At Ubongwa, a Lake Albert landing site on the side of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), residents complain about fish price increases.
A kilogramme of fish on the local market sells for 15,000 Congolese Francs or around $6. Two years ago, the same amount of fish went for $4.
According to locals at Ubongwa, the price change might appear manageable, but for poor communities living hand to mouth, that increase in the price of an important staple such as fish is unmanageable.
Locals say a large part of the hike in the price of fish is due to the increased costs on the lake, which they blame on the implementation of the Lake Edward Albert Integrated Fisheries and Water Resources Management (LEAF II) project.
Funded by the African Development Bank to the tune of $24.54m, LEAF II was meant to stimulate sustainable management of two cross-border water bodies shared by Uganda and the DRC, the Lakes Edward and Albert.
The five-year project should have, among other things, improved food security and created income opportunities for an estimated 400,000 people in the riparian communities of the two lakes.
However, beneficiaries of the project say that instead of improving their livelihoods, LEAF II has fueled corruption, where law enforcement officers require bribes to allow fishing communities on the lakes.
Dieu Kambale a fisherman at Ubongwa landing site in Mahagi Territory in Ituri Province in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), whose name has been changed slightly says his community has resorted to bribing law enforcement on the lakes Albert and Edward, to survive the brutality caused by security forces which in turn increased the cost of fish.
Both Uganda and the DRC implemented LEAF II, which, according to Kambale, resulted in fishing communities experiencing human rights abuses, eviction, intimidation, and harassment of human rights defenders by authorities.
“We pay between $81 to be allowed to fish for a week. There, you can use any gear and get fish of any size you want. That is why you see those who could not want to abandon the trade,” says Kambale.
Those who evade enforcers and enter the water without paying bribes had the same immature fish impounded by fisheries officials on several occasions.
Once the immature fish is impounded, the culprits that are arrested are then spotlighted in the media, and their catch is resold without following the law.
The evidence of those bribes, residents say, can be seen on the DRC side between Kolokoto village and Ubongwa, in the new and well-furnished houses that have been constructed by fisheries law enforcers profiting off the growing bribery culture.
Yet, there should be no Congolese law enforcement officers on Lake Albert, which is the bigger and more profitable of the two lakes under LEAF.
Dan Atimnedi, a Fisheries Inspector for Mahagi Territory in Eastern DRC, told Environmental Defenders on April 20 that no naval unit has ever been deployed to regulate fishing on Lake Albert.
“This is because regulating fishing is not their responsibility. It can only be supported by the surveillance unit made up of the fisheries and environment departments,” she says. It cannot go out on the lake alone to hunt down fishermen.”
Atimnedi acknowledges receiving complaints alleging harassment and corruption orchestrated by the naval forces, who are often on the lakes enforcing fishing standards. She is, however, non-committal about how the authorities in Mahagi will stop the practice going forward.
Uganda experience
Unlike DRC, Uganda officially deployed a unit of its army to enforce fishing standards on Lake Edward and Albert.
Known as the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU), this component of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) first made its name as brutal and corruptible, during its operation on Lake Victoria, another cross-border water body shared between Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Residents in the Albertine, where Lakes Edward and Albert are located, say their experience of FPU has also been brutal, with exceptions provided for individuals who have the resources to bribe.
Patrick Tumusiime, the councilor for Mbegu Parish in Kabaale sub-county in Hoima district, says the project has created misery for the local economy, as the community operates in lakes that are increasingly depleted because of the tendency by those who pay bribes to catch immature fish.
“You can’t tell people to pay between sh150,000 – 300,000 ($41-$82) and they spend three days minus a catch. There is no way people would fail to employ destructive fishing techniques out of desperation,” he says.
There have been instances of fishermen using harmful gear, and likely to deplete the lake in the long run.
Such prohibited gear includes mosquito nets, beach and boat seines, as well as the hurry-up fishing method, all of which indiscriminately capture immature fish.
