile shall on demand produce such fish or crocodile to the authorised officer for that purpose.
In the past, the Department has been assisted in the task of statistics collection by Local Government Authorities and the Customs Service. However, these arrangements have lapsed in recent years. A breakdown of statistical collection and related tasks that are supposed to be performed by various UFD and other agencies is given in Table 1 (Appendix I).
Fishing vessel licenses, issued on a calendar year basis and only according to a programme scheduled by the officers-in-charge of each region, are non-transferable. While only the Commissioner for Fisheries may limit the number of licences issued for particular waters and the country as a whole, any authorised officer (normally SFOs and FOs) can issue or cancel licenses. For purposes of enforcement, authorised officers are also empowered to seize and/or destroy unlicensed or unseaworthy vessels as well as illegal gear; they are in addition empowered to inspect fish trading licenses upon demand, and to confiscate any illegal consignments. The Fish and Crocodiles Act (Cap.228, Sect.39) stipulates that “Any person who wilfully obstructs, hinders, assaults, or resists any person in the exercise of his powers under this Act shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.”
Several water bodies in the country have been designated as controlled fisheries, and are subject to legally designated limits on the numbers of licenses, vessels, and gear. With regard to those fisheries which fall under the Project target area, the licensing situation is as indicated below.
| Water body | No. Licenses | Max nets/boat | No. landings |
|---|---|---|---|
| L. Edward | 208 | 10 | 5 |
| L. George | 145 | 10 | 6 |
| Kazinga Channel | 44 | 10 | 2 |
| L. Victoria | n.a. | n.a. | 290+ |
Uganda is divided into 34 administrative districts. However, the fisheries regional boundaries are determined by the Commissioner for Fisheries according to criteria related to management convenience within a homogeneous area. In this fashion, 17 Fisheries Regions have been created (map, Fig. 1). Each Region may have one or more District Offices. Regions are supervised by Regional Fisheries Officers (RFOs), who are normally also SFOs. Districts are administered either by FOs or Assistant Fisheries Development Officers (AFDOs). The district office is supported by AFDOs and Fisheries Assistants (FAs) and Fisheries Marketing Assistants (FMAs) posted at various field stations.
Field stations consist of landing sites, markets, or even administrative offices themselves in some instances, as in the case of fish farming areas. It is at this level that basic information on the fisheries industry within each region should be gathered and summarised in draft before being sent each month to the Regional Fisheries Offices. Some stations are served by an AFDO who supervises a team of several FAs and/or FMAs; at others the staff establishment may consist of just one or two Assistants working on their own. To facilitate enumeration, authorised officers are empowered to perform upon request various checks on fish and fish products. Effective coverage is obviously facilitated by the presence of a full staff establishment at the field station level. But in reality the situation is unfortunately quite the reverse.
The deployment of field personnel in the six project regions appears to be adequate only in the case of the Lakes Edward-George/Kazinga Channel complex, where there are up to four assistants per station. The other five regions, Tororo, Kalangala, Jinja, Masaka and Entebbe, have poor to grossly inadequate staffing (see Table 2). The problem is particularly acute for the Sesse Islands, due to their very wide expanse. For a number of other island and mainland field stations around Lake Victoria as well, fish landings are remote and widely dispersed.
It should be noted that the team encountered some difficulty in trying to determine the staff deployment situation within the Project areas. Although staff establishment files are kept at the Headquarters, records of actual postings have not always been kept up to date. In some cases the exact size and composition of regional UFD field staff deployments remain uncertain.
There are many field personnel who have not been provided with housing facilities close to their assigned duty stations, and who therefore have had to find accomodation further away -- often at long distances. Furthermore, field staff are often assigned two or more landings to cover, but rarely have means of land or water transport to make frequent or regular visits. Not surprisingly, this results in scanty and superficial reporting, and considerable delays in forwarding monthly returns to district and regional offices. Because the field staff also serve as the UFD's principal extension workers, their inadequate numbers and lack of mobility also mean that local fisherfolk are deprived of opportunities to obtain advice and instruction.
