On May 12, 2024, Uganda Revenue Authority’s Team One Enforcement, during a regular check along Jinja Road, intercepted a Toyota Wish carrying 631.4 kilograms of young, dry-smoked fish (only three months old). The vehicle was heading to Mpondwe at the Uganda-Congo Border.
Immature fish are often smuggled for their fish maw, also known as the air bladder. Fish maw is used in making surgical threads and anesthesia. This organ helps fish control buoyancy in water.
Each year, a fish can grow to about 100 kilograms. It takes about 5 to 10 fully-grown Nile perch to get one kilogram of fish maw. However, with immature fish, it takes about 200 to 800 pieces to obtain the same amount.
In 2017, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni instructed the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) to patrol Ugandan lakes to stop illegal fishing and protect fish resources from depletion.
The Ministry of Fisheries banned extracting fish maw from young Nile perch. Additionally, the Ministry of Trade banned importing fishing nets to allow fish to grow and boost trade.
Since then, URA, along with UPDF’s Fisheries Protection Unit and other security agencies, have worked to stop illegal fishing in lakes like Victoria, Edward, George, and Kyoga.
At the handover of the intercepted fish to the UPDF Fisheries Protection Unit in Entebbe, URA’s Assistant Commissioner of Enforcement, Godson Mwesigye, appreciated the cooperation between URA and Fisheries. He emphasized customs’ crucial role in protecting the environment.
Labo. J. Cherop, UPDF Fisheries Protection Unit Entebbe-Major, praised the collaborative efforts and warned that criminals caught could face up to 8 years in prison.
