Uganda: Poor Fishing Methods Threaten Fisheries
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
New Vision (Kampala)
5 August 2008
Posted to the web 6 August 2008
Tony Barigye
Kampala
POOR fishing methods and overfishing are threatening Uganda's fisheries resources, Bright Rwamirama, the Minister of State for Animal Indusrty, has said.
"Nile Perch exports to the international markets which were at 36,000 tonnes, worth $143m (sh239b) in 2005, dropped to 33,000 tonnes, worth $137m (sh229b) in 2006, suggesting a decline in catches," he said.
Rwamirama was launching a research into the loopholes in the fish industry at the Uganda Management Institute in Kampala, recently.
He attributed the decline to indiscriminate fishing. However, Rwamirama said the new fishing policy would curb illegal fishing.
"The Department of Fisheries Resources has put in place a monitoring system to guarantee quality and safety of fish," he said.
The fishing industry is the second foreign exchange earner for the country. With 18% of its surface area covered by lakes and rivers and a favourable climate, Uganda has the potential to produce about 430,000 metric tonnes of fish annually.
Jonna Kamanyi, a principal research officer at the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute, said research had found alarming decline in fish species in Lake Victoria.
"Fish species diversity has declined with over 60% of the species in Lake Victoria disappearing or being reduced to negligible quantities."
Relevant Links
He said only 53 fish species are available in lakes Victoria, Kyoga and Albert down from over 300 in the past.
Read comments. Write your own.
|
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Make allAfrica.com your home page
|
RSS Feed
Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
