page_title: Fishing gear and methods used in Uganda
section_title: Fishing gear for the Rastrineobola argentea (silver fish) fishery
hierarchical_section_title: Fishing gear and methods used in Uganda / Fishing gear for the Rastrineobola argentea (silver fish) fishery
caption_attribution_description: English: Fishermen repairing nets fo silver fish on Lutoboka landing site kalangala
context_page_description: Fishing gear and methods used in Uganda are both modern and traditional. Fish in Uganda are caught mostly with plank canoes and to a lesser extent, fiberglass boats. Some dugout canoes are also still being used. The plank canoes are generally 4–12 m in length and dugout canoes average 3.5 m. The total number of vessels is about 17,000 and about 20% of these are motorized. Artisanal fishermen use various gear including gillnets, seines and hook and line. In a number of localities, traditional methods including baskets, traps and mosquito nets continue to be used. The gear commonly used includes gillnets, lift nets, scoop-nets used in light fishing; hook and line gear and fish traps.
context_section_description: Silver fish is fished at night when there is no moon. The fishermen leave at 5:00pm in the evening and return at 6:00am or 7:00am in the morning. Parafin Steamer lamps placed on rafts called "Lago" are used to trap the fish. A fish net ranging from 5-10mm is used. It is often 40 ft (12.19 m) long with eight to fourteen sections, called "golofa". The fishermen use six lamps when using such a net. This a change from the practice long ago when the fisherman used one lamp and a much smaller net called "Kyota". The fishermen nicknamed the fishing of silverfish in the middle of the lake, Hurr up. But silverfish is also fished on the shore in Buvuma district. This is mostly done by Women. The net they use has six sections. This kind of silverfish is called, silverfish of the shore, Mukene owokutaka.
  Lamps are attached to the front of a canoe and others on small rafts. These rafts keep the lamps floating.  The net is lowered into the water. A big school of fish is attracted to the light and trapped in the net. In another instance, lamps are set in a straight line (about 200 m (656.17 ft) long) by connecting the rafts with ropes (at intervals of about 15 m (49.21 ft)) and positioning them perpendicular to the shoreline. A fish school is attracted by light and eventually concentrated around the light. The lights are hauled in slowly until they are grouped together close to the shore. One lamp is attached to the canoe so that the lamps on the rafts can be placed in the canoe before scooping without losing the catch.
  In some areas, a pair of canoes joined together by planks forming “a catamaran” is used to fish silverfish. A kerosene parafin lamp, attached to the middle of one of the planks, is lit. Another lamp mounted on a small raft connected to the canoe by a rope of about 15 m (49.21 ft) long, is also lit and slowly pulled towards the canoe. This attracts the fish to the net. The fish are trapped in the net and the lights extinguished.
caption: Fishermen repairing nets for silver fish on Lutoboka landing site kalangala
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