A new kind of fishing in Uganda
Nantongo Mary is a member of the Agali Awamu group, a cooperative which also took part in the project.
Drying racks provided by the project helped improve the processing and the quality of silverfish, making them available for human consumption and sell at higher prices.
©FAO/Agatha Ayebazibwe
On the Ugandan shores of the largest lake in Africa, fishers were increasingly coming up empty-handed. Lake Victoria once boasted 500 species of fish but in recent years overfishing and poor fishing practices have taken a heavy toll on fish stocks, the environment and the communities who depend on them.
“I was a fisherman using illegal methods,” says Kigozi Robert Sande, a fisher in the Kalangala district. “When the Ugandan government ran an operation to stop these practices, we became jobless.”
Many fishers like Robert were fishing without permits or using small boats and nets that were not allowed on the lake. For example, some were using a specific type of net, seine nets, to trap immature fish, though illegal.
When the government cracked down, “a big percentage of people were left without a source of livelihood, and they were dependent on fishing,” says Jacob Olwo, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Officer working in Uganda.
One million people in Uganda are engaged in capture fisheries, while more than five million people across the country depend on the sector for their livelihoods.
However, fishing communities around the lake have been dealing with declining catches, poor handling facilities, increased post-harvest losses, greater competition for fishing resources and limited sources of income for some time.