Clearing the lake of immature fish means there will be minimal reproduction, which will then deplete the lakes.
Thanks to the extensive smuggling networks, immature fish from Uganda can be traded in DRC, through sustained cross-border networks of traders and a more tolerant regularly authority allows for consumption of this contraband.
Allegations of corruption and the hardship endured by fishermen was put on record by human right’s defenders and the community in a letter to the AfDB.
Albertine WatchDog in a May 15, 2022, letter to the African Development Bank noted the enforcement on the lakes has been so harsh, some members of the community are being forced by conditions to relocate and find other livelihood sources.
Other members of the community have, however, chosen risky behaviour accessing the water bodies at night.
While fishing at night is a renowned custom since that is the time fishermen catch the most fish, there are parts of these two lakes that are allegedly occupied by militia from eastern DRC.
“Some of our colleagues have went missing over a month ago and we are not sure whether they are alive or dead,” says one fisherman.
Other coping mechanisms include choosing parts of the lakes that are hard to reach, where the water is most dangerous.
For those who are lucky to know they are about to be arrested the choice is to abandon their families, as other consequences of stealthily accessing the lakes can include arrest, detention, and death for some.
According to the letter, there are documented cases of killing and torture against fishing communities, as well as sexual violence targeting women and girls.
The letter adds that even human rights defenders have been subjected to harassment and intimidation because of questioning the conduct of the law enforcement officers.
Ashraf Luzira Oromo, a Fisherman and human rights defender at Runga Landing Site in Hoima district says a major problem for them has been the fact that politicians, who should represent the people are siding with the UPDF to harm communities.
He says enforcers, with the knowledge and involvement of local leaders, solicit bribes.
“Deployment serves the interests of security, not the fishermen. They do it in the open,” says Oromo.
Fishermen such as Oromo argue that the funny thing is that Uganda had years ago figured out a method of working with communities to stop overfishing.
“The Directorate of the Fisheries tried and failed to forcefully enforce fishing standards and later created a landing site committee comprised of five people,” he says.
These committees, known as Beach Management Units (BMUs), never impounded fish and gear to resell at cheap prices.
Jackson Wabyona, a sector observer says BMUs meant lake management was between the community and the state. BMUs were formed and the district fisheries officers who are the technical officers would provide support. At that time there were no friction and proper utilisation of the lake.
Security, he avers, was purely for maintaining borders safe and all crimes associated with water bodies but fishing was for fishermen who traditionally had a symbiotic relationship with the water body using culture and indigenous knowledge to conserve it.
Wabyona said but now district fisheries officers have been rendered useless and the community because of poverty started fishing irresponsibly.
According to Tumusiime, allowing the community manage the fishing for 10 years, was a progressive idea that could have worked, if improved upon through capacity building and financial facilitation.
Changing the enforcement methods in Uganda
Daisy Olyel Aciro, Commissioner Fisheries Resources Management and Development-Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) in Uganda, says the government will change its approach to regulating fishing.
During a March 3, 2025, consultative meeting for the Fisheries and Aquaculture ACT 2023, at HB Hotel in Hoima City, Aciro said the government was introducing a new law to change enforcement methods.
“These days, you are talking about FPU, but now in the new law we are going to have a professional team of enforcement which is based on the science of fisheries, and they are under the control of the minister and appointed by the Public Service to do enforcement work.”
This means FPU, which was being accused by fishermen as high-handed and resulting in the death of fishermen, increased cases of extortion, will be disbanded.
Aciro said it will be more focused on the eco-system approach, which is looking at managing fisheries, sustainable exploitation, and socio-economic issues.
She said they (fishermen) will have to abide by certain codes of conduct, and where issues of Human Rights abuses, they can be dealt with by the law.
Some of the amendments in the proposed law is it bans the use of monofilament nets and considers reviewing what the fishermen can use which is not detrimental to the environment and impacting on the lakes fish reproduction processes.
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