To the burden of practical problems with which field staff must cope must be added the additional difficulties and frustrations consequent upon their extremely poor levels of remuneration. As with Government workers generally, these staff are simply not provided with an adequate living wage. It is known that Government is quite aware of the plight of its public service employees, and is trying to redress the situation as soon and as effectively as possible. But the solution cannot be expected to come quickly in the present difficult period of economic recovery. In the meantime, the adverse effects of pittance-level salaries on public service employee morale and performance will continue to be evident. Many staff will perforce spend substantial parts of their working days pursuing outside employment and business interests in order to make ends meet. Attention to duties even when on station can be expected to lag also, since self-motivation and initiative is perceived as going unrewarded. The fact that many UFD staff in the field are subjected to long delays in receiving what little salary and allowance settlements which are their due only adds to an already troublesome state of affairs.
Staff recruited to the UFD are graduates from either university institutions or the Department's Fisheries Training Institute, Entebbe.
University graduates are normally holders of a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology, Botany and Chemistry, or Biochemistry. Further specialised study for higher degrees is normally done while under employment. Areas of specialisation are usually in Aquatic or Fisheries Management, Fish Technology, Bio-Statistics, and Marine Engineering. Many of the university graduates working with the UFD are in administrative posts, though they carry out other duties including research according to their areas of specialisation.
To meet the demand for local personnel to carry out extension services the Department decided to train its own technical staff under the home environment in which they are expected to execute their duties. The Fisheries Training Institute (FTI) was inaugurated in 1968. Originally courses were offered to Ordinary Level school leavers - holders of the Uganda Certificate of Education with credits in Science subjects. Nowadays, however, many candidates admitted to FTI are Advanced Level school leavers - holders of the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education with a bias in sciences. The national university cannot absorb all would-be students, and large numbers of Advanced Level school leavers thus choose to attend technical institutions like FTI.
Two main courses are offered at FTI, viz.: Fisheries Management and Technologies, and Boat Building Technology. These are two-year Certificate Courses. One-year extensions for specialised study leading to a Diploma may be offered to students with a superior record of apprenticeship in the field (usually for a period of two years) in addition to good passes in relevant subjects. Diploma students may specialise in either Fishing Methods and Gear Technology, Fish Technology, or Boat Building (FTI 1980/81).
Certificate in Fisheries Management and Technologies. Subjects taught in this two year course include Fish Culture, Fisheries Statistics, Fisheries Biology, Fish Technology, Fish Biochemistry, Fish Handling Processing and Preservation, Quality Control, Fishing Methods and Gear Technology, Navigation, Seamanship and Boat Handling, Marine Engineering, Mechanics of Refrigeration, Economics, and Fisheries Administration and Extension Service. Students are prepared for field service as extension workers with duties to advise and offer technical assistance to artisanal fishermen as well as commercial entrepreneurs of the industry.
Diploma in Fishing Methods and Gear Technology. This course offers specialisation in Fishing methods, Gear Technology, Navigation, Seamanship and Vessel Handling, Marine Engineering, Boat Construction and Maintenance and Economics. It is intended to equip students with more advanced knowledge in gear designs and fishing operations as well as management.
Diploma in Fish Technology. Fish Technologists specialise in Quality Control and Inspection, Fish Processing, Nutrition, Boat Construction and Maintenance, and Economics. The students are equipped with specialised knowledge in various fish handling, processing and preservation techniques and practices in fish quality control and inspection.
Certificate in Boat Building. This two-year course offers training in Workshop Practice, Boat Building and Craft Technology, Boat Handling, Technical Drawing and Mould-Loft, Applied Mathematics and Sciences, and Business Management. The course is designed to train students in production of new and improved designs as well as repairing all kinds of fishing vessels, work boats, launches, and yachts. The boat builder course qualifies students to sit for the Uganda National Examinations Board Craft Certificate Examination.
Diploma in Yacht and Boat Building. Specialisation is given in all subjects offered under the Certificate Courses in Boat Building but here emphasis is put on personal innovation and creativity to suit the demand for local needs.
After successful completion of the two-year courses, FTI students are awarded appropriate Certificates, either in Fisheries Management and Technologies, or Boat Building Technology, and are designated as Fisheries Assistants (FAs) or Technical Assistants (TAs). Fisheries Marketing Assistants (FMAs) may also be recruited by the UFD to work in field stations. FMAs are established staff who are given training on the job. Often they are recruited from those who have attended FTI certificate courses without successful completion.
