During 1991 the Socio-Economic (SEC) working group of the FAO/UNDP FISHIN' Project UGA/87/007 conducted a community survey of the Uganda portion of Lake Victoria (maps, Figures 1 and 2). Limited pilot survey work was also carried out at selected communities on the shores of Lake Albert (maps, Figures 1 and 3). The pilot exercise tested the suitability of the approach used on Lake Victoria for the somewhat different context of Lake Albert, and generally served to set the stage for further intensive work there.
This document concentrates primarily on a review of basic features of Lake Victoria fishing community life, and in doing so demonstrates ways in which the survey data base can be used for more thorough analytical work in the future. But a later section does provide a brief sketch of the Lake Albert situation and offers suggestions as to how further investigations might be organised.
It should also be noted that the SEC team originally had planned to extend survey coverage to the fisheries of Lakes George and Edward in the Kichwamba Region (map, Figure 1). It was learned however that a comprehensive fishing community survey had just been completed for this region in 1989 by the EEC Conservation of Natural Resources Project, the results of which were available to the FISHIN' Project team (Enfield 1989). In view of this and because of the vast area to be covered, it was decided to give main priority for use of the limited Project resources in time, personnel, and funds available to completing the Lake Victoria exercise.
Field investigations covered all the fisheries regions of the Uganda sector of Lake Victoria, and extended over a three month period from March to May 1991. The main aim of the survey was to create an information base which could serve as a foundation for development planning and management of the Lake Victoria fisheries. It was further intended that this should serve as a model for subsequent time-to-time surveys to enable the Uganda Fisheries Department (UFD) to update its national baseline information bank.
An account of the organisation and conduct of the survey has been provided in a previous SEC Report (Kitakule and Reynolds 1991a). Briefly to recapitulate, three questionnaires (SECSURV1, SECSURV2, and SECSURV3) were devised to elicit information at the community, household, and individual enterprise levels respectively. General topics for investigation were established as follows:
Overall characteristics of fishing settlements including their relative sizes, growth patterns, development problems, and associated services/amenities.
The presence and significance of such institutions as fishing committees, co-operative societies, and the post of Gabunga (Head Fisher).
Participation in income-generating activities by women.
Major health problems perceived by local residents.
Personal background characteristics of household members including their participation in fishing as owners of boats and gear, or as labourers.
Involvement in other subsistence and commercial activities.
Mobility of community residents, including reasons for migration, timing, and destinations involved.
Qualitative and quantitative information on fishing-related enterprises, and their cost/earning performances.
A preliminary assessment of material collected through the community-level interviews has already been given in an earlier paper (Kitakule and Reynolds 1991b).
Sample selection was based on a stratified approach which ensured full geographical representation of the lakeshore and islands. The five fisheries regions of Lake Victoria -- Entebbe, Jinja, Tororo, Masaka and Kalangala -- were divided into a total of 50 strata defined on the basis of earlier frame survey (FS) results during the elaboration of the FISHIN' Project's Catch Assessment Survey (CAS) scheme (Malvestuto 1990; Tumwebaze and Coenen 1991). In the SEC exercise one community from each stratum was selected for inclusion in the first stage sample. Communities were selected randomly in proportion to the size of the landing associated with them, taking number of active canoes as reported from the FS as an index of landing size. Five households from each community were randomly selected for the second stage sample, and there was complete enumeration of all individual fishing-related enterprises for the third stage of the exercise. It was anticipated that weighting factors would be applied to the case data collected for the final tabulation of survey results.
Case data were assigned weight values in relation to the selection probabilities used at each stage of the sampling. This provided a means of estimating socio-economic parameters for the whole of the Ugandan sector of the Lake. Since the chance for any one community to be selected for first stage sampling was a function of its size in relation to all other communities within a given stratum, that community becomes representative of its stratum according to the inverse of its probability of selection, or:
Wgtcc = 1/ρ
Where:
Wgt = the first stage weighting factor;
cc = the sample case community; and
ρ = the community's selection probability.
The procedure was extended for the second and third stage case data according to the following formulae:
Wgthh = 1/ρ × N/n
and
Wgthh = Wgtind
Where:
Wgt = the second/third stage weighting factor;
hh = the case households;
ρ = the community's selection probability;
N = total number of households in the sample community;
n = the total households sampled in the community; and
ind = household individuals or individual fishing-related enterprises.
The weighting factors computed in this manner for the first and the second and third stages of sampling within each of the 50 strata are shown in Table 1. The strategy through which the sample communities were assigned their original probabilities of selection is more fully described in the earlier report (Kitakule and Reynolds 1991a).
All survey data were coded and captured casewise onto dBASEIII PLUS files. These were then converted into SPSS/PC+™ system files for processing and preliminary analysis. SPSS/PC+™V3.0 was used for this purpose. Two sets of observations should be made in connection with the evaluation of findings.
First of all, it is important to bear in mind that the results presented in the various tables of Appendix 1 and depicted graphically in the figures shown in Appendix 2 reflect the distribution of characteristics based on case weightings. They are estimated distributions as distinct from those that would come from a direct count or census of features, or from the raw sample cases themselves. In principle the weighted frequencies should represent, as appropriate, all fishing communities and all individual households, residents, and fishing-related enterprises to be found within the Ugandan sector of Lake Victoria. In practice however it must be remembered that the estimated figures (n communities display this, n households that, etc.) are subject to sampling errors simply because they are derived from calculations of partial information -- measures of some but not all the units in the universe being surveyed.
Where estimates are derived for characteristics that have already been totally enumerated some difference can be expected except, in theory, for those characteristics whose estimators (weights) are based on proportions determined from the real count. Thus a certain degree of discrepancy should be anticipated between the SEC community survey and the FS findings for such items as numbers of landings, gear, crew, etc., because it was the figures derived from the count of active boats (taken as a proxy for size of community), not the counts of these other items, which formed the basis of the estimators used in the computation of SEC survey findings.
In the event however discrepancies even arise in connection with the number-of-boats variable. This circumstance can be attributed to non-sampling errors which can affect sample surveys and total enumeration (census) exercises alike. They may occur, for example, when there is confusion about definitions of terms (‘dugout canoe’ versus ‘planked canoe’, for instance, or ‘boatowner’ versus ‘crew’), or where enumerators skip interviews or observations, or where respondents fail to answer questions or give misleading or wrong information. Careful enumerator training and field supervision provide some measure of control over non-sampling errors, but they are bound to occur to a certain extent. For the FS some incidence of omission and underenumeration was thought likely owing to various operational constraints (Tumwebaze and Coenen 1991). For the SEC survey similar problems arose, but again every attempt was made to guard against them.
All in all, it seems advisable to interpret the survey findings presented here in a broadly indicative way. Although reference is sometimes made to specific numbers or raw frequencies in estimating various characteristics for the universe of Lake Victoria-Uganda fishing communities and their populations, these should certainly not be taken as strict or ‘guaranteed’ counts. Thus it is usually the percentage or relative distributions that are remarked upon in this overview of the findings.
A second point bearing on SEC community survey finding evaluation is that the data reviewed here constitute only a small fraction of the entire set available. This may be confirmed through reference to Appendix 3, which provides a complete list of the variables and values that are contained in the data set, as encoded in various computer files kept at the UFD Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems Unit in Entebbe. The point was alluded to above that the present document does not pretend to be an exhaustive account. Its scope is necessarily limited by constraints of time and availability of SEC group personnel. An important purpose is served, however, if an appreciation for the potential applications of the survey data set can be conveyed.
The fishing communities in the five regions of Lake Victoria-Uganda can be boldly divided into two categories -- namely, those that are dispersed around the general area of a landing and those that are more tightly clustered as nucleated settlements at or near a landing.
Dispersed fishing communities are associated with sites which are used only for the purposes of landing catches and beaching canoes. There is no settlement in the sense of houses, shops, permanent shelters, and so on. The sites are usually deserted by midday after the catch has been sold and the nets dried. Activities resume mid-to-late afternoon when the fishers launch their boats and go out to check or re-set their nets. Such types of landings make up less than 20% of the total landing sites on the Lake (Table 2).
It is thus the nucleated settlement at or very near a landing site that is by far the most common type of fishing community. Whether dispersed or nucleated, settlements can either be ‘temporary’ or ‘permanent’ affairs. As their labels suggest, the former tend to be short-term or transitory whilst the latter are of a more established or fixed character. The difference is reflected in the kind of building materials that residents have used to construct their shelters, shops, and kiosks. Structures fashioned out of such materials as grass, reeds, or polythene sheeting laid out over frameworks of sticks and poles tend to predominate in the temporary ‘camp’ settlements. Fixed settlements are mostly comprised of structures of more solid and durable construction, with walls usually of mud-and-wattle and roofs of heavy thatch or corrogated iron sheeting.
The survey indicated that fully two thirds of the Lake Victoria fishing communities are situated on private land (Table 3). The remainder are found on Government land, including Forest Reserve areas in some cases. Some are also to be found on what is known as mailo land, or former ‘crown’ land of the traditional Buganda kingdom. Such land now has the status of freehold property in the sense that individual titles to it can be bought and sold.
It is clear from field observations that many fisherfolk settlements have been formed through spontaneous encroachment on either private or public land. There is in consequence a widespread lack of security of tenure for community residents. This obviously has a bearing on the degree to which people commit themselves and their families to a locality through investments in housing and service improvements. It is certainly one of the major reasons why so many dwellings and other structures found in these communities are of a simple or temporary nature.
The frequencies of numbers of houses comprising fishing community settlements are shown in Table 4. It can be seen that their numbers range from only a few to as many as 500. Populations of individual settlements may range in size from several individuals to as many as 4500 or more (Table 5).
Survey findings depict a pattern of substantial growth in Lake Victoria fishing communities within recent years. As indicated in Table 6 and Figure 4, growth in terms of economic activity, population size, and number of structures and services present is estimated for two-thirds of the lakeshore communities. Strong growth has occurred in settlements that are adjacent to good fishing grounds. Of those communities reported to have become larger over the five years prior to the survey, ‘high fish catches’ were cited as the reason for this development in almost 80% of the cases (Table 6), which translates to a 54% mention rate in relation to the other reasons cited for growth (Figure 4). News of good fishing in any locality soon attracts newcomers to the industry as well as operators from other areas. Such news is passed between fishers and traders in market places. Furthermore, it is easy for any alert observer to be aware of the best production areas during any given season from the volumes of fresh and processed fish passing through major beach marketing centres like Kasenyi, Katosi, Kiyindi, or Bukakata. One simply has to monitor which transport boats are consistently delivering heavy loads of fish, and know where these boats are coming from.
