Abstract:

This report is a response to the concerns of the stakeholders about the importance and urgent need to protect FBAs as a way of promoting sustainable fisheries production and productivity. This report focuses only on the Uganda waters of Lake Victoria.
Protection of Fish Breeding Areas (FBAs) is a critical step in limiting harvesting of fish brood stock and immature ?sh. It ensures sustainable fish production and productivity by allowing wild fish to increase their stocks through natural biological recruitment. Fish need particular areas that are; sheltered from turbulent water currents, safe from predation, free from destructive fishing methods and other interference from human activities.
Currently, there is general agreement among fisheries stakeholders (fisheries researchers, managers and fisher folk) that there has been a dramatic decline in commercial fish stocks in all major water bodies of Uganda over the past few decades largely due to overfishing and fishing of broodstock and immature fish. Without adequate regulation, fishers will continue harvesting spawning brood stock, immature fish and destroying juvenile fish and fish eggs in fish breeding areas.
Protection of FBAs is a step by step process and a spectrum of activities including identification, validation, mapping, gazetting, marking, continuous community sensitization, community buy in, massive awareness creation, integration and involvement of other Ministries, Departments Agencies, the civil society organizations, monitoring, surveillance and enforcement amongst many other activities. A legal instrument needs to be put in place to provide deterrent measures to protect fish in breeding and nursery areas against destructive fishing gears and methods.