MASAKA.
The Masaka District Council has started gazetting specific areas along the shores of Lake Nabugabo for promoting cage fish farming. The gazetted areas will be out bounds for fishermen.
The district council secretary for production, Hajj Jamil Miwanda, told Daily Monitor last Saturday that the department has already identified Birinzi and Nabugabo fishing grounds as some of the areas where general fishing activities would not be allowed.
Breeding areas
“These are fish breeding areas where we shall not allow other fishing activities to take place apart from cage fish farming, which has already started,” Hajj Miwanda said.
He added that the proposal was yet to be submitted to the district council for approval.
Hajj Miwanda said other areas on the lake shore within the district were yet to be identified for the same purpose to help reduce illegal fishing methods applied.
He said this was being done to encourage residents to invest more in cage fish farming so as to increase fish production in the district, which has tremendously declined in the past few years.
“It will help to increase the rate of fish breeding since the process will be taking place underneath the cages where illegal fishing activities don’t reach,” he said.
Former Masaka District Woman MP Freda Kase Mubanda is among the people who have already set up fish cages at Nabugabo in line with the district production department’s plan.
“Cage fish farming is much safer than practicing agriculture on the dry land which is affected by unpredictable weather changes,” Ms. Mubanda said.
She added “But cage fish farming is very expensive to a local farmer, government must come out to help locals access loans.”
The district Fisheries officer, Mr Gesa Fredrick, said a 2.5 meter cage costs up to sh7m and lasts ten years.
“It can breed over 10,000 fish which grows from six to eight months. A farmer can harvest between four and five tones,” Mr Gesa added.
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