Another commonly cited reason for community growth was the existence of ‘good discipline’, a gloss for the perception that the incidence of gear and other property theft is relatively low and that there is an effective system of local leadership and community interest management whereby security is maintained, disputes settled, new arrivals welcomed and registered, and so on. The availability of jobs/markets and social services within an area were less frequently cited as reasons for community growth.
On the other side of the scene are those communities which registered no growth (‘stayed the same’) or negative growth (‘became smaller’) over the last five years -- roughly a third of all the sites. Major reasons cited for these patterns included ‘lack of fishing inputs’ or their ‘high cost’ and ‘low catches.’ Other reasons included ‘lack of markets,’ ‘poor access,’ ‘theft/no discipline,’ and ‘non-availability of loans/development programmes.’
Questions asked during the group-level interviews yielded additional information about the problems with which lakeshore residents must cope in developing their communities and general standard of living. Reference to Table 7 shows that problems most often perceived are those related to fishing inputs, marketing, and public services. ‘High input costs’ and ‘low fish prices’ are the two most frequently encountered themes, each being listed for 47% of the community cases. Other major mentions are for those of ‘poor access to and from the community’ (40% of community cases), ‘lack of enough gear’ (35% of cases), and ‘lack of social services’ (33% of cases).
To a large extent ‘poor access’ lies at the basis of the other problems most frequently cited. Input costs can be expected to by high and conversely fish prices low in situations where commodities must be transported for long distances and/or under difficult conditions. Lack of enough fishing gear either because of non-availability (no transport, no sales agents in remote places) or non-affordability (high prices, not enough money from fishing due to poor markets) and low levels of services in the form of schools, water supplies, shops, etc.) likewise can be related to ease of access.
During the community-level interviews the field teams noted down the distance from the closest main or trunk road for each site and also rated each according to how difficult access appeared to be. Scores were assigned using a scale of three grades:
‘Poor’ (1) was given to those places with no reliable access either by road or boat (seasonally impassable roads; no regular transport canoe service);
‘Fair’ (2) went to those places where access by road or water was always possible (by road at least using four-wheel-drive and heavy lorries or tractors; by water where there was daily transport canoe service); and
‘Good’ (3) was assigned to sites connected by an all-weather, all-vehicle road or by a two-or-more daily transport canoe service.1
From the results it appears that over half of the mainland Lake Victoria-Uganda communities are situated at a distance of more than 5 km from any trunk road (Table 8; Figure 5). In terms of accessibility scores, some 57% can be classified as ‘Poor,’ 37% as ‘Fair,’ and only about 6% as ‘Good’ (Table 9; Figure 5).
One section of the Community Survey form consisted of a checklist of various services and amenities available either within the immediate neighbourhood of a sample community itself or within a range of 5 km. For analytical purposes the neighbourhood and its surrounding area within a 5 km radius is called a Fishing Community Vicinity (FCV). Completed checklists provided the data out of which Table 10 was constructed. The most commonly found service seems to be the kiosk or stand selling petty items such as sweets, cigarettes, matches, soda, maize and cassava meal, and so on. Kiosks located within a radius of 5 km are indicated for 95% of the communities. Churches lying within FCVs also register at a high rate -- around 86%. The existence of some form of public hire transport, whether boat or vehicle, is estimated from survey data for about 84% of lakeshore communities. Small eating stalls are apparently quite common as well, showing up in an estimated 78% of cases.
Mosques and primary schools figure as FCV features for roughly half of the Lake Victoria fishing communities, and other services such as carpentry ((48%), tailoring (48%), bars (41%), retail shops (39%), private health/medical clinics (35%), and bicycle repairing (31%) for between about one-third to one-half of the communities. Regular (daily/weekly/fortnightly) markets, secondary schools, Government-run clinics, public lodgings, electricity and piped water supplies, post offices, police posts, banks, butcheries, petrol stations, outboard engine repair, vehicle mechanics, and brickmakers almost all register at rates of less than 25%.
Fisher communities of Lake Victoria-Uganda, like all other rural communities in the country, operate under a system of local government administration run by Saza (County) and Gombolola (Sub-County) executive Chiefs. They are also organised politically since 1986 under the Resistance Council (RC) system introduced by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Government. At the local level RC officials are known as RC1s, and are chosen by vote of neighbourhood Muluka (Parish) or community residents. They are responsible to RC2s at the Sub-County level, from amongst whom the RC3s serving at the County level are chosen. RC3s deal with RC5s at the District level. (RC4s serve as members of the National Resistance Council and are elected by RC3 members.)
In the case of most fisher communities, the position of Gabunga is also important in terms of day-to-day routines and special meetings to settle disputes and consider questions of general public interest.
Gabunga (pl. Bagabunga) is a post traditional to Lake Victoria-Uganda fishing communities. The title reputedly derives from olden times, when it designated the rank of the commander or ‘Admiral’ of the Kabaka's fleet of war canoes -- the Buganda royal navy.
Nowadays Bagabunga serve as ‘Head Fishers,’ and are normally chosen by vote amongst regular users of a landing. But a person might come into the position through more informal means, including group requests or simple self-assertion. Experience as a fisher, length of residence in the area, status as a landowner, and personality are all factors that play a part in one's elevation to the Gabunga position. Though it is traditionally associated with males, the field team did come across one woman Gabunga during the survey exercise in Entebbe Region. Survey findings indicate that the position is recognized at fully 70% of the lakeshore communities (Table 11).
Head Fishers' responsibilities do not conform to any strict set of rules. Some play a highly visible and powerful role at their respective landings, whereas others fill the position in only a nominal or figurehead-like way. Generally speaking Head Fishers are responsible for landing site discipline and have the authority to expel unruly or suspicious characters. Very often they maintain a register of resident fishers and of the equipment and gear owned by particular individuals. Sometimes Bagabunga work with a local fishing committee in managing landing site affairs, though such committees are only estimated for 14% or so of the survey universe (Table 11).
Where Bagabunga and/or fishing committees function effectively, the assistance of higher RC officials and/or Gombolola and Saza Chiefs is sought only for special cases that cannot be handled easily at the community level.
Survey findings indicate that co-operative societies are almost non-existant in fishing communities. A mere 9% occurrence is projected from the data, and of these only half are reckoned to be active to any degree (Table 11). At the same time, however, it was noted during the field interviews that fisherfolk often talk about the importance of co-ops and how better standards of living can be achieved through their formation. Such talk may have its source in the belief that it would be easier to obtain outside assistance from Government or other agencies for the supply of inputs and credit through co-operative organisations.
Factors which may be discouraging effective co-op organisation within the Lake Victoria-Uganda context include: poor mobilisation and extension efforts on the part of national co-op authorities; a history of mismanagement and embezzlement of funds by local co-op leaders; migration between landing sites and the temporary nature of some fishing settlements; and the generally high level of competition between individual operators that characterises the local artisanal fishery.
Community survey findings suggest that womenfolk are involved in several different income-generating activities. As depicted in Table 12, at a frequency of 68% of all cases the selling of cooked food to fishers, porters, traders, and other landing site regulars is the most important of these activities. Involvement with market gardening/farming (49%), fish processing (30%), casual hire labour (29%), fish trading (28%), and the manufacture and sale of local alcoholic beverages (21%) -- brews (kwete, mwenge bigere, tonto, malwa) and spirits (enguli, waragi), are other activities of note. The incidence of women owning fishing gear appears to be very slight (6% of the communities).
A final set of questions in the SECSURV1 interview protocol related to perceptions of the major disease/health problems with which fisherfolk must cope. Each group of community representatives was asked to identify the three most common forms of illness or other health problems found in their particular areas. A projection of results for the entire lakeshore based on survey findings is presented in Table 13. Malaria far outstrips all of the many items mentioned, showing up for 92% of the cases. ‘Dysentery’ and ‘diarrhoea’ are the only other categories of problems that rate very highly in the mentions, registering at 47% and 43% respectively.
Such findings are hardly surprising given the conditions that generally prevail at fishing settlements and camps. The marshes, papyrus swamps, and pools of stagnant water that are a common feature around such sites offer ideal breeding habitats for mosquitoes. And the fact that many people sleep in makeshift shelters or in other quarters that afford little protection against being bitten by mosquitoes, together with all the time spent on or near the water during hours of darkness, means that the possibility of exposure to malaria is maximised.
As for the incidence of diarrhoeal illnesses, the extremely poor sanitary facilities and lack of safe sources of drinking water in most places must be seen as the root causes. Landing beaches often serve simultaneously as drinking water sources, bathing and laundry places, and fish cleaning and rubbish/waste disposal sites. The situation at some of the more crowded landing is quite appalling.
Estimations based on survey findings put the population of all Lake Victoria-Uganda fishing communities combined at about 130,000, distributed by region and gender as shown in Table 14 and Figure 6. With a total household count estimated at around 32,800, it can be reckoned that mean household size within the fishing communities stands at about 4 persons. This compares with an all-Uganda figure of 5.5 estimated from sample data in the recent Uganda National Household Budget Survey (MPED 1991). The national data were broken down on the basis of rural and urban categories, showing estimated mean household sizes of 5.6 and 4.5 respectively. The fishing community survey figures are expectable in that, rather as in the case of urban settings, there is a high proportion of one-, two- or three-member households comprised of relatively young unmarried persons or persons who have families at homes and farms elsewhere in the interior.
Table 15 shows breakdowns of the population by region, sex, and age. The data suggest that Tororo Region has the highest mean household size (6.4), and that Kalangala has the lowest (3.7). They also suggest that there are more males than females in the overall population of the lakeshore communities -- 55.5% as compared to 44.5%. The age structure of the general population is not entirely uniform across the different regions, but on the whole it appears that it is heavily skewed towards the young (Figure 7). In all cases at least 70% of the community residents are 30 years old or less. In most cases about half of the population is made up of individuals who are 20 years or less.
Household heads (HHH)2 in the communities were found to be predominantly (87%) male (Table 16; Figure 8) and mostly (about 78%) belonging to the 21 – 40 years age range (Table 17; Figure 9). Of the 13% HHHs who are women, fully 65% are between 21 and 25 years old.
In terms of stated HHH ethnic group membership, Baganda are the most represented in lakeshore communities, accounting for 39% of all groups designated (Table 18; Figure 10). Basoga, Basamia, and Bakigga are found to a rather lesser extent, and other groups figure in the ethnic composition of the communities to relatively slight degrees.
