On Saturday, 7 November 2026, women silver-fish traders gathered at Kiwulwe landing site in Uganda and told the government, in plain words, that they were starving. Three days later, on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, the government lifted the ban on mukene fishing. This is the story of what the women said, what the ban cost them, and the strict new rules that now decide who can fish — and how.
The headline, stated honestly: the government did not lift every restriction. The destructive “hurry-up” fishing method stays banned, lights are limited to two kerosene lamps per boat, and fishing is allowed for only 14 days a month. What changed on 10 November is that the legal way to catch mukene — the scoop-net method called chota-chota — is open again. The ministry says the decision followed a review of fisheries regulations; the women who protested on 7 November had been demanding exactly this outcome for months. The sequence is a fact; the ministry has not said the protest caused the decision, and this post does not claim otherwise.
The three days that changed everything
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| February 2024 | Government bans lampara nets modified and operated as “hurry-up” fishing, because the method scoops up immature Nile perch and tilapia along with mukene. |
| 20 February 2026 | A ministerial directive from State Minister for Fisheries Hellen Adoa intensifies restrictions on silver-fish fishing across all Ugandan waters. |
| 8 June 2026 | Daily Monitor reports that, three months after the restrictions tightened, mukene prices have more than doubled in parts of eastern Uganda and landing sites have gone quiet. |
| Saturday, 7 November 2026 | Women silver-fish traders mark the International Day for Women in Fishing Environment at Kiwulwe landing site, Bugiri-Kawuku, Wakiso District — and demand the ban be lifted. |
| Tuesday, 10 November 2026 | State Minister for Fisheries Robert Migadde announces at the Uganda Media Centre that mukene fishing resumes with immediate effect, under strict new guidelines. The hurry-up method stays banned. |
“We are starving” — what the women said on 7 November
The gathering at Kiwulwe was organised by FIAN Uganda, the food-rights organisation, which brought together counterparts from Colombia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Italy and Germany to share experiences. Janerose Nansubuga, Programmes Officer at FIAN Uganda, told the Daily Monitor that most of the affected women are single mothers and sole breadwinners who have been left stranded since the ban took effect.
“Up to today, as we speak, they don’t know what to do next. Most of these women are the caretakers of their families. They have children to take care of. They were abandoned by their husbands and everything has been left into their care,” Ms Nansubuga said.
The individual stories the women told explain why the protest carried such force:
- Christina Nassuna, a resident of Kiwulwe, has spent 30 years dealing in mukene and says the trade raised her family. Since the ban, she says her life has collapsed: “I have four children. They no longer go to school. I have nothing to feed my children. My husband left me.” She appealed directly to President Yoweri Museveni to lift the ban.
- Teopista Mukabasezi, also of Kiwulwe, has dealt in silverfish for seven years and used to provide everything for her family. The ban has left her with five children she can no longer provide for — including a disabled child who needs special care. “My children didn’t sit for Primary Seven because I don’t have money,” she said. She appealed to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja to intervene.
- Evan Asiimwe, from the Lake Albert area, said the situation in Buseruka Sub-county, Lwentale village, has become desperate: “People now in Buseruka Sub-county, in Lwentale village, eat fish intestines.” She said prostitution has increased as women struggle to survive, while men have been left idle — “Men have ended up in prisons because they are idle and end up stealing because they don’t have what to do.”
The women also warned that the ban is pushing girls out of school. Ms Nassuna said young girls have been married off early because they no longer attend school. Ms Nansubuga added that the government’s proposed alternative livelihoods, such as farming, are not secure: “If the lake has been closed, they have been encouraged to go into farming. What if one day in farming, the land has been grabbed? Where are you going to chase them?”
To organise the affected fishers, FIAN Uganda has formed the Silverfisher Movement, bringing together women’s groups on Lake Victoria, Lake Albert and Lake Kyoga. Ms Nansubuga said several petitions have been submitted to the government and to cultural institutions, but there has been no response yet. A separate petition to Parliament is also pending — the women have engaged MP Jacqueline Amongin, who is ready to lead them to the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture. “A letter was submitted and it’s still pending on when we are going to be invited, but we are ready,” she said.
