George Masanga, another resident, says that most of the illegal settlers are reluctant to register their existence with the local authorities, which makes it hard to trace them in case of incidents such as sudden death, and theft of property, among others.
The dealers normally store the illegal fishing nets in their homes and sell them off to clients, most of whom in the end act as their agents within the remote landing sites across different lakes within the country.
Rashid Kasaajja, the Bukagabo landing site chairperson, says that much as the Fisheries Protection Unit-FPU personnel have labored to sensitize fishermen on the disadvantages of using illegal fishing gear, which contribute to the increase of fatal accidents across the lake, most of them have remained adamant.
Akandwanaho notes that cases of illegal fishing practices have increased and over 2500 illegal boats commonly referred to as “bao tatu” and 800 beach seines have been impounded in the past seven months.