It appears that the vast majority of HHHs are not native-born residents of their communities. Table 19 provides a breakdown of HHH community nativity by total years residence. Only 5% of all HHHs were found to be native-born. Furthermore, of the 95% who are emigrants, some 30% have been living within their communities for one year or less, and nearly three-quarters have been resident for less than five years (Table 19; Figure 12A). It should be noted that in many instances HHHs do not reside within a given locality the whole year round. Some may move between bases at different fishing settlements and others may spend a certain amount of their time at a second home in the hinterland.
HHH length of residence is cross-tabulated with reasons for emigration in Table 20. It is estimated that almost half of the emigrants, whatever their length of residence thus far, originally moved to lakeshore communities because they wanted to start fishing. The attraction to economic opportunities -- fishing, better fishing and markets, or other job possibilities -- seems particularly strong in the case of the most recent emigrants (Table 20; Figure 12B).
The survey data suggest that over 90% of fishing community HHHs have had at least some minimum exposure to formal education (Table 21). When the data are tabulated according to gender, it seems that female household heads have tended to have somewhat less access overall to basic formal educational opportunities than males. At the same time, it seems that once females have gained access to primary school, they have tended to complete their basic education at a superior rate to the menfolk (Table 22; Figure 13). For the 93% of male HHHs with at least some school experience, 55% have attended upper primary or higher educational levels; for the 89% of the female HHHs with any schooling at all, 84% have gone to upper primary or higher levels.
For the adult community population overall, the same general pattern of formal education access and achievement level by gender appears to apply, except that the ‘nil education’ rate for women is distinctly higher (Table 23; Figure 14).
In terms of general occupational categories, HHHs not surprisingly are mostly engaged in fishing-related activities, including ownership and operation of canoes and gear, labour as crew and beach helpers, and fish processing and trading. Just over three-quarters of HHHs are estimated to be involved with fishing-related activities as their reported ‘main occupation’ (Table 24; Figure 15). A further 15% report involvement as their ‘second occupation’ (Table 25: Figure 16). About 17% of all community HHHs are estimated to practice farming as a main occupation, and 22% as a second occupation. Other types of employment at either the main or secondary level appear to be of fairly minor significance; they include such activities as operating kiosks and shops and selling food and drink at landing sites.
When the occupational data are arrayed according to gender category, it becomes apparent that women HHHs play a substantially greater role than men as farmers and vendors of food and drink (Table 26; Figure 17). Menfolk work overwhelmingly as fishers first (84% main occupation), and rather slightly as farmers (10% main occupation) or in other types of employment (5% main occupation). The main occupations of female HHHs, on the other hand, rate at 57% for farming work, 21% for refreshment selling, and 19% for fishing-related enterprises.
It also appears that males tend to have a far higher degree of involvement with some form of secondary cash-earning activity than do females (Table 27; Figure 18). Whilst only 3% of women HHHs are estimated to be engaged in a second occupation, almost half of the menfolk can be placed in this category -- mostly as part-time farmers (28%) or fishers (18%, including those who may practice fish trading to supplement their main job as fishing unit operators or crew).
Striking gender-associated differences are also evident in regard to income earning levels. Holding occupational type constant, over 80% of the community HHH womenfolk are reckoned to earn less than UShs 10,000/- per month, compared to a figure of just over 20% for the men (Table 28, Figure 19). At the upper end of the scale, only 5% of women HHHs are earning more than UShs 50,000/- per month, compared to a rate of 37% for men. Whereas mean monthly income for women HHHs stands at around the UShs 10,400/- level, it is around the 30,400/- level for men.
The data do not suggest a particularly strong relationship between level of income and level of formal educational attainment. The crosstabulations presented in Table 29 and represented graphically in Figure 20 indicate that community HHHs can be earning at the higher end of the scale even while having low education rankings, and vice versa. There is however some indication that those with no education whatsover tend as a class to occupy the lower reaches of the income scale.
If the income level data are broken down on a regional basis, however, some fairly strong associations become apparent (Table 30; Figure 21). In Kalangala, almost three-quarters of community HHHs are rated at an income level of less than UShs 10,000/- per month. This contrasts with the ratings for the equivalent level of 47%, 18%, 24%, and 7% for Entebbe, Jinja, Tororo, and Masaka respectively. At the highest level of +50,000/- per month, Kalangala rates at only 2% of HHHs whilst Entebbe has 11%, Jinja 20%, Tororo 14%, and Masaka 28%.
On the basis of survey findings it is estimated that about two-thirds of Lake Victoria community households are sheltered in ‘standard’ rural one-roomed dwellings made out of mud-and-wattle walls with grass-thatched roofs (Tables 31 and 32; Figures 22A and 22B). However a significant proportion of almost 25% are housed in ‘temporary structures’, consisting of rough-and-ready materials such as papyrus reed mats, banana fibre, grass, and polythene sheeting tied to wooden pole frames. Encountered much more rarely are ‘improved’ or ‘semi-permanent’ structures made of plastered mud-and-wattle and covered with corrogated iron sheets. ‘Permanent’ houses with brick/cement walls roofed with iron sheets or tiles are obviously the most expensive to build and are the rarest of all.
More than three-quarters of the domestic establishments depend on open fires to meet their cooking needs, with virtually all of the remainder using simple charcoal stoves (Table 33; Figure 22C). The heavy reliance on such cooking technologies obviously sustains a great demand for fuelwood supplies in and around lakeshore settlements. In places like Bwondha in Iganga District, regular confrontations occur between fishing community residents and charcoal burners seeking fuel supplies from Forest Reserve areas on the one hand, and the Forestry officials responsible for protecting these areas on the other.
Very few fishing settlements are linked to the national power grid, and most households do not make use of paraffin pressure lamps or lanterns for lighting after dark -- probably due to their relatively high purchase costs. It is rather the tadooba, a small cheap paraffin lamp fashioned out of soldered tin cans and fitted with a wick to burn with an open flame, which is the principal source of domestic illumination. Over 90% of fishing community households are estimated to make use of the tadooba (Table 34; Figure 22D).
The impression of rather basic, indeed rudimentary, standards of comfort conveyed by the data on dwellings and cooking and lighting amenities is strongly reinforced by survey results pertaining to drinking water supplies and sanitation facilities. Only a slight fraction of the households have access to piped water supplies. An overwhelming majority of 90%+ depend on the Lake to satisfy their drinking water needs (Table 35; Figure 22E). As for sanitation facilities, it is clear that they do not command a very high priority in most cases. Over half the households have no latrine of any description (Table 36; Figure 22F). About 40% have pit latrines, either of the open (22%) or covered (18%) variety, which are often shared with one or more other households. In those households where a latrine is lacking altogether, residents resort to the bush or the shallow water around the Lake edge to relieve themselves. During survey fieldwork it was noted that in some cases that high water tables and soil conditions -- either sandy and crumbling or rocky -- made it difficult for residents to dig latrines. It is certainly clear though that the multiple use of lakewater for cooking, drinking, bathing, and waste disposal purposes consititutes an extremely serious public health hazard.
One other dimension of material well-being which the survey measured was ownership of selected consumer goods. As shown in Table 37 and Figure 22G, fishing community households tend not to be very highly endowed even with those items that are often regarded as fairly commonplace -- particularly in towns and inland farming communities. Only about a half of the households are estimated to own a foam mattress, a third to own a radio, and less than one-quarter to own a bicycle.
Survey data-based estimates shown in Tables 38 and 39 and Figure 23 indicate that the main components of Lake Victoria community household diets are fish and some form of starchy food, usually cassava, maize meal (posho, sweet potatoes, or plaintains (matooke). Cassava outranks the other starchy foods as a normal food item by a considerable margin. As one would expect, fish is a regular dietary item in virtually all cases. Meat or chicken are normal parts of the household diet in only a fraction of the cases.
With regard to types of fish consumed, tilapia (Oreochromis spp. and Nile perch Lates niloticus predominate, being projected from the survey data for 94% and 81% of lakeshore households respectively (Table 40).
Stated food preferences were also elicited during survey interviews. Results show that most households (58%) prefer fish over meat, chicken, or other foods (Figure 24). Preference for meat occurs at a rate of 21% and for chicken at a rate of 18%. Data on tastes for different kinds of fish suggest that tilapias are the favourite of most household residents (67%), followed by Nile perch (16%), Bagrus (12%), and ‘Others’ (4%) (Table 41; Figure 24).
Only around half of all households are actually engaged in any farm food production in the sense of raising any crops or livestock (Table 42). Cassava is by far the most frequent crop cultivated, being found in 80% of those households practicing any farming (Table 43; Figure 25). It is followed by beans (58%), maize (27%), sweet potatoes (25%) and matooke (23%) as the main crops grown. For livestock, some 60% of the farming households are keeping poultry (Table 44; Figure 25). Cattle, goats, and pigs are raised in relatively few cases.
Whether engaged in farming or not, almost 80% of the community households are estimated to have problems with food scarcity for at least part of the year (Table 45). The principal reasons cited by respondents for this situation are broken down in Table 46 and Figure 26. Low levels of household income and shortages brought on by seasons of low rainfall are the most frequently mentioned.
The provision of food-, education-, and health-related needs seem to account for the greatest share of routine household expenses around the lakeshore, according to survey data estimates (Table 47; Figure 27). Whether assigned a ‘highest,’ ‘second-highest,’ or ‘third-highest’ cost category status, these are the items that respondents consistently identified as making the heaviest inroads on their domestic budgets. Other expenses for taxes, travel, entertainment, and so on are rather less frequently regarded as significant.
When asked to think about the most important welfare problems that affect their households, meaning those problems that make routine life difficult and improvement of life circumstances hard to achieve, respondents expressed particular concern about the lack of enough income (Table 48). Grouping ‘low income’ together with ‘lack of capital’, as shown in Figure 28, yields a mention rate of over 80% for ‘money’ as a household welfare problem. Difficulties with health and illness (40%), and the lack of adequate social services such as schools and dispensaries (24%) are other fairly commonly registered (+20%) problems.
People involved in fishing-related enterprises around Lake Victoria-Uganda were interviewed according to three basic categories -- namely, ‘Boat Owners/Operators’ (Fisher1), ‘Crew/Labourers’ (Fisher2), and ‘Processors/Traders’ (Fisher3). Survey projections place the total number of all these ‘fishers’ together in the range of 30–35,000. Those fitting in the Fisher1 and Fisher2 categories alone are estimated to amount to some 25–30,000 individuals. In this section brief remarks are made on each of the fisher types in turn. Their enterprise patterns, problems, and prospects are then discussed on a comparative basis.
