Fishermen on Lake Victoria to pay fee

Fishermen on Lake Victoria will soon start paying fees to be allowed to ply their trade on the water body.

This is one of the ways that a joint fisheries ministers meeting between the three countries using the lake came up with as a source of funding.

It is among a raft of measures aimed at raising money to run affairs of the sector. 

Must legislate

“All countries must ensure that the landing site user fee is legislated as a funding mechanism for Beach Management Unit,” read part of the statement signed on Friday.

Those who signed it were Uganda’s Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Ms Hope Mwesigye, Kenya’s Fisheries minister Dr Paul Otuoma and Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Uganda Mr Rajabu Gamaha. 

The statement came as the European Union, which has been supporting most of beach management and infrastructure development, said that it would be pulling out in August this year. 

It has been up to date financed activities of the unit to the tune Sh3 billion in phases to fight illegal fishing, construction of office blocks, research and vessels among other activities. 

Among the options the three ministers discussed, was the possibility of increasing states’ contributions to the regional fisheries kitty managed by the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation whose headquarters is in Uganda. 

Currently, every country provides an equivalent of between Sh9 ($120,000) million and Sh24 million ($320,000). 

The council of ministers is also looking at the possibility of setting up a fish levy trust to help in the implementation of programmes.

Mr Otuoma said that the three East African countries sharing the lake needed to reflect and redefine strategies of fisheries management. 

“We have had various projects funded by donors but we now need to redefine our strategies and also ensure that our core activities are funded through our national budgets,” he said in a speech. 

Mr Otuoma said running of the water body can no longer be done by every state individually but jointly. 

Among the challenges faced include the deteriorating water quality, over-fishing and use of illegal harvesting methods.