Why mukene matters so much
Mukene is the silver cyprinid, Rastrineobola argentea — also called the Lake Victoria sardine, dagaa in Kiswahili and omena in Dholuo. It is a small pelagic fish caught by light attraction on moonless nights, and it is the only native fish species that has remained abundant in Lake Victoria since Nile perch and Nile tilapia were introduced. For millions of people in eastern and southern Africa it is cheap, nutritious food; the lowest-quality catch is still usable as chicken feed.
The fish is caught at night and sold in the morning to women, who spread it out to dry in the sun — a trade women dominate from drying to market. That is why a ban on the fishing method lands hardest on women: they are the processors, the traders and, very often, the sole providers at home. Research on Lake Victoria’s shores has found the same pattern — women are largely limited to the low-value nodes of the value chain, yet dried omena carries disproportionate importance for household nutrition and food security.
The trade can also lift women out of poverty when it works. A December 2025 Daily Monitor report from landing sites in Mukono, Buikwe and Pakwach districts found women earning far more through improved drying, processing and value addition: at Kiyindi landing site, trader Peruse Logose said she once earned Shs5,000 a day and now earns up to Shs200,000, owns a tricycle and a van, employs 10 people and supplies silverfish across the region. A basin of mukene that once sold for Shs20,000–30,000 was fetching Shs50,000–70,000, sometimes up to Shs150,000. The work is supported by the NutriFishPlus project of Makerere University, funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, which runs until March 2028.
Why the government banned the method in the first place
The ban was never, in the government’s words, a ban on mukene itself. State Minister Migadde was explicit at the 10 November briefing: “The perception has been that mukene was banned, but mukene has never been banned. It is a specific method of harvesting silverfish, which is called hurry-up, which was harvesting immature Nile perch and tilapia. That was actually banned.”
The hurry-up method uses modified lampara nets — panelled nets worked with powerful lights — that scoop up everything in the water column, including juvenile Nile perch and tilapia. The government says it threatens the sustainability of the lakes’ fish stocks. Enforcement sits with the Fisheries Protection Unit, the army unit President Museveni deployed in 2017 to combat illegal fishing and enforce fisheries regulations in Uganda’s waters.
The December 2025 presidential directive added another layer: solar and other forms of light were restricted in catching silverfish, after the widespread use of bright solar lights was judged to create excessive illumination across the lakes, obstructing navigation and creating safety concerns for other water users.
The new rules: what is allowed now
From Tuesday, 10 November 2026, mukene fishing has resumed — but only under a tight rulebook issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF). The rules, announced by Minister Migadde, are summarised below.
| Rule | What it says |
|---|---|
| Allowed method | Chota-chota — the scoop-net method — only. One scoop net per boat, mounted on a wooden ring of maximum 5 feet diameter, with a handle. Mesh size not less than 8 millimetres. |
| Still banned | Hurry-up fishing and all lampara nets or other panelled appliances. “They were suspended because we were using a method called hurry-up and, therefore, when we are reopening them, that method should not be seen anywhere,” Migadde said. |
| Lighting | Maximum two kerosene-powered pressure lamps (steamers) per boat. Solar-powered lights are prohibited. |
| Fishing days | Only 14 days each month, from the beginning of the moon’s dark phase — mukene is traditionally caught on moonless nights. |
| Boat size | Fishing vessel/boat with a minimum total length of 24 feet. |
| Licence | Boat owners must have held a silver-fish fishing licence in at least one of the years 2023, 2024, 2025 or 2026. |
| Licensing window | Licences issued from 1 January to 31 March; enforcement of the new requirements runs 1 April to 31 December (2026/2027 fishing year). |
| Legal basis | Fisheries and Aquaculture Act, Cap 314, in force since 2023. The guidelines stay in force until more detailed regulations are issued under the newly gazetted fisheries regulations. |
How a fisher gets back on the water
The ministry has set out a step-by-step route back to legal fishing:
- Check your licence history. Only boat owners who held a silver-fish licence in 2023, 2024, 2025 or 2026 qualify for consideration.
- Go through your landing site committee. Fisheries Management Committees at landing sites identify and recommend eligible indigenous fishermen.
- District assessment. Recommendations go to District Fisheries Officers for assessment.
- Ministry decision. The final authority to issue or reject a licence remains with MAAIF. Each district must also submit a list of landing sites where mukene landing will take place.