After passing the one year specialisation courses students are awarded Diplomas and automatically promoted to the rank of Assistant Fisheries Development Officer. While in service an officer can be promoted to the rank of Senior Assistant Fisheries Development officer (SAFDO), and then to Principal Assistant Fisheries Development Officer (PFDO). From this level there is no other promotion unless the officer goes for further studies at university.
University graduates are recruited at the rank of Fisheries Officer after which they can be promoted to Senior Fisheries Officer (Grades I and II) and then through the ranks of Principal Fisheries Officer, Senior Principal Fisheries Officer, Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and finally to the rank of Commissioner for Fisheries, the highest office in the Department.
Orach-Meza (1986) points out that, for catch assessment surveys, data collection should ideally provide reliable information of quantities and species compositions of fish landed by gear, by canoe, by time and by place. In Uganda at the present moment, this ideal is far from being achieved. Indeed, the UFD does not have a uniform system in place for the collection of catch data. Methods currently employed vary between complete enumeration, more or less rigorous interval sampling, and totally unsystematic recording. Moreover, complementary data on gear type used is often overlooked entirely.
In the Lakes Edward/George-Kazinga Channel fisheries of the Kichwamba Region, catch assessment surveys are based on a general system of complete enumeration. This is possible because of the controlled nature of the fishery, which in theory limits both the number of fishermen and of canoes at every landing. For each canoe that returns to the beach in the course of a given day at a given landing, the Fisheries Assistants count the number of fish by species. Several representative specimens of each species are selected and weighed to determine an average. This figure is then multiplied by the total number of each fish species counted for each canoe, to yield the total weight per species per canoe. Prices ex-canoe for each species are also noted. Simple arithmetic provides figures on daily returns in weight and value for an entire landing, in respect to such parameters as totals per species, totals overall, and average catch per canoe. These daily totals are summed at the end of the month to yield monthly estimates, which are in turn combined to provide monthly estimates for the entire region. Regional monthly returns are used to determine trends in production over time. No provision is made in these computations for the considerable amount of poaching that reportedly takes place within the Kichwamba fisheries. Data on gear use remains of generally poor and unreliable quality also; fisherfolk are reluctant to disclose the actual number of nets with which they operate, knowing them to be well above the legal limit in force (Nyeko 1989; Odongkara 1989b; Reynolds and Kirema-Mukasa 1989; Wadanya 1989b).
The situation on Lake Victoria is somewhat different. Fisheries Assistants may use either a “static” or “dynamic” approach to enumeration of landing sites. The former approach, where the enumerator operates at only one station at a time, applies at most of the major landing sites. The latter approach is used by those enumerators who are assigned duties on a circuit which includes a major landing and one or more minor, satellite landings.
Complete enumeration is usually attempted at the minor landings on those days when visits take place, with all canoes and all fish per species to be accounted for; time raising factors, determined on the basis of the number of actual visit days in a month, are applied to obtain monthly estimates.
For major landings, where it is not possible to carry out complete enumeration, a system of interval sampling of canoes is practised. On certain days or sets of consecutive days each week, every nth canoe unit is sampled. In each case, the catch is counted and weighed according to species. Alternatively, where catches are large, fishing crews usually tie the catch in bundles according to species and sizes. Fisheries staff then count the bundles in the sampled canoes as they are sold at the landing beach, noting details of prices. Samples of bundles by species and size category are picked to determine average weights, and these figures are multiplied by the total number of the different species/size bundles in the canoe to give the weight of the entire load. In the case of large Nile perch which are not bundled, a count is made and an average weight determined through a sample. This is multiplied by the total number of fish in the canoe. Assistants may also record information on crew size, canoe registration number and type of propulsion (sail, engine, paddles), and gear used, although these variables are frequently overlooked. The species catch and the total catch by weight and value for the day is estimated by multiplying the averages from sampled canoes by the total number of canoes that fished that day. Monthly estimates are arrived at by using an appropriate time raising factor.
All this is possible where assistants have weighing scales. In many places scales are lacking or not in proper working order, and weights are estimated on the basis of experienced guesswork. Fish may be sorted by species and counted, with respective average weights assigned according to the mesh sizes used for their capture. Total weight of catch by species is arrived at by multiplying the total numbers by the assumed average weights.
