"While the government of Uganda and a few foreign companies profit from fish exports, the livelihood of local fisherpeople continues to deteriorate"

Lake Victoria's fisherwomen call for the creation of a world fund to improve the lives of fisherpeople that are being negatively affected by globalisation.

Interview with : Mrs. Margaret Nakato Lubyayi Chairperson Katosi Women Fishing & Development Association (KWFDA)

Mrs . Nakato, can you tell us about the current situation of the fisheries sector in Uganda and the activities of your association in this matter?

In Uganda, fishing take place in lakes, mostly in Lake Victoria but also in other smaller lakes. The fish that we normally catch today are Tilapias and Nile Perch, other species now being depleted.

The main aim of the Katosi Women Fishing and Development Association is to help women's access to sustainable income generating activities. Our association was created in 1996 to respond to a big unemployment crisis suffered by women who were involved in the processing of fish. Women living in communities located on the shores of Lake Victoria had been smoking fish for decades. Smoked fish was sold locally and exported to Zaire and Kenya providing a stable source of income for poor families. But the problem started when the World Trade Organisation IWTOI forced our government to open its economy. Then Uganda started exporting fresh fish. The negative effects on the communities were immediate. In a short period of time the whole production of fish was being exported and there wasn't any fish left for women to smoke or to eat. The business was completely destroyed. Though it was generally argued that the smoking of fish was environmentally harmful due to the large amounts of wood fuel needed, this was the way women earned their living. Other alternative methods to smoke fish could have been explored, like the use of other fuels like coffee husks. In the year 1998, exports in Lake Victoria became such a profitable business that it was invaded by a large number of fishermen from other parts of the country, including unscrupulous people who poisoned the Lake to k i l l the fish. The situation led to an almost total depletion of fish stocks. The European Union imposed a ban on imports of fish from the Lake and the government had to stop all fishing to root out the unscrupulous fishermen. This ban had catastrophic effects on the living conditions of the shore communities.

Historically, every family in the region had a "Kiln" (structure with layers where fish is smoked over fire]. Now nobody uses them anymore. Women were left unemployed as soon as unprocessed fresh fish started being exported. We were left with no other source of income. Our association has helped women to convert to other activities like agriculture or others, and has created a development fund to foster new sources of income.

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You seem to relate the decrease in the living standards of local fisherpeople to the opening of the Ugandan economy to the foreign trade markets. Can you precise the nature of this relation?

Today, there is practically no more fish smoking activity in Uganda. When fresh fish comes out of the Lake, trucks are waiting to transport it to the processing companies in Kampala. These companies filet the fish and send it to Europe and other countries. Only lower quality fish and the heads of the fish are left for sale in Uganda. The exporting of our fish has meant that fishing communities can no longer afford to eat it. The prices have increased so dramatically that fish is now as expensive as meat. For the groups of women that lived from smoking fish the situation is even worse. The added value of smoking the fish would make its price even higher so no one would be able to buy it. While the operating costs for fisherpeople have increased [nets and fuel are more expensive than before] fish prices have been fluctuating. It does sound very good to hear that Uganda is now exporting its fish, but the reality is that local communities are not benefiting from these exports. There is a lot of competition, higher rates of unemployment and a dramatic loss in the sources of income for the poor fishing people. While the government and a few foreign companies make a lot of money from these exports, the livelihood of local fisherpeople continues to deteriorate. There might be a boom in Uganda's export industry but we are still in need of decent roads. We can't help but wonder what is going to happen next if the Lake Victoria's fisheries are depleted by the export markets?

The liberalisation of the economy has attracted many big private companies from East Asia and Europe. Our government wants to convince us that foreign investment is good for our country because it employs people, promotes exports, and generates public income through taxes. But the reality shows that this is not improving the lives of the poorer people. Furthermore, in my country many programmes are funded by the World Bank. Uganda has increased its debt with the Bank by contracting loans that are supposed to improve the environment and the lives of the local communities. But we have not seen any improvements, especially because the communities have never been consulted on how and where the money should be spent.

To give you an example, a big loan was intended to improve the environment and the living conditions of fisherpeople around Lake Victoria, but the money was used to construct a structure to support the landing sites for the export industry instead. In fact, the investment was only done to comply with the standards of quality for imported fish determined by the European Union. Our fisherpeople did not need this. It was undoubtedly a useful thing to build it, but certainly not a priority and, in any case, the price to access this facility is so high that not many fisherpeople use it.

This interview was conducted by Eugene Zapata-Garesche (Almedio Consultores) during the General Assembly of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers, held at Lisbon, Portugal, May 25th 2004.