Fish exporters thrive at local fishermen’s expense
Jan 27, 2006
RESEARCHERS have attributed the increasingly hard conditions hitting local fishermen to the growing commercial fishing.
By Gerald Tenywa
RESEARCHERS have attributed the increasingly hard conditions hitting local fishermen to the growing commercial fishing.
“Fishermen face the dreadful prospect of remaining poor because the wealth being fished out of the lake hardly trickles back to them,†says Ronald Naluwairo of Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE), an NGO.
ACODE’s report, Promoting Common Property Rights in Fisheries: A Review of the National Fisheries Policy and the Proposed Fisheries Legislation observes that the fishing communities represent the most marginalised and poorest group.â€
However, Dick Nyeko, the commissioner for fisheries under the agriculture ministry, differs from the ACODE report, saying the researchers are behaving like “prophets of doomâ€.
“If you go to the landing sites, you will find the fish that used to go for sh500 being sold at sh2,500 per kilogramme,†he says.
He adds that there is competition among fishing companies, which leads to auctioning, thus fetching better prices.
At Gaba landing site, the source of most fish eaten in Kampala, fishermen say prices have increased but the profit margins are small.
“We are left with little fish because most of it is taken by the factories,†says Ssalongo Matovu Ssempa, a fish auctioneer in Gaba.
He says the high demand for fish, especially Nile Perch, is driving some fishermen to harvest immature ones called fingerings. They are processed by factories and exported.
As a result of the relentless pressure on the lake, some fish species are disappearing. Even the Nile Perch is threatened, says Matovu.
According to the fishermen, the species of fish that are less encountered include Male, Ssemutundu and Kasulu.
“However, committees (Beach Management) of fishermen formed at Gaba and other landing sites are assisting in controlling the catching of immature fish,†he says.
Nyeko says the Government earned about sh250b from fisheries last year. The sector also employs more than one million people.
Figures released by the Fisheries Department show that 35% of the proceeds go to the fishermen. Ugandan businessmen who transport the fish get 40% and fish exporters earn about 25%, says Nyeko.
“Fishermen need to be organised so they can save and invest their money,†he says.
According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), local fishermen cannot afford to eat fish as most of it is chilled and ferried to the factory for export.
Their diet is reduced to fish skeletons, which come from the factories after the flesh (fillet) has been removed. The children suffer from nutritional problems like kwashiorkor, caused by protein deficiency.
They also no longer have the protein-rich fish known as mukene, for it is increasingly becoming a raw material for chicken feed.
“Even after the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned about the negative impact of the fish export industry on food security and employment, the Government has not acted in any way to address these concerns,†says the IUCN report.
The rising food insecurity is perhaps the largest cost of fish export and fishmeal manufacturing enterprises on the fisheries of Lake Victoria, says the report.
Interestingly, the initial years of Nile Perch fishery flopped because the local communities disliked it, leading to low consumption, says Nyeko.
However, as domestic and external markets for Nile Perch expanded and the demand for tilapia and mukene grew in the hotel and animal feeds industries, less fish remained for the local community and whatever was available became unaffordable.
Two decades of these developments have led to food insecurity. Fish consumption in the three countries sharing Lake Victoria is decreasing since most of the harvested fish either goes to the export markets or is used in the manufacture of animal feeds, according to IUCN’s report.
Nyeko concedes that about 70% of mukene is used as a raw material in the animal feeds, but there is still a lot of it in the lake.
He says a plastic cup-ful of the fish goes for about sh100, which is affordable.
Another issue of concern is the employment situation, which changed substantially as large-scale processing fishmeal industries and trading agents edged out women who dominated the processing and marketing sectors.
However, some of the benefits coming from commercialisation of the lake include foreign exchange earnings, more income to fish factory owners, tax income to the Government and creation of employment opportunities, says the IUCN report.
In spite of this, fishermen are probably worse off than they were before these developments because of the fall in catch rates, says the report.
“This could also be undermining efforts to protect Lake Victoria as many fishermen employ what are arguably the most destructive fishing practices to catch as much as they can to earn a living,†says Naluwairo.
ACODE’s report echoes concerns of the IUCN, which undertook socio-economic studies around the lake five years ago and raised concerns over the “lack of equitable sharing of benefitsâ€.
Nyeko says lobby groups working for European countries probably motivate the research, which portrays the commercialisation of the Nile Perch as an evil. This is because the countries are being edged out of the market.
However, Nyeko agrees with the researchers that there is need to engage communities in managing the lake, saying this is the Government’s new thinking.
“Government officials advised us to form groups to check illegalities and access loans to improve our welfare,†says Ronald Mukasa, a fisherman at Gaba.
Why is this so?
The management of the fisheries of the lake has relied on command-and-control rather than economic incentives, says Naluwairo.
“Command-and-control instruments involve a regulatory agency (the Government), which determines the efficient level for specified fisheries and enforces rules to ensure this level. In contrast, economic instruments rely on incentives rather than coercion to ensure resource use outcomes,†he says.
He recommends the creation of Beach Management Units that are provided for under the new policy and legal framework to empower fishing communities.
