Illegal fishing gear worth 1bn destroyed on Lake Albert

Kagadi: The Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, destroyed illegal fishing gear valued at 1.4 billion shillings at the Kamina landing site in Ndaiga Sub County Kagadi District.

The commander in charge of the Fisheries Protection Unit for the Ntoroko and Kagadi sectors at Kamina detachment, Lt. Musa Shaban, said the illegal fishing gear was captured four months ago.

Lt. Musa said that the exercise was launched on Monday and called upon the fishing community to end the use of illegal fishing gear and start using legal gear in order to deplete fish in the lake.

‘’Today we are witnessing the destruction of fishing gear worth 1.4 billion shillings. This exercise was launched on Monday, and we are appealing to fishermen to switch to the use of legal fishing gear,’’ he said on Tuesday.

He also asked fishermen to be vigilant and report while fishing over theft from fishermen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The deputy resident commissioner for Kagadi District, Benjamin Tumusiime, said they burned illegal fishing gear to serve as a lesson to other fishermen who are using illegal gear.

Benjamin also revealed that they have 17 suspects on remand and others on police bond while others were convicted of illegal fishing.

‘’We have burned fishing gear worth 1.4 billion shillings, and this is a huge loss to the fishermen in Kagadi. We have carried out sensitization about illegal fishing gear, but some people have gone ahead to invest in this business instead of investigating their money in other ventures.’’

He stressed that the country is losing a lot of money due to illegal fishing.

Meanwhile, speaking to our reporter, some people involved in fishing activities decried the total loss made after destroying their illegal fishing gear.

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