‘Boat Owners’ comprise all of those who own a fishing boat but do not actually engage directly in fishing trips, the disposal of catches, or the day-to-day management and maintenance of equipment and gear. They are distinct from ‘Owner-operators,’ who are so directly engaged. A third Fisher1 grouping, the ‘Nonowner-operators,’ is reserved for those who, whilst not owning a boat themselves, nevertheless are occupied as independent directors of gear and canoe units, either participating in fishing trips themselves or providing supervision and support from the landing. Data presented in Table 49 and illustrated in Figure 29 indicate that the Fisher1 category is almost entirely comprised of men. Women are estimated to make up a mere 2% of this population, and are principally rated as boat owners only. Looking at the Fisher1 grouping overall, it appears that the majority (53%) of individuals are those who both own their units and take an active part in their operation either directly with the crew or, in the case of the few women involved, as managers supervising from the landing. The data suggest that only 10% are owners not directly engaged in fishing, and that 37% are nonowner unit operators.
Three basic fishing boat types make up the Lake Victoria-Uganda fleet. The single- or double-chined Ssese planked canoe is by far the most common unit, being estimated to account for 90% of the overall fleet. ‘Dugouts’ and the simple three-planked craft known locally as the ‘Bao-tatu’ or ‘Parachute’ each are estimated to make up about 5% of the fleet (Table 50; Figure 30). The levels of motorisation (boats equipped with outboard engines) and sail propulsion are both rated fairly low. Ssese planked canoes are the only types that are ever fitted with either engine or sail. Only about 5% are estimated to be motorised, and only about 3% to be operated with sails.3
Approximate proportions of gear types in use by owner/operator fishing units around the shoreline as projected from sample returns are reported in Table 51 and Figure 31A. It is estimated that gillnets account for about two-thirds of gear types in use, with longlines (17%) and Rastrineobola argentea or mukene gear (13%) accounting for most of the rest. Cast nets and beach seines, both noted for their destructiveness to breeding areas and young stock, are reckoned to comprise about 4% of all gear types in use.
The canoe and gear type findings confirm the generally accepted view of Lake Victoria as playing host to what is essentially an artisanal gillnet fishery, but they also underscore longlining and the mukene lamp fishery as important minor components of the industry. The mukene fishery in particular warrants close attention as it is likely to expand significantly in future, judging from the active market for the sun-dried product widely observed during field investigations.
Focussing on gillnetters specifically for a moment, the data indicate that the 7" (178mm, stretched) mesh size is the one most commonly employed (39% of all gillnets), followed by the 6" (152mm) mesh. Large gillnets of 8–9" (203–229mm) constitute 14% of sizes in use, 5" (127mm) 13%, and small ones of 4.5" or less 9%. Mean mesh size across the whole of the Ugandan sector of the Lake is estimated at 6.4" (Figure 31A). In terms of overall gillnet fleet size, the total number of nets owner/operator units use ranges from as few as 2 to as high as 100, with most using 15 or less. Mean overall gillnet fleet size is projected as 18 (Table 52; Figure 31B).
Main target species of community fishing owner/operators are Nile perch (44%), tilapia (32%), and mukene (13%). There are also some who divide their attentions between two or more different target species, usually involving some mix of tilapia, Nile perch, and mukene (Table 53; Figure 32).
It is estimated that about three-quarters of community fishing canoes are active during 300 or more days of the year (Table 54; Figure 33). The mean number of boatdays/year is estimated at 288, implying a relatively high level of effort being expended on the main target species.
Information collected from interviews with fishing owner/operators (Fisher1s) indicates that nearly 90% of Lake Victoria-Uganda fishing craft are crewed by two (57%) to three (23%) people. Mean crew size for the sector is estimated at 2.6 (Table 55; Figure 34). These findings accord well with the data on boat type distribution. Dugout and ‘bao tatu’ canoes tend to be very small (±2m) and are rarely are handled by more than one person.
Fishing canoe crew are invariably male (Table 56; Figure 35). Whereas women may be involved to some extent in the ownership and management of fishing units, they are never noted actually to accompany a crew going out to set and haul nets. It is however known from field observations that women may participate in beach seine operations as net pullers or collectors of the catch. Women are also known to engage in a certain amount of basket and trap fishing in some localities. Otherwise the participation of women in the Fisher2 labour force is restricted to shore-based activities like drying mukene or helping to offload canoes.
Crew and labourers tend to be paid by owner/operators on a percentage-of-the-daily-catch basis. Projecting from the sample of those interviewed, some 57% of the Fisher2 workforce is remunerated in this way (Table 57; Figure 36). About one-third are estimated to be paid a monthly or (rarely) weekly salary topped off with supplies of fish.
For those paid by share-of-catch, the levels involved are mostly at or below 15%, with most receiving amounts between 10–15% (Table 58; Figure 36). The mean level is 18%.
Information gathered from those involved as Fisher3s in fish processing and trading was analysed according to type of business and gender of operator (Table 59; Figure 37). Most of the processors/traders are fish smokers, a category that accounts for almost 80% of their overall numbers. The gender composition of the fish smoker population is about one-quarter female and three-quarters male. Smaller proportions of people are engaged in business as combined traders and processors or as traders only.
The question of fuelwood is important both to processors and those concerned with timber resources and their sustainable use. It is interesting to note therefore that virtually all fish smokers identify some sort of problem associated with fuelwood supplies (Table 60; Figure 38). The high cost of supplies is the most frequently cited problem, but it can be seen that most of the responses -- ‘expensive,’ ‘far distance,’ ‘difficult access,’ etc. -- are merely variations on the theme of ‘scarcity.’
The proportion of individuals directly involved with the sale of fish through their canoe units, jobs as crew or beach labourers, or processing/trading operations seems to vary between the different fisher categories (Table 61; Figure 39A). Almost 70% of owners/operators are actively engaged in selling fish, as compared to only around half of those who work as crew/labourers. Fisher1s who are not actively engaged are either relying on agents to handle their sales or are ‘background’ boat owners not concerned with day-to-day fishing affairs. Those who are crew/labourers may be selling off their daily shares-of-catch or serving as agents of owners/operators. Fisher3s, quite naturally, are almost 100% directly involved with fish sales.
In terms of sales by product form, there is again an expected variation by fisher type. Comparatively more Fisher1s and Fisher2s are involved in fresh fish sales than are resident processors/traders (Table 62; Figure 39B). On the other hand, very few in the former two categories report involvement in smoked fish sales, whereas over 80% of the Fisher3s do (Table 63; Figure 39C). Dried fish are usually mukene, which are spread out on or near the beach to cure immediately after they are landed. Like fresh fish, therefore, the dried fish are most often handled by owners/operators and crew/labourers (Table 64; Figure 39D).
The types of buyers with whom different categories of Fishers deal by order of frequency are detailed in Tables 65–68 and illustrated in Figure 40. All Fisher types tend to deal with traders more than with private buyers as first order customers, though private buyers are commonly identified as second-most-frequent buyers. Local processors are more often regarded as second or third/fourth order customers. Only those in the Fisher1 category identify industrial fish plants as customers in any of the selling frequency orders.
Indications of the comparative levels of income estimated for the three Fisher groupings are provided in Table 69 and Figure 41. It is obvious that Fisher1s, the owners/operators, are on the whole earning more on a monthly basis than their Fisher2 or Fisher3 counterparts. Far fewer Fisher1s qualify for the ‘under 10,000/- UShs’ category than do Fisher2s or Fisher3s -- 13% as compared to 76% and 51% respectively. Furthermore, comparatively more Fisher1s (20%) can be placed in the highest income level category of ‘+50,000/- UShs’ than either Fisher2s (0%) or Fisher3s (about 7%).
To put the monthly income data in perspective, reference can again be made to the National Household Budget Survey (MPED 1991). Budget Survey data on monthly household expenditure are analysed according to classes or shilling amount interval levels of 0–25,000/-, 25–50,000/-, and so on. If these can be taken as very rough proxy measures of HHH income levels, on the assumptions that most household income is HHH income and that expenditure is more or less equivalent to earnings, data on Central and Eastern Regions -- the ‘Lake Victoria Cresent’ area -- can be compared to the fishing community survey findings on income. What this shows is a picture of a fairly unremarkable income-earning performance for fishing-related enterprises overall, with the crew/labourer or Fisher2 type being particularly disadvantaged. The Budget Survey findings indicate that for Central Region-Rural households, some 78% fall into monthly expenditure classes of UShs 50,000/- or less. About 93% of Eastern Region-Rural households fall into the same category. Looking at the equivalent income categories for the Fisher types, around 80% of Fisher1s, 100% of Fisher2s, and 93% of Fisher3s are estimated to fall within the less than 50,000/- shilling per month range.
Information collected on the business or job problems faced by those engaged in fishing-related enterprises was compiled into the set of results presented in Tables 70–72 and Figure 42. Clearly there is variation between the different Fisher types with respect to the problems identified. As could be expected, for example, the processors/traders who comprise the Fisher3 group cite such problems as poor kilns, lack of storage facilities, and marketing facilities at a rate far higher than the other two Fisher types. In the same fashion, high capital and operating costs tend to be a complaints associated with owners, and poor working and living conditions (weather, low earnings, illness, wild animals/insect pests) with crew/labourers. Fluctuation in the supply of fish is a problem cited by all the Fisher types in roughly equal proportions. Fisher1s and Fisher3s are more concerned about unstable prices and other marketing difficulties (distance, transport) than are Fisher2s, while theft or loss of gear tends to be more of a concern of Fisher1s and Fisher2s than it does of Fisher3s.
Projections from sample data yield the impression that Lake Victoria-Uganda fishers, whether owners/operators, crew/labourers, or processors/traders, are on the whole not a very optimistic lot with regard to business or job prospects. Over half of those in each of the Fisher categories report that conditions of work are ‘becoming worse’ over time (Table 73). Reasons given for such a view are specified according to Fisher type in Table 74 and Figure 43. The 60% of Fisher1s who think of business as ‘becoming worse’ mostly tend to cite low catches and high capital and operating costs as reasons. These also tend to be noted by the 58% of crew/labourers who are negative in their outlook. The Fisher3 processors/traders rate highest for pessimism, with about 64% reporting to be of the ‘becoming worse’ persuasion. Low prices and high levels of business competition are the most frequently mentioned reasons given for this view.
Sample respondents' reports point to a remarkably shallow history of work involvement by those in fishing-related enterprises, as measured by number of years spent in the business or job (Table 75). The owner/operator Fisher1s tend as a class to be most established in their enterprises: about 44% have a history of five or more years involvement in the fishing business as compared to a figure of only 15% for Fisher2s and 5% for Fisher3s.
