Reducing fish stocks affecting export cargo volumes
Sep 09, 2011
ILLEGAL fishing is taking its toll on Uganda’s aviation industry. Statistics from the transport ministry show that exports declined by 11%, from 34,203 tonnes in the 2008/9 financial year to 30,3271 tonnes the following year.
By Joel Ogwang
ILLEGAL fishing is taking its toll on Uganda’s aviation industry. Statistics from the transport ministry show that exports declined by 11%, from 34,203 tonnes in the 2008/9 financial year to 30,3271 tonnes the following year.
“Export cargo missed its target by 26%, mainly due to the dwindling fish stocks in Lake Victoria. Demand for Uganda’s exports has also gone down due to the credit crunch,†said Godfrey Wandera, the transport ministry’s acting director of transport.
In a statement Wandera noted that while imports grew by 6% from 20,507 tonnes in 2008/9 to 21,823 the following year, import cargo exceeded the target by only 1%.
Returns from the Ugandan fisheries industry has, in the recent past, taken a nosedive, with exports dropping from $145m in 2008 to $82m in 2010.
Experts blame this on illegal fishing. Local fish consumption is valued at $400m and regional at $150m, said Dr. Wilson Mwanja, the commissioner of fisheries.
“We should be earning over $100m in exports if it was not for illicit fish trade,†he said.
The Government has, however, laid down interventions to overturn the industry’s fading fortunes.
Enforcing a new fish law, licensing of fishing boats and their owners and the rehabilitation of landing sites are some of the interventions geared at reviving the industry.
“This will upstage the 15,417 tonnes of fish exported in 2010, a drop from 2009’s 18,000 tonnes,†Mwanja said.
“Our forecast this year is that we will export 20,000 tonnes of fish and earn over $100m,†he added.
ILLEGAL fishing is taking its toll on Uganda’s aviation industry. Statistics from the transport ministry show that exports declined by 11%, from 34,203 tonnes in the 2008/9 financial year to 30,3271 tonnes the following year.
“Export cargo missed its target by 26%, mainly due to the dwindling fish stocks in Lake Victoria. Demand for Uganda’s exports has also gone down due to the credit crunch,†said Godfrey Wandera, the transport ministry’s acting director of transport.
In a statement Wandera noted that while imports grew by 6% from 20,507 tonnes in 2008/9 to 21,823 the following year, import cargo exceeded the target by only 1%.
Returns from the Ugandan fisheries industry has, in the recent past, taken a nosedive, with exports dropping from $145m in 2008 to $82m in 2010.
Experts blame this on illegal fishing. Local fish consumption is valued at $400m and regional at $150m, said Dr. Wilson Mwanja, the commissioner of fisheries.
“We should be earning over $100m in exports if it was not for illicit fish trade,†he said.
The Government has, however, laid down interventions to overturn the industry’s fading fortunes.
Enforcing a new fish law, licensing of fishing boats and their owners and the rehabilitation of landing sites are some of the interventions geared at reviving the industry.
“This will upstage the 15,417 tonnes of fish exported in 2010, a drop from 2009’s 18,000 tonnes,†Mwanja said.
“Our forecast this year is that we will export 20,000 tonnes of fish and earn over $100m,†he added.