“The fishermen should be targeted to enable them educate their children and get alternative means of survival. The decline in fish stocks is partly the result of lack of alternative livelihoods for the fishermen,” Museveni said.
“They are on the margins of life and resort to over-exploiting the fish to earn a living.” Despite available information on the sector, said the President, the Government has not addressed issues like market failure, environmental degradation and exposure to malaria and other diseases, wrote Esther Mukyala in NewVision.
according to the online news organisation, this was detailed in a speech read by the third deputy Prime Minister, Kirunda Kivejinja, at the launch of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO) headquarters in Jinja on Friday.
The three-storied complex was funded by the European Union (EU) at euro 1m. The EU also gave the lake enforcement department four new patrol boats worth euro 1.2m.
He called for political will and commitment regionally, to help the fishing communities. “Increased demand, coupled with declining fish catches lead to high food prices, which can threaten food security. There is need to consider aquaculture as a new prospect to increase production,” he said.
Museveni Clarifies Low Fish Catch
UGANDA - President Yoweri Museveni has said increased pollution of Lake Victoria and the declining stocks of the Nile Perch are a result of poverty.