In Tables 76–78 and Figure 44 the years-in-work data are arrayed by the view-of-work data for the respective Fisher types. No strong associations are apparent between the two variables, however. The most striking feature is perhaps the total absence of optimism amongst Fisher3s who have over five years' worth of experience in their businesses.
Another way of gauging people's outlook is by their stated intentions to continue pursuing their lines of work. It can be seen from Figure 45 that almost all (93%) Fisher1s and a substantial majority (65%) of Fisher2s report an intention to continue, whereas less than half (48%) of Fisher3s make such a commitment. Fisher3s, already ranked high for their 'business is worse' outlook, also seem to be the most uncertain about whether to continue in their line of work: some 49% say that 'it depends.'
It is remarkable that the reasons cited for harbouring a positive intention -- 'yes, I will continue doing this work' -- are commonly not really very positive in and of themselves. Of the Fishers who intend to continue, 39% of Fisher1s, 25% of Fisher2s, and 34% of Fisher3s give 'business is good/alright' as their reason for wanting to do so. But other reasons often cited are more passive or default-like in effect: 'this is the only work I know;' 'it is the only work available' (Figure 45; Table 79).
The final part of the Lake Victoria SEC survey findings to be reviewed here pertain to fisherfolk's views of what sorts of actions might be initiated by local community members on the one hand, and Government or other outside agencies on the other, with the aim of improving business or job prospects. Estimates of the proportions of Fishers holding various views are provided in Table 80 and Figure 46 for the ‘Local Action’ side, and in Table 81 and Figure 47 for the ‘Government Action’ side. In the analysis of these data one of the first things to become apparent was that Fishers could think of more ways in which the Government or other agencies could help than ways in which local community members could take action on their own. There were 21 separate values identified for the 'Government Contribution' variable, and only 12 for that covering the 'People's Contribution.'
The idea of forming co-operatives appears to be quite popular amongst all the Fisher types, being mentioned by around two-thirds of both Fisher1s and Fisher3s, and around one-third of Fisher2s. Other measures for action proposed receive more scattered support. 'Higher levels of investment in business' is a proposal that tends to be associated with boat owners/operators and crew/labourers, and 'seek other markets' with the processors/traders. Crew/labourers in particular are linked to the idea that 'Government needs to help us first.'
With regard to 'what Government should do' it appears that the measures receiving the most support across the three Fisher groupings are infrastructural improvements (transport and other services), provision of financial assistance in the form of subsidies or loans, and help with securing better supplies of gear and equipment inputs. Once again there are noticeable variations between the different Fisher groupings with respect to the kinds of views put forward. Fisher3s advocate subsidy and loan schemes and better gear regulation enforcement at higher rates than either Fisher1s or Fisher2s. At the same time, Fisher1s and Fisher2s generally seem to place greater priority on the improvement of services and the establishment of better input supplies within their communities than do the Fisher3s. Finally, Fisher1s more frequently cite tax reform and interventions to improve the market for fish than do either Fisher2s or Fisher3s.
As noted at the beginning of this report the SEC team undertook a pilot exercise covering selected fishing communities situated along the Uganda side of northern Lake Albert (maps, Figures 1 and 3). FISHIN Project target regions originally did not directly cover Albert, but this changed with the expansion of Project activities following the recommendations of the Evaluation Mission in April-May 1990. Earlier Project reports provide information on other aspects of the work programme for Lake Albert as well as background on the development and current status of its fisheries (Reynolds 1990; Coenen 1991; Nyeko and Coenen 1991).
Severe time and operational constraints ruled out any full-scale SEC survey exercise for Lake Albert. As an alternative a modest 'pre-test' of the Lake Victoria Community Form (SECSURV1) was mounted during late August 1991 in order to verify its suitability within the Albert context.
SECSURV1 was devised to elicit background information on various features of sample landing communities, including: population by gender and total households, recent changes in community size, principal development constraints, inventory of amenities and services, social organisations, women's income generating activities, and major health problems. The form was used on Lake Albert to structure interviews with such key respondents as Resistance Council (RC) officials, Head Fishers, Fishing Committee members, and elders and other long-term residents. One form was completed for each of the five northern Lake Albert sites visited -- Wanseko, Karakaba, Kabolwa, Bugoigo and Butiaba.
Lake Albert is situated in the Western Great Rift Valley and covers an area of some 5,7200 km2, shared between Uganda (60%) and Zaire (40%). It lies between high escarpments that sometimes rise dramatically to heights of 2000m above the Lake, which is itself just over 200m in altitude. The littoral region generally is characterised by high ambient temperatures and low rainfall. Much of the surrounding country consists of semi-arid savannah shrubland, more suitable to pastoralism than growing crops.
Lake Albert hosts a rich variety of fish. Those of greatest economic importance include species of the genera Alestes, Hydrocynus, Synodontis, Bagrus, Clarias, Barbus, Ochenoglanis, Lates, Protopterus, Distichodus, and Mormyrus. The tilapiines are also an important target of fishing activity. The common fishing craft is a 3.8 – 4.5 m flat-bottomed planked boat (the ‘Congo barque’). Single- and double-chined as well as round-bilge ‘Kabalega’ plank canoes more or less along the lines of the standard Lake Victoria ‘Ssese’ design are also to be found in some localities, as are simple dugout canoes. The level of motorisation is generally low (<10%), though this varies between different stretches of the shoreline.
The main fishing method is gillnetting with 1.5" to 3.5" nets, though beach seining and the use of cast nets are also quite common. Nets are mounted into working fleets of varying sizes: the smaller the meshes the bigger the number of nets per fleet. Fishing crew usually number two to three people per boat.
The daily routine at those sites visited by the SEC team involved landing of fish between 0600 – 1000h, gear and craft cleanup and maintenance chores followed by a period of rest during the late morning and early afternoon, and a return to the lake between 1600 – 1800h to set nets and watch overnight. Night fishing is the mode basically because net theft is such a serious problem. The activities of the cast netters and beach seiners mostly take place during daylight hours.
Catches are shared between the crew and the boat owner in a pattern similar to what is found on Lake Victoria. The crew as a unit receives 30%, and the owner 70%. Owners claim that about one-third of their share is for boat and engine maintenance. In cases where there is no engine a 50-50 division between crew and owner is often made. Crew earnings appear to be used mainly to satisfy immediate daily needs and for entertainment. Boat owners, with their larger earnings, can afford to invest more in cattle and domestic and commericial buildings, and to reinvest to some extent in the fishing business.
It was difficult to get a clear picture of the annual fishing rhythyms on the northern end of the Lake because each landing quoted different months for their peak seasons. However, it was generally agreed that high catches are associated with rainy periods and that species composition percentages are not constant throughout the year.
Historically the main markets for fish from the northeastern tip of Lake Albert have been West Nile and Zaire. The catch is sold mainly in processed form, i.e. salted, smoked, or sundried, Very little is sold fresh due to the difficulties of transporting it quickly to market. The landings nearer to Masindi and Hoima, however, send fresh fish (mainly tilapia and Lates) to markets in those towns.
Fishmongers travel by water, bus or pick-ups to the markets. At the time of the pilot survey, the Zaire market was not being supplied very heavily because of the devaluation of the Zaire currency together with reduced catches from the Lake. Reportedly more processed fish is now being diverted to scattered markets in West Nile, Gulu, and Lira, and there has been an increase in the fresh fish trade to Masindi and Hoima. There has also been an increase in barter trade for clothes and other products from Zaire in exchange for fish.
Thumbnail sketches of each of the five fishing villages visited in the course of the SEC pilot exercise on Lake Albert are presented below. A summary appraisal of their circumstances is then provided in the following section.
Wanseko, Karakaba, Kabolwa, Bugoigo and Butiaba all are situated in the northeastern sector of the Lake, and were chosen for the pre-testing work for logistical reasons and because they give a fair representation of village types and sizes that would be encountered in a full-scale survey.
Wanseko is located at the point where the Victoria Nile becomes the Albert Nile as it flows into the Lake on its journey from Lake Kyoga to turn northwards through West Nile and Sudan. The fishing grounds in this delta area lie near the village, are generally shallow, and are covered with reeds in some areas. Peak catches are said to occur between mid-March and May.
Fishing is now mainly carried out by Bagungu, the indigenous people of the area, following the migration of Jaluo (Kenyan) and Zairean fishers back to their homelands or to other villages in Hoima District. It is said that the outsiders were encouraged to leave because of a growing negative attitude towards their presence on the part of the Bagungu. Over the last five years this has resulted in a reduction in the Wanseko fishing fleet from about 200 boats to the present estimate of 95.
The majority of the harvest is processed either in salted or sundried form. Heavy salting is mainly for the Zaire market. Smoking is practised less often, principally to cure smaller specimens of Hydrocynus and Alestes. Post-harvest activities are largely carried out by women, who have formed a loose association known as Gaba-Gadir mainly for the purpose of acquiring fish trading licences. The majority of traders are Alur from West Nile.
Wanseko has about 525 households and a population of over 1000 adults. The adult population is skewed in favour of females, who comprise around 55% of the total. The community is situated on gazetted public land, a circumstance that has encouraged the building of permanent structures. Despite the recent decline in population and fishing activities, Wanseko has many more such structures and many more public facilities than the other villages visited. Those facilities not actually present in the community can be found on the way to Baliisa Trading Centre, roughly 7 km away on the road to Masindi.
Karakaba Village lies about 16 km south of Wanseko and has an adult population of about 150 people, with a majority of men. It is a relatively small landing with only 49 households situated on non-gazetted public land. The village consists of grass thatched mud-wattle structures of a very temporary nature.
A rough cattle track provides the only connection with the Masindi-Wanseko main road. Travel is mainly be foot and bicycle. There is a noticeable absence of amenities in the form of any schools, clean water supplies, a dispensaries, sanitary facilities, and so on. A daily market is in operation but there are no shelters for the traders and their goods. The village has not grown in size of late owing to poor fish harvests and theft of gear.
Fishing grounds lie in deeper waters than those of Wanseko but methods and routines are about the same in other respects. Catches are said to be lowest during the months of May to June and highest during August to October. None of the women own a boat but women do participate in beach seining operations, a common used method at Karakaba.
Serious problems identified by respondents at this landing included high incidences of malaria and water borne diseases. The situation is aggravated by the lack of any nearby medical facilities.
