Abstract:

Catch effort data on which fisheries management regulations are sometimes based are not available for most lakes in Uganda. However, failure to regulate fishing gears and methods has been a major cause of collapse of fisheries in the country. Fisheries hiwe been damaged by destructive and non-selective fishing gears and methods such as trawling and beach seining, by use of gill nets of mesh size which crop immature fish and by introduction of mechanised fishing. Selectivity uf gears used to crop Lates niloticus L(Nile perch), Oreochromis niloticus L. (Nile tilapia) and Rastrineobola argentea Pellegrin (Mukene) which lire currently the most important commerc ial s pecies in Uganda were exam ined in order to recommend the most suitable types, sizes and methods that should be used in exploiting these fisheries. Gill nets of less than 127 mm mainly cropped immature Nile tilapia and Nile perch. To protect these fisheries, the minimum mesh size of gill nets should be set at 127 mm. Seine nets of 5 mm caught high proportions in immature Mukene while those of 10 mm caught mainly mature Mukene. When operated inshore, both sizes caught immature Nile perch and Nile tilapia as by-catch. To protect the Mukcne fishery and avoid catching immature bye-catch, a minimum mesh size of the Mukene net should be 10 mm operated as Lam para type net offshore, but since most fishermen have been using S mm seine nets for over five years the minimum size should not be allowed to drop below 5 mm pending further thorough investigations. Beach seining and trawling are destructive to fisheries and should be prohibited until data that may justify their use is available.