Eventually, however determined, the daily returns from individual landings are supposed to be combined to obtain overall monthly catch estimates, which are then transmitted to the district and regional fisheries offices.
District and regional personnel are expected to carry out supervisory visits to field stations on a regular basis, in order to identify areas of weakness and counsel the FAs on the course of their work. In practice, the level of follow-up by senior staff is generally very low, due to lack of transport provision. The problem is particularly acute for the Lake Victoria fisheries regions. Many UFD staff based at regional offices do not even know the exact geographical extent of their respective areas of responsibility, nor the total numbers of landings they are supposed to supervise. (Coenen 1989; Ikwaput 1989; Ikwaput and Tumwebaze 1989; Tumwebaze 1989a, 1989b; Wadanya 1989a).
Methods of fish preservation in Uganda include those of hot and cold smoking, sundrying, salting, frying, icing, refrigeration, and freezing. The latter three methods require fairly expensive and technologically complex installations, and are of very limited distribution in the country. The Kampala Ice Plant and the newly built Uganda Fishing Enterprises Ltd. (UFEL) factory in Jinja are the largest operations which involve freezing and the use of ice for keeping fish products. The UFEL operation, once it becomes fully functional, will also produce a cold smoked product. Cold smoking is otherwise rarely practiced in the country. A few smaller operations engaged in the export of Nile perch fillets are also equipped with cold storage and packing facilities. The use of refrigerated/ice-cooled vans for the transport of fresh fish between landing beaches and urban markets occurs to some extent, but is not widespread. Nevertheless, an updated inventory of fish processing and freezing plants, and refrigerated transport units, needs to be completed. The use of chilling techniques for product handling is rapidly developing in the industry due to the growth of the Nile perch fishery on Lake Victoria, and the need for high quality raw material by companies involved in the export trade. (Kirema-Mukasa and Reynolds 1989; Reynolds and Kirema-Mukasa 1989a; Reynolds, Kirema-Mukasa, and Odongkara 1989).
Other methods of preservation are common to local landing sites throughout the country, except for salting, which is mostly restricted to areas around Lake Edward, Lake Albert, and the Albert Nile. This is an historical pattern based on the heavy demand for salted fish products in Zaire, which has always provided a large formal and informal market for the catches of the western fisheries regions. (Kirema-Mukasa and Reynolds 1989).
For the Lakes Edward/George - Kazinga Channel complex, processing activities are very extensive because most of the landings are poorly served with road links to the main transport corridors and marketing areas. Recent survey work in the Kichwamba Region indicates that as much as 90% of the total catch is either smoked, fried, sundried, or dried & salted (Ward, pers.comm. 1989). Data collected on processed fish covers weight, numbers, and price per species, but is subject to a considerable degree of error. (Nyeko 1989; Odongkara 1989b; Reynolds and Kirema-Mukasa 1989b; Wadanya 1989b).
Indeed, data on processed fish within the Project regions is nowhere fully and carefully recorded by field staff. On Lake Victoria most processed fish comes from the islands. Since it is usually difficult to transport fresh catches directly to mainland selling points, island fisherfolk tend to cure and bulk them into loads for shipment on designated days to major landing sites, where traders wait to collect them for transfer to upcountry markets. Information on the volume, value, and source of smoked fish by species is normally supposed to be collected at the major landing sites, but there are problems of consistency as well as accuracy. Weights of large consignments of smoked fish are difficult to measure precisely, and as with wet fish, the scales necessary to accomplish this task are frequently not available or not in working order. (Ikwaput and Tumwebaze 1989; Odongkara 1989a; Reynolds and Odongkara 1989a; Reynolds, Kirema-Mukasa, and Odongkara 1989).
During field visits members of the Project team observed that sundrying of Rastrineobola argentea, known locally as mukene or dagaa, has become common in a number of areas. The volume of sundried mukene appearing at landing sites and transit points is likely to increase dramatically as the fishery for this small pelagic gains in popularity. However, present enumeration practices take little to no account of Rastrineobola catches (Reynolds and Odongkara 1989b; Reynolds, Kirema-Mukasa, and Odongkara 1989)..