Another ungazetted landing, Kabolwa is located further south along the shoreline from Karakaba and shares many of its features. Dwellings are of thatched mud-wattle construction and there are no amenities or services to speak of except a daily market with temporary shelters and a primary school that offers classes up to P4. There is a drug shop but there are no trained medical personnel. The nearest dispensary is at Baliisa Trading Centre, some 11 km away. The village is comprised of some 300 households and hosts a resident adult population of 600, with women making up a majority.
As at Karakaba women are not involved in fishing as boat owners but do take part in beach seining. Kabolwa lies on a bay that is said to offer good catches of tilapia, Nile perch, Alestes, Hydrocynus, and Distichodus, and its reputation has attracted many emigrant fishers. Fresh catches are rarely sold from this landing due to transport problems.
Bugoigo is a larger landing made up of about 700 households and an adult population of 2500, with a slight majority of women. The population is reported to have grown over the last five years, possibly owing to a good road connection with Masindi and Hoima and daily bus and pick-up transport services. Brewing and many other forms of petty trade are pursued in addition to fishing.
Social services available within the community consist of a full primary school, three private clinics, a police post, and two petrol stations. A borehole located about 2 km away provides a source of clean water. A high level of public commitment towards service improvement is manifested through ongoing self-help projects to build a nursery school, a new primary school, and a dispensary. People also take an active part in communal tree planting efforts.
One of the major problems identified by community residents during the interviews is a lack of land for farming, a circumstance that is said to hinder expansion of other income generating activities.
The landing has also experienced poor catches during the last three years, reputedly due to input shortages. The seasons for high catches were noted as January – April, August, and October.
Butiaba was originally developed as a port for steamers operating on Lake Albert between Zaire and Uganda. It was for many years under the control of the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation, which operated a road service from Masindi Port on Lake Kyoga in addition to the Lake Albert steamers. Since the collapse of the East African Community Butiaba has continued to exist as a major fish landing. A number of permanent buildings from the old Railways and Harbours authority still stand and are now under the control of the Uganda Railways Corporation, which is understood to be considering the re-establishment of the Lake services. Because of Butiaba's special status residents are not allowed to build any permanent structures themselves. As a result dwellings are of the temporary mud-wattle variety, clustered in satellite villages around the main centre. The overall population of the neighbourhood is about 3700, with a slightly higher percentage of females than males.
A full P7 primary school is located within a few kilometres of the main centre. Services and amenities also include a Government dispensary, a private clinic, three churches and on mosque. The Post Office is not working although it is possible to receive mail via the bus service which resumed after recent grading of the road. There are two petrol stations but they are often without fuel. The only self-help project currently underway in the area is tree-planting.
Two women own boats and while the majority of fish processors are women their activities are restricted to sundrying and smoking. Salting here seems to be done exclusively by men.
All the settlements visited are situated on public land but only one, Wanseko, has been officially gazetted. Wanseko is also the only place for which a development plan has been drawn up. Its level of service and amenity development is noticeably higher than the other villages probably because of its gazetted status but perhaps also because it has long served as an important centre of the salted fish trade with Zaire. Butiaba has a number of permanent structures but these are all under the control of the Railways Corporation, which also owns the land on which they are located. Local residents at Butiaba, as at the other villages where land has not been gazetted, enjoy little security of tenure and usually reside in dwellings of a temporary character.
Resident adult populations range from a few hundred to a few thousand people. Women seem to be in the majority except in the case of Karakaba. The indigenous people of the area, the Bagungu, tend to dominate fishing activities; there is however a significant level of participation by Alur from West Nile and settlers from Zaire.
Growth in population and commercial activity over the last several years were reported for three out of the five villages visited by the SEC team. Growth is mainly associated with good fishing and job opportunities, and decline with poor catches, theft of gear and insecurity, and outmigration as a result of ethnic rivalries.
During the community interviews respondents expressed their concerns over a wide variety of issues, but were particularly emphatic about problems touching on the basis for their livelihood -- fishing. It was noted that lack of inputs has hampered operations quite severely. There are no local shops which stock fishing inputs and residents say that they are forced to depend on Zaire and Kampala for their requirements. This entails travel and delay and also makes fishing inputs scarce and expensive.
Related to input scarcity is the high incidence of gear theft on the water between Uganda and Zaire. Theft seems to be a more serious problem on Albert than on Lake Victoria because it is not always a matter of nighttime stealth. Gear on Lake Albert is at times stolen openly and forcibly by armed bandits.
Zaire historically has been the major market for Albert fish, usually in the form of heavily salted products. Recent political and economic crises in that country have however substantially eroded the markets buying power with resultant loss of business for the fishers and traders of the Uganda side of the Lake. The situation has been exacerbated by significant declines in catches at some localities and people are quite worried about this course of events.
The decline in trade with Zaire cannot be easily compensated by switching to the production of smoked fish aimed for the Uganda domestic market because of severe fuelwood shortages in the northern Lake Albert littoral. Fuelwood for both cooking and fish smoking purposes must be brought from distances of 15 km or more and some local women have in fact started to supply it as a regular cash earning activity.
Perhaps more than in the case of the Lake Victoria communities the residents of Lake Albert settlements lack the services and amenities that are basic to the achievement of better standards of living. People must move long distances in search of such things as good drinking water, medical facilities, public transport, post offices, etc. Though communal latrines were absent it does appear that Lake Albert householders have made more of an an effort to establish individual facilities than their Lake Victoria counterparts. The lack of uncontaminated drinking water supplies and sanitary facilities precipitated a serious outbreak of cholera around Butiaba in 1984 and 1985, resulting in many deaths.
It is particularly obvious that the level of education in the Lake Albert communities visited is very low. Children apparently are not given much encouragement to attend school regularly. They often miss classes especially during high fishing seasons, when their families depend on the extra labour and earnings they can provide. It is said that in the whole of Wanseko Parish only four young people are secondary school (S4) leavers. Bugungu is the sole secondary school in the whole area, yet it has only 70 students and few qualified teachers. Lack of qualified teachers in the local primary schools makes the situation all the worse. It appears that parents are not willing to spend much of their income from fishing on education.
Each of the communities has a local leadership committee chaired by a ‘Centre Master’ who, as group spokesperson, convenor of meetings, mediator of disputes, etc., functions in the same role as the Head Fisher or Gabunga of Lake Victoria-Uganda fishing communities. The committees with whom Centre Masters work are composed of between six to ten members. Masters and committee members co-ordinate with local UFD staff and the Resistance Councils.
Rather as in the case of the Lake Victoria communities the performance of co-operative societies does not seem to have been very successful in the past. Two large and well-known co-ops, Bugungu Fishing Society and Bugoigo Fishing Society, were reported to have collapsed in recent years due to embezzlement and mismanagement. Local residents do not seem particularly keen to see them revitalised. At Wanseko Landing the Kifaru Fishing and Transport Co-operative Society is noted as being successful but it is basically a family affair.
Community development and self-help programmes have had mixed outcomes in the northern Lake Albert region. Immunisation campaigns and road grading schemes seem to have been successful, though these of course do not demand much in the way of local initiative. In cases like the Rural Farmers Credit Sheme, outboard engines and nets given out on credit have reportedly been sold off to Zaire operators or stolen, and debts have gone unserviced. A self-help project by Wanseko community residents to generate some income through cotton growing failed because of nonpayment to the farmers. On the other hand, the people of Bugoigo Village have apparently managed fairly successful self-help efforts.
The direct involvement of women in fishing operations is very limited in the northern sector of Lake Albert, just as was seen for Lake Victoria communities. A few women own boats and gear, engaging men to do the actual fishing for them. Women do however participate directly in beach-seining at some of the Albert landings. Fish processing and trading, on the other hand, seems to be a special domain of women. They are otherwise involved with the sale of petty goods, brewing and distilling, dealing in fuelwood, and small-scale cultivation.
Major health hazards in the area continue to be waterborne and parasitic diseases including dysentery, diarrhoea, bilharzia, worms, and malaria. According to the information provided by community elders the children's Immunisation Programme run through the Ministry of Health was well received by locals. In areas with Government dispensaries, a chronic lack of drugs forces people to resort to private shops and clinics for medications and treatment.
Children generally do not exhibit signs of malnutrition. The staple of the region is cassava served with fish sauces and food availability does not appear to be a serious problem. Cassava flour is brought from the Masindi District interior and West Nile. The presence of large numbers of cattle also means that milk is an important component of local diets. Fish is universally enjoyed. The most popular varieties include Alestes, Hydrocynus and the tilapias. Distichodus is particularly prized by the indigenous Bagungu fishers. Polypterus has awkward associations it is believed to serve as a kind of ‘medicine’ for those who are impotent or unsure of their abilities. It is widely thought that Albert fish tastes better than Victoria fish due to the salty nature of the water in the western lake.
Though of limited scope, the pilot work conducted by the SEC team in five northern Lake Albert communities suffices to demonstrate the feasibility of mounting a full survey of the Albert-Uganda shoreline using similar instruments and approaches to those developed for the Lake Victoria exercise.
The pilot team remarked that it actually seemed easier to conduct interviews in the Lake Albert settings. All the landings visited had UFD field staff assigned to them. In the same arrangment that applies for Lake Victoria and other national waters, these staff are charged with responsibilities of monitoring, enforcement, and extension work at their respective landing duty stations. Yet a different attitude towards officials was noticed amongst the Albert fisherfolk in comparison with those on Lake Victoria. People seemed to be more open and willing to discuss their problems directly, possibly because Albert UFD staff are not so strongly identified as playing a ‘police’ role.
In any event, it is recommended that the organisation of Lake Albert community survey work should be planned in accordance to the model now in place. Frame survey (FS) findings indicate a total of 140 landings are scattered along the Ugandan shoreline of Lake Albert (Nyeko and Coenen 1991). Information on the number of active canoes has been collected for each one, and, just as for Lake Victoria before, a stratification scheme for Catch Assessment Survey purposes has been devised based on this size (canoe number) criterion as well as logistical considerations. Using the Albert FS lists and the approach outlined earlier in Section 1.2 (and described more fully in Kitakule and Reynolds 1991a), it should be possible to draw a representative sample of communities for a full SEC survey. Since resources in terms of funds and personnel may well be even more limited than in the case of the Lake Victoria exercise, it might be advisable to work with an appropriately smaller sample size. Care should be taken however to ensure adequate geographical coverage as it is known that significant variation exists in species composition of catch and concentration of fishing effort along the Lake Albert-Uganda shoreline.
