Uganda fish exporters worry as stocks dwindle

By Elias Biryabarema

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's fishing industry will disappear in the next five years unless the government moves to stop stocks dwindling for one of the east African nation's top foreign exchange earners, industry experts said.

Uganda earns more annually from fish and its products than tea, cotton and tobacco, and the sector rivals coffee as the top export earner, although it only contributes some 2.6 percent to gross domestic product, according to finance ministry data.

"It's a seriously grave crisis," said Seremos Kamuturaki, executive director of Uganda Fisheries and Fish Conservation Association.

"What is even more disconcerting is that the responsible authorities don't seem to realize the magnitude and urgency of the disaster facing us if the current state of affairs in our water bodies persists."

Industry sources say they are alarmed at the rate of decline, especially of Nile perch and tilapia, from overfishing, pollution and the catching of immature fish.

The sector, which employs an estimated 50,000 people directly and millions indirectly, grew by an average 13 percent annually from 2004-2005, but started to fall in 2006.

It decreased by 9.6 percent last year.

Receipts for fish and fish products have declined steadily from $142 million in 2005 to $124 million in 2008, and volumes fallen from 39,201 tonnes to 24,966 tonnes in the same period.