NARO Cage Aquaculture

Cage Fish Farming is the rearing of fish in meshed enclosures (cage bags).

- Cage Fish Farming is the rearing of fish in meshed enclosures (cage bags) suspended in water while maintaining water circulation with the host water body such as lakes, rivers and big dams.

- Aquaculture was introduced in Uganda in 1953 with the establishment of an aquaculture experimental station at Kajjansi off Kampala-Entebbe Road. The main objective of the station was to conduct research and extension services, and produce and distribute fish fry to farmers. The species initially farmed were the native tilapiines, Nile tilapia, Tilapia zillii and the Catfish. Subsequently some foreign species, the Mirror carp, the Grass carp, the Black bass and Crayfish were introduced. Of all these species, Nile tilapia, Catfish and Mirror carp became and have remained the most commonly cultured fish species in Uganda. Additional technologies are being developed to increase the list of cultured species to include species like Labeo victorianus, Barbus altianalis and Lates niloticus.

During 1970s and 1980s, aquaculture in Uganda virtually collapsed. Most ponds were abandoned due to political instability and mismanagement. As a result, aquaculture production dropped from 900 t in 1965 to 30 t by 1986. The number of ponds countrywide dropped from 11000 in 1965 to 6000 by 1990. Virtually all the fish fry centres were run down. Rehabilitation of aquaculture resumed in 1986. Mirror carp and Nile tilapia remained the most popular aquaculture species. However, production increased slightly from 30 t in 1986 to 400-600 t in 1992 and 4,000 t by 2004. Since then, there has been a deliberate drive to promote aquaculture from an extensive subsistence system to semi-intensive and intensive commercial systems. Aquaculture production rose from 285 t in 1999 to an estimated 100,000 t including restocked water bodies in 2010/11, with 20,000 ponds existing throughout the country (DFR, 2010).

In an effort to increase aquaculture productivity and production from the current 100,000 t to a projected 300,000 t by 2016, the Government intends to create „concentrated aquaculture production areas‟ known as Aquaculture Parks (APs). Through APs, the Government targets to move from predominantly subsistence aquaculture production to commercial production by identification, acquisition and service of sites for concentrated production that will be accessible by the commercial producers.