The purpose of this report has been to review recent fishing community survey work undertaken by the SEC working group of the UGA/87/007 Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems Project. A major exercise was designed and implemented for Lake Victoria during the first half of 1991, and a pilot exercise to test the the survey protocol was carried out in the northern Lake Albert-Uganda area in August 1991. The fishing communities of Lakes George/Albert had already been investigated through an extensive survey in 1989 under the auspices of the EEC Conservation of Natural Resources Project.
Major findings and achievements of the SEC team's work are summarised below.
Three questionnaires were designed and pre-tested as instruments for the Lake Victoria investigations. Designated SECSURV1, SECSURV2, and SECSURV3, they were developed to elicit information at the community, household, and individual enterprise levels respectively. Items tapped for survey investigation were wide-ranging. For the community level they included general characteristics of fishing settlements and their development problems, local institutions, and women's income-earning activities. At the household level details of resident members' backgrounds were enumerated in terms of such features as age, gender, education, family status, migration history, and occupation. At the level of individual enterprise extensive qualitative and quantitative information was sought about involvement in fishing-related work.
Sample selection was carried out in such a way as to ensure full coverage of the five Fisheries Regions of Lake Victoria -- Entebbe, Jinja, Tororo, Masaka, and Kalangala. A total 50 strata were defined on the basis of earlier FISHIN Project frame survey (FS) results. One community from each stratum was randomly selected for inclusion in the first stage sample at a probability set in proportion to community size. Five households from each community were randomly selected for the second stage sample, and there was complete enumeration of all individual fishing-related enterprises for the third stage of the exercise. Case weightings were applied in the analysis of the survey data in accordance with selection probabilities.
The resultant database provides a means of estimating the distribution of features measured in the community survey for the entire Uganda sector of Lake Victoria. Since these data are subject to both sampling and non-sampling errors, they are best interpreted in an indicative manner rather than as absolute, hard-and-fast figures.
Selected basic characteristics of Lake Victoria fisherfolk and their communities are reviewed in the current account in light of survey findings, but extensive analytical work remains to be done now that the database has been established. Demonstration of the scope and potential uses of the new database fulfills a primary objective of the SEC team's survey work.
Settlement and land
The vast majority of Lake Victoria-Uganda fishing communities are comprised of nucleated settlements located directly on or adjacent to landing sites. Most people live in houses of simple mud-and-wattle construction, thatched with grass or reeds. Total numbers of houses within the settlements can range from just a few up to as many as 500. Settlements are chiefly located on private land, though some are on Government land including gazetted Forest Reserves. Uncertain security of tenure is obviously an important factor to consider in devising any programmes for development action for fishing communities.
Community growth and development
Lakeshore settlements have shown a pattern of strong growth over the past five years in terms of economic activity, population, and numbers of new structures and services. Good return on fishing effort (‘high catches’) is apparently the main engine of such growth.
Development problems
Problems hindering development identified by respondents during the group interviews relate mainly to fishing inputs, marketing, and public services. Fishers seem particularly concerned about the high costs of fishing gear and equipment and the low prices that their catches fetch. To a large extent the main problems cited are all aspects of one basic problem -- viz., poor accessibility in terms of roads and reliable means of transport.
Services and amenities
It was found that Fishing Community Vicinities (FCVs), each defined as an area of 5 km radius from any given community, seem to be relatively well served in terms of facilities like kiosks for the selling of petty commodities, churches, some form of public hire transport, and small eating stalls. They are fairly to moderately well served in terms of such services as primary schools and mosques, carpenters and tailors, bars, retail shops, private clinics, and bicycle repair. But they are relatively poorly served in terms of such conveniences as regular markets, secondary schools, Government-run clinics, public lodgings, electricity and piped water supplies, post offices, police posts, banks, outboard engine repair, and petrol stations.
Community organisations
The traditional institution of the Gabunga or ‘Head Fisher’ still figures very strongly in the conduct of fishing community and landing site affairs. Bagabunga are recognised at over two-thirds of lakeside settlements, serving with varying degrees of influence, energy, and effectiveness as beach leaders, arbiters of disputes, and convenors of community meetings. Fishing committees are also active in some places, but do not seem to be of widespread significance.
Fisherfolk co-operative societies are a very uncommon feature of community life, being recorded for only 9% of Lake Victoria-Uganda settlements. Even for these places it seems that about half of the societies are inactive or moribund.
Women's income-generating activities
Women appear to be quite actively involved in small-scale commercial undertakings such as selling cooked food at landing sites, market gardening, fish processing and trading, and brewing. Their participation in fishing as gear owners is minimal.
Local health problems
Malaria and water-borne diseases leading to dysentery and diarrhoea are the chief health problems identified during the community group interviews. Malaria appears to be especially rampant. The problems identified are totally expectable given the geographical siting of many fishing camps and settlements near swamps and marshes, the living and working patterns that prevail, and the critically poor conditions of sanitation that are commonly found.
Population and household size
Fishing communities around the Lake show substantial variation in population size. They can be comprised of anywhere from 5 to 4500 or more individuals. The total population of all communities combined is estimated at around 130,000 people living in a total of about 32,800 households. Mean household size is reckoned to be around 4. The majority of community residents are male (55.5%). In most cases also around half of the community populations are 20 years or less in age.
Community household heads
Household heads (HHHs) tend to be male by a substantial margin -- almost nine out of every ten. About eight out of ten are between 21 to 40 years of age. Ethnic group affiliation is mixed, with Baganda being most represented. Very few HHHs are native-born residents of their communities. Of the estimated 95% who are emigrants around three-quarters have been settled for less than five years.
Survey data suggest that over 90% of HHHs have had at least some exposure to formal education, usually at the primary school level. Females seem to outperform males in attaining higher levels (upper primary and beyond) of education, though their rate of access to school to begin with is somewhat lower. Occupational profiles for HHHs show an expected heavy involvement (>75%) in fishing-related activities as the main source of income, with farming activities rating to some extent (<20%) as well. It is clear however that women are engaged in farming as a main occupation much more frequently than men (57% versus 10%).
Gender-related differences are also apparent with regard to income levels. More than 80% of the women HHH can be ranked in the very lowest monthly income-level category (<10,000/- UShs), whereas only 20% of the men can be so placed. Whilst level of income does not seem to be directly related to level of formal education achievement, there do seem to be associations between income level and region. Income levels for Kalangala (Ssese Islands) Region community HHHs, for instance, are substantially lower overall than for those who hail from the other regions.
Household standards of living and welfare
The survey found that residents of Lake Victoria fishing communities can generally be characterised as living under very basic, indeed rudimentary conditions of material comfort. Household dwellings are rarely anything more elaborate than the simple one-roomed thatched mud-wattle shelter that is a standard feature of most rural settings in the country. Many residents live in shelters of an even more ‘temporary’ variety than this, Households are heavily dependent on wood and charcoal supplies, since in virtually all of them these fuels are used for cooking meals. The existence of other amenities such as good lighting in the form of pressure lamps or electricity, clean water in the form of boreholes or piped supplies, and sanitation facilities in the form of well-constructed latrines or plumbing, is almost nil. Household ownership of basic consumer goods such as bicycles or radios is estimated from the survey data to occur at frequencies of about 33% and 25% respectively.
Fish and some form of starchy food are the common components of people's diets. Cassava appears to be an especially popular meal item. Only about half of the residential units are actually engaged in raising their own food crops or livestock, and a shortage of food is reckoned to occur for at least part of the year in eight out of ten cases.
The need to meet expenses related to food, education of children, and family health accounts for the greater part of domestic budget outflows. These expenses are substantial and tend to cripple the ability to save or invest in alternative channels. It is little wonder that ‘money,’ or more precisely the lack thereof, figures as a major welfare problem for an estimated 80% of lakeshore households.
All sample household residents involved in fishing-related work were interviewed in order to learn more details of their work and enterprises. Data were analysed according to three categories, viz.: Fisher1, consisting of Boat Owners/Operators; Fisher2, consisting of Crew/Labourers; and Fisher3, consisting of Processors/Traders.
Boat Owners/Operators -- Fisher1s
Fisher1s are either owners of canoes or those who work as independent operators of fishing units without actually owning a boat themselves. The latter often own gear and have access to craft through hire arrangements; they make up something over a third of the Fisher1 category. The data further indicate that only a very small fraction (2%) of owners/operators are women, and that around 10% of all Fisher1s are owners not directly engaged in fishing. Most Fisher1s are both outright owners of boats and direct participants in fishing trips.
Fishing craft, gear, and effort
Information collected from owners/operators gives a picture of the Lake Victoria-Uganda fishing craft fleet as being almost entirely (90%) composed of planked Ssese-type canoes. Small dugouts and the simple ‘Bao-tatu’ craft make up the balance. Rates of motorisation and sail propulsion both remain low, standing at 5% and 3% respectively.
The survey confirms that the Lake Victoria-Uganda artisanal fishery is largely (66%) based on gillnets, though there is a modest presence of longlines in the overall gear kit as well as an indication of growing interest in the exploitation of Rastrineobola argentea, or mukene. Beach seining and the use of cast nets both register to some extent. Mean overall gillnet fleet size is projected at 18 pieces, and mean mesh size at 6.4" (163mm). Principal target species are Nile perch (44%), tilapia (32%), and mukene (13%). Mean number of fishing boatdays/year is estimated at 288.
Crew/Labourers -- Fisher2s
Fishing boat crew are invariably men. Mean crew size based on sample data extrapolation is 2.6 persons. Crew and beach labourers, who may also include women engaged in such chores as mukene drying, are usually paid on a 10–15% share-of-catch per trip basis.
Processors/Traders -- Fisher3s
Eight out of ten Fisher3s are fish smokers, about three-quarters of whom are men. Smaller proportions of people are engaged in business as combined processors-traders or as traders only. Almost all fish smokers cite problems with scarcities in fuelwood supplies.
Enterprise patterns, problems, and prospects
Fisher1s and Fisher3s are inclined to be actively involved in sales of fish to a greater extent than the crew/labourers who make up the Fisher2 category. Fisher1s and Fisher2s are more frequently involved in the sale of fresh and dried fish (mukene) than are the processor/trader Fisher3s. All the Fisher types deal with traders rather than private or other kinds of buyers (local processors, industrial fish plants) as their most frequent customers.
Patterns of monthly earnings vary greatly between the different categories of Fishers. Owners/operators appear to be in the most advantageous position: fewer can be ranked at the lowest monthly income level (<10,000/- UShs) than in the case of Fisher2s and Fisher3s, and more at the highest level (>50,000/- UShs). The Fisher2 crew/labourers appear to be most disadvantaged of the three Fisher types in terms of monthly earnings. Comparison with national data suggests that fisher enterprises do not rate very strongly in their income-earning performances.