- Fit out the boat to the rules. Minimum 24 feet, one chota-chota net (5-foot ring, 8 mm mesh), no lampara nets, no more than two kerosene lamps — and no solar lights.
- Fish only on the allowed days. Fourteen days a month, from the start of the moon’s dark phase. The minister warned that defiance may lead to indefinite closure of fishing activities at offending landing sites.
What this means beyond Uganda
This is not only a Ugandan story. It is a test case for the question facing small-scale fisheries everywhere: how do you protect fish stocks without destroying the people who depend on them? The women of Kiwulwe put the dilemma in one sentence — “We have to secure this lake because it belongs to all Ugandans. It’s a natural resource.” They were asking for regulation that protects both the lake and their livelihoods, not a choice between the two.
The timing adds weight. World Fisheries Day falls on Saturday, 21 November 2026 — exactly one week after the women’s protest — and this year’s global focus is small-scale fisheries and their role in food security. India’s own draft National Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries is scheduled for release the same day. The Kiwulwe story is what that policy language looks like in real life: women who dry, trade and feed families from a fish most people have never heard of, asking to be heard before the rules are written.
For India, the parallel is direct. Indian small-scale fishers face the same tension — seasonal bans, mesh-size rules and closed seasons that protect stocks but cut incomes for weeks at a time, with women fish vendors and processors absorbing the shock first. Uganda’s answer — reopen with a legal method, cap the lights, cap the days, and licence only those with a track record — is one model worth watching as India’s plan takes shape.
Frequently asked questions
Was mukene itself banned?
No — and the government has stressed this. What was banned, from February 2024, was the hurry-up method using modified lampara nets, because it catches immature Nile perch and tilapia. The fish itself was never banned; the legal scoop-net method was simply suspended in practice while enforcement tightened.
Can anyone go back to fishing now?
No. Only boat owners who held a silver-fish licence in 2023, 2024, 2025 or 2026 qualify, and only after vetting through landing-site committees, district officers and the ministry. Boats must meet the size, net and lighting rules, and fishing is limited to 14 days a month.
Why only 14 days a month?
Mukene is caught by light attraction on moonless nights. The new rules limit fishing to the 14 days from the beginning of the moon’s dark phase each month — matching the traditional fishing window while capping total effort.
What happens to the women’s Parliament petition?
It is still pending. FIAN Uganda says a letter has been submitted and the women are ready to appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, led by MP Jacqueline Amongin. The 10 November reopening does not close that process — the women are still asking for a durable solution that protects both the lake and their livelihoods.
Where can I read more about women in fisheries?
See our reports on Zambia’s tilapia boom being led by women, Africa’s $100 million plan for 242,000 fish jobs for women, Ghana’s small-scale fisheries academy reaching 20 communities, and our World Fisheries Day 2026 special.
Sources and honest notes
Fact-checked 14 November 2026 against: Daily Monitor (Uganda), “‘We are starving’: Women fishers demand lifting of light fishing ban”, published Saturday, 7 November 2026; Daily Monitor, “Mukene price crisis: How government’s ‘hurry-up’ net ban has hit wallets, livelihoods across Eastern Uganda”, published 8 June 2026; New Vision (Uganda), “Govt lifts mukene fishing ban, sets out conditions”, published 9–10 November 2026; Nile Post, “New Fishing Rules Restrict Mukene Fishing to 14 Days a Month”, published 10 November 2026; Daily Monitor, “Women on landing sites reap from mukene value addition”, December 2025. Weekdays verified: Saturday, 7 November 2026; Tuesday, 10 November 2026; Saturday, 21 November 2026.
Honest notes: the three-day sequence (protest 7 November, reopening 10 November) is reported as a sequence — the ministry attributes the reopening to its review of fisheries regulations, and this post does not claim the protest caused it. The February 2024 lampara-net ban and the February 2026 intensified enforcement are reported from two separate sources; the dates are given as each source states them. The “more than doubled” mukene price rise is the Monitor’s June 2026 finding for parts of eastern Uganda, not a nationwide figure. Earnings figures from the December 2025 value-addition report are individual traders’ accounts as reported by the Monitor, not survey averages. The images in this post are illustrations, not photographs of the Kiwulwe gathering.