Ending overfishing more than doubles catches of the Lake Edward system, East Africa
A first comprehensive fish stock assessment of the Lake Edward system shows that fish catches could be more than doubled under better management.
Erroneous statistics in “Minister wants fish to become Uganda’s leading export earner” published by the new vision on 12th November 2020
We are at a critical fisheries management state in Uganda since 2017 when the UPDF was deployed on Lake Victoria to enforce fisheries regulations. For this reason, fisheries issues are receiving more coverage in the media than before. If the coverage by the media is to benefit the sector, it is important that the information…
Fishes to sustain your protein nourishment needs during the Covid-19 lockdown
Covid-19 is a global menace. Limited movement is among the leading measures to fight its spread. As a result, most elements of human daily activities including food supply have been disrupted. To maintain food supply, people are stocking food supplies. Focus is on food materials that are less perishable with time such as beans, maize…
FAQ & misconceptions
This page will regularly address frequently asked questions as well as misconceptions pertaining the fish and fisheries of Uganda. Major questions and misconceptions include the following: Introduce the Nile perch into all water bodies Restock the Nile perch and Nile tilapia in Lake Victoria Why can’t scientists at NaFIRRI generate fish “varieties” like scientists in…
Crocodiles in lakes Edward and George: Where did they come from or did their fossils resurrect?
Since the year (2019) began, I have had an opportunity to have two field excursions on Lake Edward, obtaining samples of fish and characterizing the physical habitat and water conditions. As usual, this involves moving to predetermined sites, and with the help of a collection of tools such as gillnets, echosounders, GPS and others, we…
No longer at pilot stage: Cage aquaculture on the African Great Lakes is expanding
Cage aquaculture on African inland water bodies is necessary. Africans eat much less fish compared to people on other continents. FAO says that this is due to low fish supply i.e. less fish is produced on the continent to meet demand. Other reasons include safety of fish by foreign fleets, denying fish to local markets…
Is the Nile perch the next victim of the Chinese insatiable appetite for fish maw?
Since the 1980s when commercial exploitation of the Nile perch in Lake Victoria started, its fillets have been the premium product whose main market is in the European Union. Since 2017, the swim bladder of the Nile perch has emerged as a new product offering an unexpected resource to fishers, fish traders and fish processors.…
Elephants too, roamed Jinja and shared its golf course with hippos
In the Daily Monitor of 2019-08-21, Charles Onyango-Obbo narrates how hippos that once roamed Jinja have disappeared, thanks to the colonial efforts to transform Jinja into an industrial area and population growth. He finds this incomprehensible but more to that and even more captivating, elephants too roamed Jinja, at least until 1950s (see picture). These…
It is now a click to the National Biodiversity Data Bank for Uganda
The National Biodiversity Data Bank, Uganda launches an online data portal to increase access to biodiversity data and information
The Jinja fish festival and why Ugandans have to know more about fish and fisheries
On Sunday 2nd December 2018, a fish festival was held at a local resort near the source of the River Nile in Jinja. Many people attended the event on which the president. The president of Uganda was expected to preside over the event but was represented by the Minister for Water and Environment. Although the…
NaFIRRI poised for increased Biodiversity data generation and usage
Please note that the first version of this article appeared on NaFIRRI’s website. NaFIRRI is implementing a project with support from the European Union through the Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) to increase capacity for conservation through data mobilization and training. Under the project, research staff at the…
Freshwater Biodiversity & Fisheries Lab 