Business and job problems identified by Fishers vary somewhat in terms of frequency of mention depending on the type of enterprise, except in regard to the problem of fluctuation in fish supply. High capital and operating costs are problems associated with Fisher1s, poor working and living conditions with Fisher2s, and inadequate curing, handling, and marketing arrangements with Fisher3s.
There is a tendency across all the Fisher classes to regard business and job prospects in a rather pessimistic way. Low catches, high costs, low prices, and stiff competition are the usual reasons cited for holding the view that fishing-related work is ‘becoming worse.’ There does not appear to be any particular correlation between a view of things as ‘better’ or ‘worse’ and length of experience in work. Fisher1s as a class tend to be most established in their enterprises, with around 40% having a history of five or more years involvement.
Despite their fairly negative outlook, most Fishers harbour an intention to continue in their lines of work in future, often because it is the only work that seems to be available or the only work that people know how to do. The exception occurs with processors/traders. A little less than half of Fisher3s are of the view that they will not continue in their businesses; about the same proportion are not sure whether they will continue.
Action to improve business/job prospects
The survey also probed the question of what might be done at the local level by community residents themselves, and what at the level of Government or outside agencies, in order to promote improvement of Fisher business or job prospects. It is clear that respondents are able to think of more ways for the Government or outside agencies to assist than they are of ways in which local residents can take initiatives themselves.
A popular suggestion for local action is the formation of co-operative societies, even if past experience with fishing co-ops has not been especially encouraging. The implementation of infrastructural or service development projects, loan of subsidy schemes, and more convenient gear and equipment supply arrangements were widely supported measures that could be taken by Government and outside agencies.
The SEC team undertook pilot work in selected communities along the northwestern stretch of the Lake Albert littoral in order to determine the suitability of the Lake Victoria, survey approach within that region. Five communities were visited and the SECSURV1 form was administered to groups of key respondents is each case.
General community circumstances
All the Lake Albert settlements visited are located on public land, though the lack of an official gazetted status for most obviously has a retarding influence insofar as the development of housing conditions and services or amenities is concerned. Poor catches in recent years, general insecurity, and ethnic rivalries have contributed to a lack of growth in some communities.
Major development problems in the area were identified as lack of fishing inputs, high incidence of gear theft, declining or disrupted markets in Zaire, fuelwood shortages, very low access to public services and amenities especially in relation to schools and health facilities, and chronic rampant malaria and water-borne diseases.
There appears to be a well-established and strong pattern of landing site organisation in terms of ‘Centre Masters’ and fishing committees. The Masters function in much the same role as the ‘Head Fishers’ commonly found in Lake Victoria fishing settlements. Local co-operative society organisation is weak and has a poor record of performance in the northern Lake Albert area. Community development efforts in the form of self-help projects and Government-sponsored programmes have been of mixed issue. Generally those that rely on a substantial display of local initiative do not seem to have fared very well.
As on Lake Victoria, the direct involvement of women in fishing operations is minimal, being restricted mainly to participation in beach seining. Women do however tend to dominate the Lake Albert post-harvest (processing and trading) sector.
Future survey work
Though limited in scope the pilot activities of the SEC team did serve to demonstrate the feasibility of utilising the approach developed for Lake Victoria for a full survey exercise of Lake Albert communities. A survey frame is now available with the completion of census work by the FISHIN Project team, and stratification and probability sampling can be elaborated in the same fashion as for Lake Victoria. It is recognised however that resources for the fieldwork might be even more limited in the case of Albert and that stratification and sampling strategy might have to be adjusted accordingly.
In concluding this report, a number of recommendations are proposed for building upon the FISHIN' Project's SEC community survey activities and for utilising survey findings to guide planning and development undertakings.
The successful completion of the SEC group's community survey work programme means that a model is now available for further use by the UFD through its Fisheries Statistical and Information Systems Unit (FSISU). It is recommended that:
Long-term plans should be devised for the conduct of fishing community surveys on a time-to-time basis in order to provide regular updates for the information base that has now been established. ‘Baseline’ exercises could be mounted every five years, for instance.
The survey questionnaires and sampling schemes developed for gathering information at the community, household, and individual enterprise levels respectively should be utilised to structure such exercises. Data compilation and analysis should be handled through the coding and processing procedures and software now in place with the FSISU.
Efforts should be organised as soon as possible to extend basic fishing community survey coverage to Lake Albert-Uganda, using the sampling and interview tools and approaches developed for the Lake Victoria exercise. Lake Albert and all the other major national fisheries including those of Lakes Edward/George, Kyoga, and the River Nile should be included in the long-term survey update plans suggested above. Consideration should also be given to the inclusion of selected minor swamp and lake fisheries around the country.
Steps should also be taken to establish consultative links with appropriate personnel of the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, who can provide advice on sampling, data handling, and computer processing questions.
The FSISU and general UFD capabilities for conducting socio-economic and policy and planning related work remain critically weak due to understaffing. This situation should be rectified through the appointment of appropriate personnel at both senior and trainee levels.
As demonstrated in the foregoing report an extensive information bank or database on Lake Victoria-Uganda fishing communities, households, and fisher enterprises has been established, though only a limited analysis of its contents has been possible to date.
Much further analytical work remains to be carried out on the Lake Victoria community database and it should be addressed without delay. Needs for further investigation include, for example, such key areas as: the characteristics of other community residents besides Household Heads; details of fishing unit and fishing-related business cost-earning performances; and multi-dimensional comparisons and contrasts between the various Fisher types (Owners/operators, Crew/Labourers, and Processors/Traders).
Use of the database should also be directed towards broader assessments of features of fishing community standards of living and welfare vis-a-vis the general national population. This can be accomplished through reference to such material as the recent National Census and the National Household Budget Survey.
Several measures deriving from fieldwork observations and preliminary analysis of survey data are suggested specifically in regard to Lake Victoria communities:
Improved access
Perhaps the single most effective action that could be taken to improve the level of fishing community welfare is road and transport infrastructure development.
Many of the constraints on productivity, marketing problems, and service deficiencies that characterise life in lakeshore settlements would be substantially ameliorated with the provision of better, more reliable access by road and water. Development agency assistance and investment policy should be informed of this priority.
Land tenure
It appears that in many fishing settlements residents face a very uncertain situation with regard to land occupancy and use rights. Little in the way of public-mindedness or community improvement spirit can be expected in such a circumstance. Indeed, far from being willing to participate in or otherwise support efforts to build self-help water projects, schools, drainage systems and the like, people may even be hesitant about doing much to improve their own domestic facilities.
The situation is complicated and does not admit of easy and ready solution, but planners and administers should recognise the importance of this problem as an obstacle to community development and infrastructure improvement programmes. It may prove necessary after further scrutiny and consideration to devise means of regularising the status of residents in those places where occupancy and use rights are tenuous. In some cases buy-outs of private property and resettlement of fishers to properly gazetted sites may prove to be the best answer.
Social services and health
Whilst the measures suggested above obviously involve a degree of community involvement, but they also depend to a substantial extent on the mobilisation of resources and expertise from outside sources.
Actions of a more participatory nature as far as fisherfolk communities are concerned should be encouraged at the same time. Of particular moment are those that bear on the improvement of hygiene and domestic water supplies and other disease control issues at landings.
Malaria is one of the occupational hazards of Lake Victoria fishing life, but its incidence could certainly be reduced by eliminating some of the more obvious mosquito breeding places like pools of stagnant water and piles of rubbish in the immediate vicinity of lakeshore settlements. Basic, simple actions of environmental management could also be taken to reduce the rate of diarrhoeal diseases as well. Again there are no instant remedies, but Department of Fisheries extension personnel working closely with Ministry of Health field staff and backed by the active support of their supervisory officers should at least be trying through persuasion and example to stimulate some local initiatives along these lines.
In this connection every effort should be made to enlist the backing of local Bagabunga, fishing committees, and RC1s.
Technical advice and support to Fishers
Survey data indicate that there is great scope for technological improvement within both the harvest and post-harvest sectors of the Lake Victoria-Uganda artisanal fishery. Amongst other things,
A need exists to promote the wider use of sail propulsion for fishing craft within the Ugandan portion of the Lake, where it is now utilised to a surprisingly small extent.
Efforts should also be directed urgently towards the popularisation of more efficient and durable smoking kilns in lakeshore communities as a means of conserving increasingly scarce fuelwood supplies and improving product quality and profitability for local processors.
Coenen, E.J. 1991. Operational visit to the Project Regions of Lakes Edward/George and Albert: account of activities and observations. BIOSTAT Field Report No. 17, FISHIN Notes and Records, Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems, FAO/UNDP Project UGA/87/007.
Enfield, M. 1989. Socio-economic survey in the Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. Report prepared for the EEC Conservation of Natural Resources Project, No. 4100.037.42.44. AGRICONSULTING, Rome.
Kitakule, J.S. & J.E. Reynolds 1991a. Organisation and conduct of a fishing community survey, Lake Victoria-Uganda, 1991. SEC Field Report No. 20, FISHIN Notes and Records. Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems, FAO/UNDP Project UGA/87/007.
Kitakule, J.S., 1991b. Fishing communities of Lake Victoria-Uganda: a first assessment. SEC Working Paper No. 2, FISHIN Notes and Records. Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems, FAO/UNDP Project UGA/87/007.
Malvestuto, S.P. 1990. Catch assessment survey design for the Ugandan waters of Lake Victoria. Report prepared for the FISHIN Project, UGA/87/007. Entebbe. (mimeo).
MPED -- Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, 1991. Report on the Uganda National Household Budget Survey. World Bank/UNDP Project UGA/88/R01, Statistics Department, MPED, Entebbe.
Nyeko, D. & E.J. Coenen, eds., 1991. Preliminary results of the frame survey conducted in the Ugandan portion of Lake Albert. BIOSTAT Field Report No. 23, FISHIN Notes and Records, Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems, FAO/UNDP Project UGA/87/007.
Reynolds, J.E. 1990. Continuity or crisis? Management challenges for the shared fisheries of the western Ugandan Great Lakes. SEC Field Report No. 15, FISHIN Notes and Records. Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems, FAO/UNDP Project UGA/87/007.
Tumwebaze, R. & E.J. Coenen, eds., 1991. Report on the frame survey conducted in the Ugandan part of Lake Victoria. BIOSTAT Field Report No. 22, FISHIN Notes and Records, Fisheries Statistics and Information Systems, FAO/UNDP Project UGA/87/007.