“The units are expected to contribute greatly to the welfare and livelihood of people in fish-dependent communities through improved planning and resource management, good governance, democratic participation and self-reliance,†says Naluwairo.
RESEARCHERS have attributed the increasingly hard conditions hitting local fishermen to the growing commercial fishing.
“Fishermen face the dreadful prospect of remaining poor because the wealth being fished out of the lake hardly trickles back to them,†says Ronald Naluwairo of Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE), an NGO.
ACODE’s report, Promoting Common Property Rights in Fisheries: A Review of the National Fisheries Policy and the Proposed Fisheries Legislation observes that the fishing communities represent the most marginalised and poorest group.â€
However, Dick Nyeko, the commissioner for fisheries under the agriculture ministry, differs from the ACODE report, saying the researchers are behaving like “prophets of doomâ€.
“If you go to the landing sites, you will find the fish that used to go for sh500 being sold at sh2,500 per kilogramme,†he says.
He adds that there is competition among fishing companies, which leads to auctioning, thus fetching better prices.
At Gaba landing site, the source of most fish eaten in Kampala, fishermen say prices have increased but the profit margins are small.
“We are left with little fish because most of it is taken by the factories,†says Ssalongo Matovu Ssempa, a fish auctioneer in Gaba.
He says the high demand for fish, especially Nile Perch, is driving some fishermen to harvest immature ones called fingerings. They are processed by factories and exported.
As a result of the relentless pressure on the lake, some fish species are disappearing. Even the Nile Perch is threatened, says Matovu.
According to the fishermen, the species of fish that are less encountered include Male, Ssemutundu and Kasulu.
“However, committees (Beach Management) of fishermen formed at Gaba and other landing sites are assisting in controlling the catching of immature fish,†he says.
Nyeko says the Government earned about sh250b from fisheries last year. The sector also employs more than one million people.
Figures released by the Fisheries Department show that 35% of the proceeds go to the fishermen. Ugandan businessmen who transport the fish get 40% and fish exporters earn about 25%, says Nyeko.
“Fishermen need to be organised so they can save and invest their money,†he says.
According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), local fishermen cannot afford to eat fish as most of it is chilled and ferried to the factory for export.
Their diet is reduced to fish skeletons, which come from the factories after the flesh (fillet) has been removed. The children suffer from nutritional problems like kwashiorkor, caused by protein deficiency.
They also no longer have the protein-rich fish known as mukene, for it is increasingly becoming a raw material for chicken feed.
“Even after the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned about the negative impact of the fish export industry on food security and employment, the Government has not acted in any way to address these concerns,†says the IUCN report.
The rising food insecurity is perhaps the largest cost of fish export and fishmeal manufacturing enterprises on the fisheries of Lake Victoria, says the report.
Interestingly, the initial years of Nile Perch fishery flopped because the local communities disliked it, leading to low consumption, says Nyeko.
However, as domestic and external markets for Nile Perch expanded and the demand for tilapia and mukene grew in the hotel and animal feeds industries, less fish remained for the local community and whatever was available became unaffordable.
Two decades of these developments have led to food insecurity. Fish consumption in the three countries sharing Lake Victoria is decreasing since most of the harvested fish either goes to the export markets or is used in the manufacture of animal feeds, according to IUCN’s report.
Nyeko concedes that about 70% of mukene is used as a raw material in the animal feeds, but there is still a lot of it in the lake.
He says a plastic cup-ful of the fish goes for about sh100, which is affordable.
Another issue of concern is the employment situation, which changed substantially as large-scale processing fishmeal industries and trading agents edged out women who dominated the processing and marketing sectors.
However, some of the benefits coming from commercialisation of the lake include foreign exchange earnings, more income to fish factory owners, tax income to the Government and creation of employment opportunities, says the IUCN report.
In spite of this, fishermen are probably worse off than they were before these developments because of the fall in catch rates, says the report.
“This could also be undermining efforts to protect Lake Victoria as many fishermen employ what are arguably the most destructive fishing practices to catch as much as they can to earn a living,†says Naluwairo.
ACODE’s report echoes concerns of the IUCN, which undertook socio-economic studies around the lake five years ago and raised concerns over the “lack of equitable sharing of benefitsâ€.
Nyeko says lobby groups working for European countries probably motivate the research, which portrays the commercialisation of the Nile Perch as an evil. This is because the countries are being edged out of the market.
However, Nyeko agrees with the researchers that there is need to engage communities in managing the lake, saying this is the Government’s new thinking.
“Government officials advised us to form groups to check illegalities and access loans to improve our welfare,†says Ronald Mukasa, a fisherman at Gaba.
Why is this so?
The management of the fisheries of the lake has relied on command-and-control rather than economic incentives, says Naluwairo.
“Command-and-control instruments involve a regulatory agency (the Government), which determines the efficient level for specified fisheries and enforces rules to ensure this level. In contrast, economic instruments rely on incentives rather than coercion to ensure resource use outcomes,†he says.
He recommends the creation of Beach Management Units that are provided for under the new policy and legal framework to empower fishing communities.
“The units are expected to contribute greatly to the welfare and livelihood of people in fish-dependent communities through improved planning and resource management, good governance, democratic participation and self-reliance,†says Naluwairo.