World's worst conservation idea?

[Shane]

http://allafrica.com/stories/201003120165.html

Uganda's plans to lease its lakes to private companies. Anyone think commercial fisheries will manage Uganda's lakes for the benefit of the country?

-Shane

"Kampala — The fisheries ministry is drafting a policy to allow districts to lease lakes, state minister Fred Mukisa has disclosed.

Mukisa said the districts will lease the lakes for a specified period of time to investors. He clarified that the crater lakes would be privatised first.

He said the aim was to create a sense of ownership in the use and management of the lakes in order to increase fish production. Mukisa said because the public thinks the lakes belong to no one, the vital water bodies have been degraded and fish depleted.

Mukisa said the people, who will manage the lakes after paying for the leases, will look after the lakes and the fish and promote tourism.

He noted that once the lakes are privatised, they will encourage investors to carry out cage fish farming to increase fish stocks....."

[MatsP]

Of course they will look after the lakes - just like people renting a flat looks after the flat, or rental car drivers are careful about not wearing down the car too much. [I'm certainly guilty of the odd bit of "let's see if we can spin the wheels getting away from this traffic light - "Anti-wheelspin button off!"]

--
Mats

[Mike_Noren]

Well, that's game over for the crater lake species then. "Increase fish production" to a random private company means implanting Nile Perch and Tilapia hybrids to convert the "worthless" small fish to big, touristy, game-fish.

[bronzefry]

Sense of ownership? That's nice. Who owns what gallon of water. What licensing fees? What taxes? Where have we heard this song and dance before????? Uhm, the world around? I'm shutting up now.
Amanda

[sidguppy]

oh shit.....
that sums it up, actually

apart from your local bakery, carsalesperson, fisherman, plumber etc privatisation has done NOTHING but bad stuff

Large Coorporations Are The Enemies Of Life On Earth

repeat that lil piece of home-made propaganda for it to sink in:

Large Coorporations Are The Enemies Of Life On Earth

some idiot invented the idea that coorporations somehow improve the quality of living
guess what

they didn't

what they DID was to improve the number of dollars in the fat wallets of their owners and stake holders; people who in general are already obscenely rich to begin with. about 99% of those people have NEVER WORKED A SINGLE DAY for an honest job.
all they did was talk smooth, dress in a 3 piece suit and tie, shove paperwork from a to b and back to a and smooth talk on the phone (= lie to people).

the chances of finding callous hands and workman sweat on anyone of those creepazoids are less than the chances of finding a black man appointed to Imperial Wizard of the Klan.

it's all about profit.
bottomline; money.
top line; money
bottom line: rinse and repeat
I'll bet a few of those politicians got a big wad of dollarbills and then rammed the idea through their government.

a lake privatised? EARTH privatised?
and the local fisherman who catches a few fish to feed his wife and kids; I'll bet he suddenly has to cough up cash to keep doing so.......

personally I think that the ones who pulled this stunt over the backs of the ordinary African inhabitants who live there to make a decent life should be shot in the nearest parking lot
preferably with a lot of cams rolling by.

"want to try to shaft all the local people?"
"see what happens: BLAM! BLAM!"
"any questions?"

this will cause a LOT of people to get very very angry
and since the central part of Africa is almost buried in AK47's I can already make a fair guess of the endresult:
piles of dead humans

this is insane
and a tragedy.

[grokefish]

That is all.

[racoll]

Mukisa also lamented that the introduction of Nile Perch had killed off many other fish species in the lakes.

Bushenyi district chairman Longino Ndyanabo said they had asked the President to help them restock the 52-odd crater lakes in Bunyaruguru.

So if not Nile perch, then stocked with what?

[Shane]

So if not Nile perch, then stocked with what?

Well, it certainly will not be native fishes. Tilapia would be my guess.
-Shane

[Mike_Noren]

So if not Nile perch, then stocked with what?

Tilapia hybrids are a given. And just because they are aware that Nile Perch is a bad idea that doesn't mean it wont "accidentally" show up.

It's also possible I'm not being cynical enough. It's possible this is not at all about fishery, but about, say, mining rights or lumber. Maybe there's coltran underneath these lakes. But my guess is that it's a scheme to pocket a couple of million dollars from well-meaning foreign aid organizations by getting them to bankroll dumping some farmed tilapia in pristine crater lakes.

What WOULD surprise me, greatly, is if exploitation was done carefully and after evaluation of the local species and conditions.

[Bas Pels]

Currently, fishing is free, and the authorities don't make any money

if the fishery is leassed to someone, the authorituies do make money

Personally, I don't think they even looked any further. It's a kind of corruption

[Shane]

It's also possible I'm not being cynical enough. It's possible this is not at all about fishery, but about, say, mining rights or lumber.

Ahhh, you have not been following the story about oil deposits found beneath Lake Albert.

http://www.petroleum-economist.com/defa ... &ISS=25538

Uganda: Eni pounces on Lake Albert oil

UGANDA's undeveloped Lake Albert oil basin could become an Eni province, if the Italian company's bid to buy Heritage's assets succeeds. But, in December, Heritage's partner in the basin, Tullow Oil, was considering mounting a challenge to Eni, with the aim of bringing in new partners on its own terms.

Those of you that are Africa watchers should immediately note the name "Heritage." This is an outgrowth of the UK Mercenary group Executive Outcomes.

Currently, fishing is free, and the authorities don't make any money

if the fishery is leassed to someone, the authorituies do make money

I am sure this is exactly how they got the Ugandans to bite on the deal. However, I do not think UK Mercenaries and Italian Oil companys care about fishing fees. They need to lease lakes that harbor large oil deposits.

I hate to add to Sid's general view vis-a-vis big corporations, but this one smells fishy (no pun intended).
-Shane

[sidguppy]

yeah, I know i'm not exactly the nicest guy on the row
and i'm very very cynical when it comes to the (lack of) ethics of my fellow speciesmembers

but if my misanthropia is caused by anything, it's experience

I DO WISH i was wrong more often, but unfortunately......

if there's oil underneath these lakes, I say one word, and one word only

Nigeria.


you can all fill in the blanks.

[Shane]

On the positive side... I would like to see some of the cichlid groups take up a collection and lease a small lake identified to still harbor good numbers of native cichlids. They could allow unlimited fishing of Nile perch and Tilapia in return fo a guarantee from local fishermen to return any native fishes captured.
-Shane

[grokefish]

Interesting