Fish smoking at mainland beaches on Lake Victoria is mostly done on an ad hoc basis, as dictated by conditions. On any given day, the evacuation of fresh products may not be possible owing to bad road conditions, lack of enough buyers, abnormally high catches, or a combination of these factors. In such cases, fish will be smoked and stored for later sale and transport to market. Since this is not a daily routine at a number of landings, records of such processed fish are not kept as carefully as they should be. (Ikwaput 1989; Reynolds and Odongkara 1989a; Tumwebaze 1989a, 1989b; Wadanya 1989a).
Also with regard to Lake Victoria, a certain amount of fish which leaves the landings in a fresh state ends up being smoked or fried after reaching inland markets. This is again usually occasioned by the failure to sell all consignments of fish on the same day. Frying or smoking will prolong the shelf life of the product for another day or more, and therefore provide an additional period to transact a sale. (Reynolds and Odongkara 1989b).
Overall, there is a lack of reliable information on local fish processing facilities in terms of their numbers both by grand total and by type, the volume of their output, and their modes of operation and ownership. Along with market trading, this is an area of the fisheries where women play a major, if not predominate, role. Unfortunately, the actual extent of their participation cannot be fully known in the absence of reliable figures. (Kirema-Mukasa and Reynolds 1989).
Fresh and processed fish are delivered from landing sites to intermediate wholesale centres and final retail markets by means of lorries, pick-ups, buses and other public service vehicles, bicycles, and by foot. In some places, large transport canoes bring consignments directly to major urban and town markets. Also, very considerable movement of fish occurs along the railway lines (Kampala - Kasese, Kampala-Jinja-Tororo) (Reynolds and Odongkara 1989b). There is no complete documentation on the quantities which are moved by each mode of transport. Where feeder roads offer smooth and all-weather passage, most transport of fish is by means of motor vehicle; where they are rough and seasonally impassable to pick-up or lorry, most fish is probably moved by means of bicycle traders. From a local employment perspective, movement of fish by bicycle is a more labour intensive operation than that which involves motor vehicles. A major issue which policy makers and planners for the sector must bear in mind, as infrastructure development options are considered, is the negative effects that more and better-quality access roads could have on local fish trader workforces, and whether such effects could be outweighed by the benefits of more efficient product flow throughout the country. Such questions cannot be adequately addressed at present because there is simply not enough information on the various modes of fish transport, the tonnages they account for, and the jobs they provide. (Reynolds and Odongkara 1989a).
The general pattern of fish flow from various lakes and water bodies around Uganda is now fairly well known from various earlier field studies (Kirema-Mukasa and Reynolds 1989). When it comes to finer points of detail like actual quantities involved, by species and state (fresh/processed), however, information is very incomplete and of poor and unreliable quality. In principle, Fisheries Assistants posted at major markets throughout the country are supposed to record the arrival of fish consignments on designated sampling days, noting details of the product state (fresh, smoked, dried, etc.), source, mode of transport, and weight. Minor markets which are supplied through the larger town markets are supposed to be visited according to a routine arrangement. In practice, there is a wide range of variation in the quality of data collected at the market level.
For Kichwamba Region major markets, UFD staff attempt to follow a daily enumeration routine wherein the total number of fish in each trader's consignment is recorded. Weight per species per type of consignment (fresh or cured) is determined through a selection of representative fish for weighing. The resultant “average” weight per species is then used to calculate the total weight for each consignment. The same procedure is supposed to be followed for each of the minor markets visited by Fisheries Assistants. In fact the entire procedure for Kichwamba does not operate very effectively, judging from the incomplete and confusing returns that are on record. (Reynolds and Kirema-Mukasa 1989b).
For markets located around the shores of Lake Victoria, methods of data collection are by no means uniform. For such urban markets as those in Kampala and Tororo Districts the procedure of enumeration consists of several stages (Reynolds and Kirema-Mukasa 1989a; Reynolds and Odongkara 1989b), as can be summarised below:
For both fresh and processed fish, samples of various sizes of a particular species are first weighed to determine the range of weights for the different categories according to which traders sell their fish -- e.g. “small,” “medium,” and “large.” Prices of the different sizes are noted so that an average price per unit of weight can be worked out. The exercise is repeated for each vehicle consignment of fish delivered to market on any given day.
