By Wambi Michael
Kampala — Climate change is reducing the size of several
species of fish on lakes in Uganda and its neighbouring East African countries,
with a negative impact on the livelihoods of millions people who depend on
fishing for food and income.
Studies conducted on inland lakes in Uganda, including Lake
Victoria which is shared by three East African countries, indicate that
indigenous fish species have shrunk in size due to an increase in temperatures
in the water bodies.
"What we are seeing in Lake Victoria and other lakes
is a shift in the composition of fish. In the past, we had a dominance of
bigger fish but now we are seeing the fish stocks dominated by small fish. This
means they are the ones which are adapting well to the changed
conditions," said Dr Jackson Efitre, a lecturer in fisheries management
and aquatic sciences at Uganda's Makerere University.
"So if that condition goes on, he added, "the
question is would we want to see our fish population dominated by small fish
with little value?"
"We need to provide lake-dependent populations with an
alternative for them to survive ... If measures cannot be agreed and
implemented quickly, then we are condemning those communities to death" -
Dr Justus Rutaisire, responsible for aquaculture at Uganda's National Agriculture
Research Organisation (NARO)
In Uganda, the fisheries sector accounts for 2.5 percent of
the national budget and 12.5 percent of agricultural gross domestic product
(GDP). It employs 1.2 million people, generates over 100 million dollars in exports
and provides about 50 percent of the dietary proteins of Ugandans.
Efitre was one of the researchers for a study on
'Application of policies to address the influence of climate change on inland
aquatic and riparian ecosystems, fisheries and livelihoods", which
examined the influence of climate variability and change on fisheries resources
and livelihoods using lakes Wamala and Kawi in the Victoria and Kyoga lake
basins as case studies.
It also looked at the extent to which existing policies can
be applied to address the impacts of and any challenges associated with climate
change.
The study's findings showed that temperatures around the
two lakes had always varied but had increased consistently by 0.02-0.03oC
annually since the 1980s, and that rainfall had deviated from historical
averages and on Lake Wamala - although not Lake Kawi - had generally been above
average since the 1980s.
According to the study, these findings are consistent with
those reported by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) in 2007 and 2014 for the East African region.
Mark Olokotum, one of the study's researchers, climate
changes have affected the livelihoods of local fishing communities.
"These are fishers who depend on the environment. You
either increase on the number of times you fish to get more fish or get more
fishing gear to catch more fish. And once that happens, you spend more time
fishing, earn much less although the price is high, and there are no fish so
people have resorted to eating what is available," he said.
Olokotum told IPS that the water balance of most aquatic
systems in Uganda is determined by rainfall and temperature through evaporation.
He said that about 80 percent of the water gain in Lake
Wamala was through rainfall while 86 percent of the loss was through
evaporation, resulting in a negative water balance and the failure of the lake
to retain its historical water levels.
"Therefore, although rainfall in the East African
region is expected to increase as a result of climate change, this gain may be
offset by increased evaporation associated with increases in temperature unless
the increases in rainfall outweigh the loss through evaporation," Olokotum
explained.
These changes have made life more difficult for people like
Clement Opedum and his eight sons who have traditionally depended on lakes as a
source of food and income.
Opedum's living has always come from the waters of Lake
Wamala. In the past, sales of tilapia fish from the lake to neighbouring
districts were brisk; and some would be bought by traders from the Democratic
Republic of Congo, sustaining his family and other fishermen.
Those days are now gone. Over the years, the lake has
steadily retreated from its former shores, leaving Opedum and his neighbours
high and dry, and faced with the prospect that the lake could vanish entirely.
Charles Lugambwa, another fisherman in the same area, has
been obliged to turn to farming, and he now grows yams, sweet potatoes and
beans on land that was previously under the waters of the lake.
Lugambwa told IPS that apart from tilapia fish, other
species have started disappearing from the lake in 30 or so years he has lived
there. "In 1994, the lake dried up completely but came back in 1998
following heavy rains," he told IPS. "We used to catch very big
tilapia but now they are quite tiny even though they are adult fish."
Scientists and researchers argue that the causes of lake
shrinking include water evaporation, increased cultivation on banks, cutting
down of trees and destruction of wetlands, while the reduction in the size of
tilapia has been linked to increased lake water temperature as a result of
global warming.
Dr Richard Ogutu-Ohwayo, senior research officer at the National
Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFFIRI) told IPS that the response to
the impacts of climate change in Uganda had been concentrated on crops,
livestock and forestry with almost no concern for the fisheries sector.
"It is high time government took the bold step to
bring aquatic ecosystems and fisheries fully on board in its climate change
responses," he said.
According to Ogutu-Ohwayo, the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the East African Community Policy on
Climate Change commit states to building capacity, generating knowledge, and
identifying adaptation and mitigation measures to reduce the impacts of climate
change, however these have barely been implemented.
Ogutu-Ohwayo who was part of the lake study research team,
told IPS that Uganda has a water policy which provides for protection and
management of water resources, and "we must apply these policies to manage
the water resources of lakes Wamala, Kawi and other lakes through integrated
approaches such as protecting wetlands, lake shores and river banks and
controlling water extraction."
Like other East African nations, Uganda has relied heavily
on capture fisheries, or wild fisheries, with a tendency to marginalise
aquaculture as far as resource allocation and manpower development is concerned.
With climate change leading to a decline in the size and
stocks of wild fish and capture fisheries, fisheries experts are saying wild
fish and capture fisheries from lakes alone can no longer meet the demand for
fish, both for local consumption and export.
Fish processing plants around Lake Victoria, for example,
are now operating at less than 50 percent capacity, while some have closed down.
Dr Justus Rutaisire, responsible for aquaculture at
Uganda's National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO), told IPS that
aquaculture could be used as one of the adaptation measures to help communities
that have depended on fish to supplement capture fisheries.
He noted, however, that the development of aquaculture in
most Eastern African countries is constrained by low adoption of appropriate
technologies, inadequate investment in research and inadequate aquaculture
extension services.
"We need to provide lake-dependent populations with an
alternative for them to survive and that is why we are asking government to
invest in aquaculture," said Rutaisire. "If measures cannot be agreed
and implemented quickly, then we are condemning those communities to
death," he warned.
Edited by Phil Harris
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