On the present fishery of Lake Wamala

A relatively small (180 km) and shallow (4.3 metres maximumdepth in 1974) Lake Wamala, in central Uganda, was in 1956stocked with the tilapiine species mainly Oreochromis niloticus (Tilapia nilotica), O. leucostictus (T. leucosticta) and Tilapia zillii (Okaronon 1987). The Lake provided a successful and profitable commercial fishing after it was opened to commercial fishing in 1960. During the 1960s and early 1970s the annual landed catches were estimated at 5000 metric tons on average; over 50% of the landed catch was composed of O. niloticus. A maximum of 250 canoes were licensed to operate on thi lake annually and each canoe was permitted to use a maximum of 10 gillnets of not less than 127mm mesh. Most of the fish was sold fresh to local communities and also to distant markets including Kampala.Following increasing number of canoes during the late 1960sand increased use of small mesh-sized (illegal) gillnets - and other illegal fishing practices - the annual fish production from the lake declined by about 93% from 7100 tons in 1967 to 500 tons in 1982 (Okaronon, op. cit). The average weight of the landed individual fish of O. niloticus - the predominant commercial fish species - also declined by about 57% from 716g in 1969 to 305g by 1976. During the period 1981/86 the area surrounding the lake was subjected to a guerrilla war and period of drought, resulting in a virtual halt of fishing activity and reduction in the size of the lake, respectively. These, too, inevitably led to stunting in the fishery and, consequently, to almost no commercial fish production.In 1988, following the end of the guerrilla war, scientificsurveys of the lake's fisheries resources were resumed. Thesurveys aimed at assessing the status of the lake's fisheryfollowing the 1981/86 period of no fishing activity and prolonged dry season. The specific objectives included the determination of (a) catch composition, (b) the size structure of the harvestable fish stocks based on length frequency distribution, and (c) an estimate of abundance of exploited fish stocks based on catch per unit of effort. This paper, therefore, presents some of the results of the surveys during the period 1988-1991.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Okaronon, J.O., Akumu, J.
Format:	monograph biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Uganda Freshwater Fisheries Research Organization 1992
Subjects:	Fisheries,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/1834/35609
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