Fishmongers are then asked about the total quantity of fish they have brought. Normally they provide this answer by giving the amount in number and according to sizes of each species. If the FA or FMA is not satisfied with an answer the alternative is to count the fish. This is usually done in the act of selling because fish is normally sold by counting and not by weight.
The average sampled weight multiplied by the total number of a particular species brought by a particular vehicle gives total weight delivered per species per vehicle. The sum of all totals for the same species from all vehicles gives the overall weight delivered per species. For an estimate of the total value delivered, the amount of each species is multiplied by the average price of the sampled weight (also see Fig. 3).
Data collection for the majority of minor markets in other urban settings and rural areas is much less complete. In many cases, particularly in more remote localities, there is no enumeration of marketing activity whatsoever. Where enumeration does take place, the information collected on fish trading is usually limited to the categories of species, weight, number and value per month. No breakdown is provided of fresh versus processed fish, nor in terms of source of supply.
In certain rural areas of Iganga, Mukono, and Tororo Districts, fisheries staff sometimes attempt to follow a sampling approach, wherein different markets are visited on an interval (weekly, fortnightly, or even monthly) rather than daily basis. Thus, for example, an FA or FMA who has been assigned responsibilties covering ten different markets within a certain district, may follow a routine of visiting specified markets on specified days, according to the actual days the respective markets are held, and the availability of transport. Alternatively, in cases where markets are convened every day, staff may visit at any time, as often as can be managed.
In summary, coverage at major markets can be described as adequate in only a very few instances. For minor markets in outlying rural areas, the data collection system is basically a complete failure. The reasons for these shortcomings in monitoring at the markets are essentially the same as those which apply in the case of catch monitoring at the landing sites. In general the staff situation is not up to full establishment levels, provision of basic housing, office facilities, equipment, and supplies is extremely deficient; no means of transport are available to those who are supposed to cover duty circuits involving minor markets; not enough opportunities provided to attend refresher training courses; and staff morale is low as a result of poor terms of service and low and irregular standards of remuneration.
The established statistical reporting system also makes provision for the monitoring of export and import traffic in fish, though in recent years only fragmentary information has been generated. Figures are supposed to be provided by Customs officials stationed at major posts such as the Entebbe Airport or on the Kenya-Uganda border (i.e. at Busia or Malaba) or the Zaire-Uganda border (i.e. Ishasha and Mpondwe in Kichwamba Region, and Vurra and Arua in West Nile Region). Where inspection of export consignments is carried out by a Fisheries Officer, as occurs at the Entebbe Airport and Busia, records are also supposed to be noted as to the species being exported together with details on weight, value, and destination. During field tours of the Project regions, it was remarked that in some instances FAs simply obtained their information on export traffic from contacts at the Customs Posts. This represents an obvious source of under-reporting, since fish traders will tend to cite deflated figures on shipment weights when asked to provide them by Customs officials. Neither UFD nor Customs personnel at the border points are equipped with adequate weighing equipment to facilitate proper estimation of export tonnages.
Still another way in which export traffic records should be maintained is through the licensing system for wholesale or bulk dealers in fish, as supervised by the Fisheries Department Headquarters. A wholesale trader is legally required to hold a “Specific License” issued by the Department, and to submit monthly returns with details of the species of fish being traded along with the form (fresh/processed), volumes, values and market destinations of the consignments involved. This system worked effectively through the 1960s and part of the 1970s, when it was enforced through the practice of denying license renewals to those who had neglected to file their monthly returns. During the last decade, however, enforcement has lapsed, largely owing to breakdowns in administrative capabilities and an influx and rapid turnover of new entrants into the trading business.
No reference to the subject of fish exports would be complete without mention of the huge unrecorded traffic in fish carried out by smugglers. Smuggling of fresh fish is particularly rife in the eastern sector of Lake Victoria, where operators collect catches from various island and mainland points, or even from fishing canoes directly on the water, and move them to ports of call on the Kenya shore where they command substantially higher prices. The UFD has no way of monitoring this lucrative traffic, far less of controlling it. Field staff are spread much too thinly on the ground, and have little or no access to suitable water transport. Also, operators of the craft used to transport illegal consignments naturally tend to avoid the locations where UFD FAs are posted. It is impossible to know exactly how much fish are involved in this informal marketing network, but it is certain that the magnitudes are great, probably on the order of tens of thousands of tonnes per annum.
