Effectiveness of cage fish farming in reducing fishing pressure on natural fisheries resources :

Abstract

Uganda's capture fishery is declining. majorly due to over fishing by the increasing fishing efforts driven by the ever increasing demand for fish and fish products within local and international markets. This results in increased fish prices which again stimulates more involvement of people in fishing with resultant effects of overfishing and degradation of the country's water resources. Aquaculture has been suggested as an alternative to reduce pressure exerted on fishery resources. This study assesses the effectiveness of cage fish farming in reducing fishing pressure on natural fisheries resources of Uganda. Masese fishing village on Lake Victoria was purposely selected for the study because it harbors both wild fishing and cage farming activities which provided for a purposeful and useful comparative study. A comparative sampling procedure was used to randomly select 70 respondents. Primary data was collected using semi structured questionnaires, direct observations, interviews and use of key informants. Secondary data from text books, annual reports and internet was also used. Data collected was analyzed using EXCEL and SPSS packages. Results of the study showed that cage fish farming system is developing rapidly in Masese with over 450 cages owned by 65 fish farmers and the system has employed over 45 workers. A high level of activity change in the fisher community was observed with 23.18% of the cage farmers were formally fishermen on Lake Victoria. It was found that cage fish farming is more profitable than wild fishing at Masese. Profitability depending on the number of cages owned by a fish farmer, for example a cage farmer at Masese generated Uganda shillings 24,640,500 net profits than fisherman using a medium engine boat with 8 Horse power evaluated over a period of eight months. Cage fishing has reduced fishing pressure on Lake Victoria by influencing withdraw of fishermen from the lake in favor of cage fishing, creation of more employment opportunities mostly for the unemployed youth. It has acted as an alternative source of livelihood for fishermen and it has supplemented fish supply thereby narrowing the demand-supply gap that is the primary driver of overfishing. There is a high level of willingness among the fisher community to adopt cage farming which is a good indicator of the potential of cage fish farming to reduce fishing pressure on Lake Victoria. The study recommends strategic, targeted cage fish farming interventions by Government to increase fish production and decimate fishing pressure on the nature fish stocks.