Promotion of fish farming for poverty alleviation and protein food supplies: a presentation to SPEED

Annual fish harvested from production systems (lakes and rivers) in Uganda is about 300,000 mt. Fish production from aquaculture contributes about 0.02% (i.e. less than 100mt) of total fish production. Fish is currently one of the two most important agricultural export commodities from Uganda with factory-processed fish (mostly Nile perch) exported mainly to Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East worth at least USD 100 m annually. Regional fish exports to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Sudan, DR Congo and some parts of Central Africa are also important contributing about USD 20m annually. All recorded fish exports rely heavily (95%) on factory-processed Nile perch with the Nile tilapia increasingly entering the export market chain. Regional fish exports are more diversified in terms of species and include Nile tilapia, Nile perch, "mukene", Tiger fish and "Angara", the last two fished from Lake Albert

Commercialisation of aquaculture initiative: a concept note for the Director General, NARO

Fish is currently one of the two most important agricultural export commodities from Uganda with factory-processed fish exported mainly to Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East worth at least USD 100 m annually. Regional exports are probably of similar significance. All recorded fish exports rely heavily (95%) on factory-processed Nile perch with the Nile tilapia increasingly entering the export market chain. Regional fish exports are more diversified in terms of species and include Nile tilapia, Nile perch, "mukene", Tiger fish and "Angara", the last two fished from Lake Albert. Regional fish destinations include Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Sudan, DR Congo and some parts of Central Africa. Internal consumption relies on subsistence to semi-commercial fishes for a variety and species dominated by Nile tilapi

Basic principles of fisheries management

FIRRI is mandated to undertake, promote and streamline fisheries research in Uganda and ensure dissemination and application of research result

Use, Production and Existence of Local Artemia Resources in Uganda and Africa: A Review

The research was funded by National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) of Uganda. AbstractThis study was aimed at reporting the existing Artemia habitats, its use and production in Uganda and Africa as a continent. In light of the great importance of Artemia as a starter feed in the aquaculture industry, its current shortage in supply, the need for commercial exploitation of local Artemia resources and development of new Artemia resources. Over 50 peer reviewed journal articles were reviewed to provide an understanding of the current status of Artemia use, production and existence of local existing Artemia resources in Uganda and Africa as continent. The study revealed neither local occurring Artemia resources nor commercial Artemia production is currently existent in Uganda, with its use mainly restricted to a few existing commercial hatcheries. Generally Artemia use in Africa is mainly restricted to the few commercial fish hatcheries. Literatures points to North African countries boarding the Mediterranean to be leading in the number of Artemia sites and production in Africa. Keywords: Artemia habitats, Hypersaline lakes, Aquaculture DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/9-18-04 Publication date:September 30th 2019

The status of fish stocks in Lake Victoria: a research prospective and way forward

The status of fish stocks in a water body at any one time is a function of several factors affecting the quantity of fish in that water body. These include: a) Total number (abundance) and biomass (weight) present, b) Growth (size and age), c) Recruitment (the quantity offish entering the fishery) including reproduction, d) Mortality which is caused by fishing or natural causes. Other indirect factors of major importance to the status of the stocks include production factors (water quality and availability of natural food for fish), the life history parameters of the different species making up the stocks (e.g. sex ratios, condition of the fish, reproductive potential (i.e. fecundity) etc). Changes in fish stocks do occur when any of the above listed factors directly influence aspects of growth, reproduction and mortality and therefore, numbers and standing stock (biomass)

Hatchability of Selected Commercial Artemia Strains Using Waters from Selected Saline Crater Lakes of Western Uganda

The research was funded by National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) of Uganda. Abstract Hatchability of Artemia strains; Artemia franciscana from Great Salt Lake (GSL), A. franciscana from salt ponds in Vin Chao (VC), Chinese strain (Chinese), TUZ Parthenogetic Artemia from Kazakhstan (TUZ) and Parthenogenetic Artemia strain from Siberia (PAS) was examined using waters from lakes Katwe, Mururmuri, Bunyampaka, Bagusa and Maseche. The study purpose was to identify the best performing Artemia strain as well as the best suited saline crater lakes in Western Uganda for Artemia production based on hatchability. Artemia cysts were hatched under conditions described by Van Stappen (1996) in fabricated Artemia hatching cones at a salinity of 40ppm, temperature of 27±2°C, and light of 2000lux.  Hatchability was monitored after 24hour and 48hour of incubation. Artemia franciscana (VC) had significantly higher hatching percentage than all tested strains (P-value <0.05).  Lakes Katwe, Bunyampaka and Maseche waters presented the highest hatching percentages therefore are best suited for Artemia production. Keywords: Artemia, Hatching percentage, saline crater lakes DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/9-18-05 Publication date:September 30th 2019

Як уникнути підйому рівня води?

East Africa’s Lake Victoria provides resources and services to millions of people on the lake’s shores and abroad. In particular, the lake’s fisheries are an important source of protein, employment, and international economic connections for the whole region. Nonetheless, stock dynamics are poorly understood and currently unpredictable. Furthermore, fishery dynamics are intricately connected to other supporting services of the lake as well as to lakeshore societies and economies. Much research has been carried out piecemeal on different aspects of Lake Victoria’s system; e.g., societies, biodiversity, fisheries, and eutrophication. However, to disentangle drivers and dynamics of change in this complex system, we need to put these pieces together and analyze the system as a whole. We did so by first building a qualitative model of the lake’s social-ecological system. We then investigated the model system through a qualitative loop analysis, and finally examined effects of changes on the system state and structure. The model and its contextual analysis allowed us to investigate system-wide chain reactions resulting from disturbances. Importantly, we built a tool that can be used to analyze the cascading effects of management options and establish the requirements for their success. We found that high connectedness of the system at the exploitation level, through fisheries having multiple target stocks, can increase the stocks’ vulnerability to exploitation but reduce society’s vulnerability to variability in individual stocks. We describe how there are multiple pathways to any change in the system, which makes it difficult to identify the root cause of changes but also broadens the management toolkit. Also, we illustrate how nutrient enrichment is not a self-regulating process, and that explicit management is necessary to halt or reverse eutrophication. This model is simple and usable to assess system-wide effects of management policies, and can serve as a paving stone for future quantitative analyses of system dynamics at local scales