In the west too, very considerable quantities of both fresh and processed fish are moved informally across the waters of Lakes Edward and Albert to points in Zaire. This is a long-established pattern, as Zaire has always been an important market for catches from these lakes. As in the case of Lake Victoria, UFD staff are simply not in a position to monitor these movements. The tonnages involved are not of the magnitudes of the Lake Victoria trade, but are likely to amount to several thousand tonnes per year. (Reynolds and Kirema-Mukasa 1989b; Reynolds and Odongkara 1989b).
Data handling at field stations is generally poor due to the lack of adequate guidelines, training, supervision, and stationery materials. At many sites, daily notes are made on any old loose scraps of paper which happen to be available. These are prone to be torn, misplaced, or lost before the information they contain can be transcribed to a more appropriate record form. In a number of instances observed during the field reconnaissance missions, assistants were unable to produce the daily sheets which they claimed had been filled out just the day before.
Data processing is a lengthy and laborious undertaking in field stations, since few pocket calculators are available. Simple mistakes in arithmetic are rampant. There are in addition frequent delays in the submission of returns to district and regional offices. Assistants may retain daily return records for lengthy periods of time before forwarding them, often in just their raw, unsummarised forms. It is also true that many assistants do not keep file copies of the collected raw and summarised data as a safeguard in case originals go astray.
Even more serious are instances in which assistants do not even bother to keep any daily records, but merely invent the figures which are reported to the district and regional offices. The exact extent of such deception is not known, but is suspected to be fairly common. All of these practices obviously introduce a good deal of uncertainty and inaccuracy into the data handling system.
The work of regional and district offices is to compile data returns from various field stations covering all capture and captive fisheries and marketing activities. Processing of information is generally limited to data from sampled landings and markets, meaning that fisheries activities at many of the smaller and/or more remote sites is never enumerated. Time-to-time surveys would help to establish appropriate raising factors so that activities at these sites could be taken into account in the overall monthly estimates. However, no such arrangements exist at present.
In their compilations, district and regional personnel only abstract totals of quantities and values by species from the field summary sheets, which they check and submit to Headquarters on a monthly basis. Processing of data for individual species is hampered by the lumping together of a number of species into one broad category “others”. Moreover, it is difficult to detect any errors and to estimate monthly production and marketing volumes if no indication is made as to the sampling procedures followed. Often reports from the field stations do not specify such critical information as: period of data coverage (complete 30-day period or not); number of sampled days; number of sampled units (boats, market stalls, traders); and total number of units (boats, stalls) at any particular site.
The facilities for handling information are wanting in most of the offices. Stationery, calculators, typewriters, and even basic office furniture are simply not to be found, often because of pilferage and vandalism which occurred during the years of civil war. Storage of records is problematical. In some regional offices, an attempt is made to keep raw data files and copies of monthly reports, though there is always a lack of adequate storage space in the form of filing cabinets and archive boxes. In other offices, no effort is made to retain records of raw data and old reports.
Statistical reports normally should be forwarded to Entebbe Headquarters from the regions on a monthly basis. The Division of Statistics collates the data, appraising their quality and identifying errors and omissions. Data compilation takes place through three stages. In the first stage, and initial tabulation is made for monthly fish production for each reported landing site, showing total weights and values by species. This is based on monthly reports from the regions, as shown for example by the December 1988 return from Kichwamba Region, in Table 3. At the end of the year, total estimated annual production is computed for each landing. Estimates are derived from the average weights and values for the months reported, raised to twelve months. Table 4 provides an example for 1988 for one of the landings in Masaka Region.
The second stage of compilation involves tabulation of the sampled landings for each major water body or fishery, showing annual estimated production by weight and value per species. Data are aggregated in the manner illustrated by Table 5, which gives the figures for the Lakes Edward-George/Kazinga Channel complex for 1988. Total annual catch weights per species are summed to give the overall total annual catch for the sampled landings. This figure is then divided by the total number of boats in the sampled landings to give average catch per boat. The average is multiplied by the estimated total number of boats in the fishery to yield the estimated grand total annual catch. An example computation for Lake Victoria in 1988 is given in Table 6.
