- Fishing in Uganda
Lakes ,rivers , andswamps cover 44,000 square kilometers, about 20 percent of Uganda's land surface.Fishing is an important economic activity in Uganda.History
In all areas outside the central
Lake Kyoga region, fish production increased throughout the 1980s. The government supported several programs to augment fish production and processing. In 1987 a government-sponsored Integrated Fisheries Development Project established a boat construction and repair workshop atJinja ; a processing plant, several fish collecting centers, and fish marketing centers in several areas of Uganda. They also implemented the use of refrigerated insulated vehicles for transportingfish .China had managed the reconstruction of cold storage facilities inKampala in the early 1980s. Soon after that, the government established theSino-Uganda Fisheries Joint Venture Company to exploit fishing opportunities inLake Victoria . [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ugtoc.html Uganda country study] .Library of Congress Federal Research Division (December 1990). "This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain .]Uganda's
Freshwater Fisheries Research Organization monitored fishing conditions and the balance of flora and fauna in Uganda's lakes. In 1989 this organization warned against overfishing, especially in the Lake Kyoga region, where the combined result of improved security conditions and economic hardship was a 40- percent increase in commercial and domestic fishing activity. A second environmental concern in the fishing industry was the weed infestation that had arisen in lakes suffering from heavy pollution. In late 1989, officials were relatively unsuccessful in restricting the types and levels of pollutants introduced into the nation's numerous lakes.A few fishers used
explosives obtained from stone quarries to increase their catch, especially in the Victoria Nile region near Jinja. Using byproducts from beer manufacturing to lure fish into a feeding area, they detonated small packs of explosives that killed large numbers of fish and other aquatic life. Several people drowned in the frantic effort to collect dead fish that floated to the surface of the water. Environmental and health concerns led the government to outlaw this form of fishing, and local officials were seeking ways to ban the sale of fish caught in this manner. Both bans were difficult to enforce, however; fishing withdynamite continued in 1989 despite the widespread notoriety attached to this activity.ee also
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Economy of Uganda
*Agriculture in Uganda External links
* [http://www.agriculture.go.ug/index.php Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries]
* [http://www.lvfo.org/ Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization]
* [http://www.ufpea.co.ug/ Uganda Fish Processors and Exporters Association]
* [http://www.ufpea.co.ug/members.html Uganda Fish Processors and Exporters Association - List of member companies and links]References
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