Fish maw wars

“We export about 75% of our fish to the European Union and they regularly send their officials to check on our hygienic standards and if they realise that our fish is not safe it is banned from their markets as it was done some years back,” Matovu explained.

Traders petition parliament

The Association of Fishers and Lake Users of Uganda (AFALU), which other fish traders associations accuse of siding with MAAIF over the directives on fish maw, has written to the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries asking them to intervene in the row over fish maws.

The Chairman of AFALU, Godfrey Ssenyonga Kambugu says they are the recognised fish traders association and that’s why President Museveni chose them to work with the Fisheries Protection Force to curb bad practices in fishing.

“We decided to petition parliament because we have many members who supply fish to factories and they have been affected by the new directives and we need a third party to mediate between us and MAAIF,” Kambugu said.

He accused of MAAIF officials of making the directives without consulting them and only wanting to invite them to inform them of the directives. He says AFALU members want the ministry to withdraw the directives before consultations start. He, however, said they agree with licensing those in the business.

The Deputy Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Robert Ndugwa Migadde (Buvuma), who also chairs a caucus of all legislators from districts bordering lakes, confirmed that they had received the letter from AFALU. He said in a meeting, Dr. Rukuunya explained that he was not conniving with fish processors and exporters but was regulating the trade in fish as the country was losing a lot of revenue from unauthorised and unlicensed traders.

Migadde said the fish industry has many associations with some fighting each other.

“It is almost impossible to get one which represents all of them,” he says and advised them to get one platform to campaign for their interests.

“Fish maws are more profitable than most minerals being dug from different parts of the country which has turned the trade into a black market,” he said, “the government was right to make directives to regulate it though there was a need to explain this carefully to all stakeholders including the small players.”

Value of maws

Dr. Anthony Tabu Munyao of the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFRRI) says a fish maw, also known as swim bladder or gas bladder keeps some fish, such as Nile Perch, buoyant. He says that in Uganda about seven species of fish have fish maws whereas others, like tilapia, have their maws in membrane form.

Munyao says that of all the fish that have a fish maw or swim bladder of the Nile Perch has most market “because it’s big, thick, and fatty”.

“We are still doing research on what the fish maws are used for but we hear they are used in producing absorbable sucures (stitches used during medical operations) and in production of aphrodisiacs (drugs to increase libido),” Munyao says.