In the third stage of compilation, total figures for all water bodies are added together to yield the estimated annual catch for the entire country. The results for 1988 are depicted in Table 7. However, because the available data on total number of boats involved in each of the major fisheries are very outdated, the final estimates on total annual catches must be viewed with a high degree of uncertainty. (Ikwaput and Tumwebaze 1989).
Also, since the data collected in the field are not complemented by sufficient additional information on fishing characteristics (gear specifications, numbers, etc.), it is impossible to use set formulae to estimate annual catch.
Marketing data are assembled by the regional offices and reported to Headquarters on a month-to-month basis as well. For Kampala area markets, the monthly submissions are made out on compilation sheets (see Fig. 4). In most cases, however, pre-printed reporting sheets are not employed.
Like catch statistics, statistics on marketing are also normally supposed to be processed through stages at Headquarters. The first stage involves compilation of figures submitted for each market, indicating the form of product (fresh or processed through smoking, sun-drying, salting, etc.), quantities sold, and retail price per species. Weights for processed fish are not converted to fresh weights. Estimates for total annual transactions through each market are made by taking the average figures for months reported and raising them to twelve months. An example for 1988 from a market in Masaka District is presented in Table 8. In the second stage of processing, sampled markets are supposed to be aggregated according to administrative districts. Annual estimated marketing totals should be added together to yield district totals for quantities sold by product form and retail prices per species. Table 9 provides an example for sampled markets in Tororo District for 1988.
In reality, the processing of marketing data is extremely weak and inconsistent. Generally it is only the markets of the chief urban centres which receive attention. The aggregated data are therefore not complete in respect to marketing activity across a wide range of rural places. The quality of the final tabulations is also compromised because there is no system in place for checking on sampling and non-sampling errors. (Ikwaput and Tumwebaze 1989).
Data tabulation and analysis at Headquarters are constrained by inadequate submissions of monthly reports, which are often late in arriving and/or based on incomplete or fragmentary returns. Until recently the lack of calculators and desktop computers precluded efficient processing of data as well as the use of statistical tests for errors. Although these shortcomings are now being rectified under the FISHIN Project, the entire data management system is still inadequate. It continues to be based on manual manipulation and consultation of an unwieldy filing system which has been put into further disarray as a result of recent events.
In the past the UFD has used several modes of statistical data and information retrieval and dissemination. The Department's registry serves as a file storage and retrieval centre, but has been subjected to several episodes of looting and pilferage in recent years. The filing system is therefore in extremely poor shape. Cabinets have been badly damaged, archive files are not securely kept against harm from damp, dust, and pests, and many records are missing.
Formerly the Department published regular Annual Reports and issued a series of Occasional Papers. These reports and papers were prepared professionally by the Government Printer, Entebbe, and were circulated to other departments and ministries as well as external agencies. Poor records, inadequately compiled data, and a lack of funds led to a break in writing and publishing since 1975.
The Library, which is supposed to be operated jointly with the Game Department, has been out of commission as a reference and research facility since around the same time. A great deal of material has gone missing, or is misfiled, multilated, mildewed or motheaten. There have been no new acquistions in terms of books and journal subscriptions for the past fifteen years or so. The entire facility is in need of salvage and restoration.
Basic dissemination of information still occurs on a routine basis through interdepartmental correspondence. External reader agencies have to a large extent remained in correspondence with the UFD, forwarding copies of their statistical abstracts and requesting similar documents from the Department. The UFD has tried to honour these requests insofar as its extremely limited means have allowed. Quite often this has been done an ad hoc basis, with the statistical unit personnel answering specific requests by individual users.
In general, the data and information retrieval and dissemination system of the Department is in a rather sorry state, its operations severely constrained by a lack of physical facilities and qualified library and registry personnel.
It may furthermore be remarked that there could be closer collaboration between the various Government and other agencies concerned in one way or another with the fisheries when it comes to the collection, sharing, and use of information. This point applies particularly to the ties between UFD, the Planning Unit of MAIF, UFFRO, and their affiliated projects. But collaborative ties need to be strengthened also in cases where departments and ministries besides the UFD and MAIF become involved in fisheries-related matters through different programmes and projects. On a wider regional scale, harmonisation of statistical enumeration categories and collection procedures and cooperation in the dissemination and use of information also needs to be encouraged between the fisheries authorities of the neighbouring East African states.
