Report of a Rapid Assessment of the Lake Nakivali Fishery

Abstract

Lake Nakivali is a small lake, 14 km long, 6 km wide, 26 km2 in area and has maximum depth of 3.5 m at high water level (Hughes and Hughes, 1992). The lake is located in a lake-swamp complex with River Rwizi as the principle inflow, and a number of peripheral lakes among which are four major ones, i.e. Lakes Nakivali, Mburo, Kachira, and Kijanebalola. The indigenous fisheries of these lakes were based on Clarias gariepinus, C. werneri, and haplochromine cichlids until 1935 when they were stocked with Oreochromis spp (e.g. O. niloticus, O. esculentus and O. leucostictus) and other tilapiines e.g. Tilapia zillii and T. rendallii (Hughes and Hughes, 1992). Annual fish catches from Lake Nakivali rose to 655 t in 1960 and attained a peak of 986 t in 1964 but decreased to 174 t by 1966 (Vanden Bossche and Bernacsek, 1990) and further decline was noted around 1971 (Hughes and Hughes, 1992). This downward trend of catches both the native and introduced fish species appears to have continued to the present day but there are hardly any records of fish catches. Lake Nakivali is a controlled lake with four official landing sites, namely: Kikusi, Kahirimbi, Kashojwa and Rukinga. The latter three are located within a Refugee settlement whereas Kikusi is outside. The Nakivali Refugee settlement was established in 1963 for Rwandese of Tutsi origin but at present has at least seven nationalities which include people from Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Eritrea. The Integrated Rural Development Initiative (IRDI) project in Uganda which is promoting Community Based Environmental Management in Nakivali Settlement in Isingiro district, estimated that 43,448 people composed of 22,448 refugees and 21,000 nationals were living in the area (about 378 km2) in December 2006. The subsistence activities of this large population have had stressful impacts on both land and lake resources. The project seeks to correct this degradation and to support refugees and nationals in using the environment in more friendly and profitable ways. As part of this effort, and following concerns of low fisheries productivity and related environmental issues, the Office of the Prime Minister, through a project on refugee settlement proposed to assess the viability of stocking fish and watershed rehabilitation through tree planting in Lake Nakivali. The project management approached NaFIRRI’s for assistance in the following areas: 1. Assessment of Lake Nakivali for re-stocking and watershed planting; 2. Assessment of endemic species in the lake; and 3. Identification of possible Income Generating Projects (IGPs) for the locals and refugees.