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The following is a chapter that I wrote with Bakaaki Robert a "Ugandan fisherman by birth" that recently appeared in an
excellent edited volume entitled Subsistence Under Capitalism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
published by McGill-Queen's University Press in 2016.
To purchase the entire volume please visit:
http://www.mqup.ca/subsistence-under-capitalism-products-9780773547001.php OR
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0773547002/
A full citation of the article is included below for your convenience.
Johnson, Jennifer Lee, and Bakaaki Robert. 2016. “Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability.” In Subsistence
Under Capitalism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, edited by James Ernest Murton, Dean Bavington, and
Carly Dokis, 195–233. Rural, Wildland, and Resource Studies Series 4. Montreal, Quebec: McGill-Queen’s University
Press.
7
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability
jennifer lee johnson a n d bakaaki robert
Almost all shworkers in Uganda are criminals under the law. They do
not carry guns, manufacture explosive devices, or plot to overthrow the
government, although they may be considered “economic saboteurs,” an
offence on par with treason. Still, in these heavily regulated but selec-
tively enforced sheries, formally illegal sh are regularly caught, pro-
cessed, and traded along Uganda’s southern shores – one of the most
tightly controlled coastlines in the region. Despite sustained efforts to
limit Lake Victoria’s illegal sh trade, sh of sublegal sizes from Ugandan
waters are regularly consumed on multiple continents, from eastern and
central Africa to Europe, Asia, and North America. Shadows here do
more than conceal the real contributions of Uganda’s shworkers to eco-
nomic growth, food security, and sovereignty, as well as to the burgeon-
ing leisure culture along the northern shores of Lake Victoria, on which
this chapter focuses. They also make subsistence possible.
The Ugandan state and a multinational cadre of sheries experts and
entrepreneurs join the contributors to this volume in our desire to bring
subsistence out of the shadows, although for very different purposes. We
seek to examine the potential of already existing alternatives to indus-
trial capitalist food, fuel, and bre production, as well as the contribu-
tions of industrial production systems to our daily subsistence, as a way
to motivate the recognition and fostering of a more just and liveable
future. There are others who use the very same complementary dis-
courses of economic justice and environmental sustainability to illumin-
ate subsistence so that it may be stopped.
In an attempt to avoid the dangers inherent in elaborating the practi-
ces of many so-called criminals, we join Sajay Samuel (this volume) in
moving away from subsistence and toward the vernacular, where we
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196 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
might locate ways of living, growing, and indeed thriving that already
offer alternatives to the production and consumption of things and ways
of thinking driven by techno-science, capital, and the fantasy of a world
without limits. Although the term “subsistence” is often used in popular
accounts to describe shing in Lake Victoria, for us and for those we
work with, it evokes a hand-to-mouth, bare-life scenario that fails to
reect the contemporary realities of how shworkers live and how they
wish to live in the future. Further, “subsistence” as a category reinforces
the image of an unchanging, rural, and usually “backward” existence
that does not correspond to the ongoing adaptations and innovations
required of Ugandan shworkers along their cosmopolitan shores to
make it possible for themselves and others to eat sh. The continued
exibility of shworkers ensures that sh are available for local, regional,
and intercontinental subsistence, despite unprecedented efforts to limit
the availability of sh that Ugandans prefer to subsist on.
As important work on other freshwater sheries has shown, shwork-
ers have simultaneously cooperated with and resisted colonial and
independent state sheries’ interventions to meet their needs rst, even
amid the introduction of exotic species and new networks of political
and economic patronage. This strategy highlights the unlikelihood of a
simple correspondence between global discourses of sustainability and
development and the ways that they are adopted and adapted into ver-
nacular sheries practices ongoing along Uganda’s littorals. We con-
sider sustainability to be both a compelling concept and an empirical
reality enacted through the work of a shifting assemblage of littoral
actors, including transnational and multidisciplinary managerial profes-
sionals, investors, clients, concerned consumers of Lake Victoria’s sh,
and elite littoral residents who are increasingly involving themselves in
the project of formal sheries management. However, we do not inter-
pret the formally illegal shwork that we describe below as incommen-
surable with sustainability concepts but recognize the artful practice
required to both enact sustainability as reality and avoid being governed
by its various enactments.
This chapter begins by differentiating Lake Victoria from Ennyanja
Nalubaale, a vernacular title that many Ugandans use in reference to
this same lake, and by distinguishing Lake Victoria’s Nile perch from
Ennyanja Nalubaale’s emputa. These distinctions are then used to
sketch a brief history of contemporary sheries’ commerce and control
along Uganda’s cosmopolitan south-central shores in order to better
describe how and why most vernacular shwork is criminalized. We
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 197
then elaborate selected vernacular sheries practices, focusing on how
sh are caught and distributed, locations and techniques of sh process-
ing, and the role of the senses in buying and eating sh to articulate how
subsistence’s shadows both limit and enable certain kinds of shwork
and sh consumption. We conclude by commenting on the nature of our
collaboration and how it has allowed us to develop our concept of ver-
nacular sheries practices in order to articulate why “subsistence,” even
as creatively dened by the editors of this volume, limits, rather than
encourages, sheries practices designed to feed Ugandans rst and inter-
continental markets a distant second.
la k e victoria, ennyanja nalubaale,
an d vernacular fishwork
Bordered by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania in eastern Africa, Lake
Victoria is the second largest lake in the world by surface area and
supports the world’s largest freshwater shery, although it is often
described by academics, policy professionals, and journalists as “col-
lapsing,” “dying,” or “already dead.”5 Given its English name in honor
of imperial England’s Queen Victoria in the 1850s, Lake Victoria has
long been a part of regional and intercontinental imaginaries and aspira-
tions for discovery, accumulation, and control.6 More recently, this lake
has been marked by print media, popular documentary lm, and sport
shing adventure-television as a key crucible for the future politics of
food security, ecological diversity, and human health outcomes, as these
goals contend with the negative impacts of globalization, militarization,
and the expansion of new forms of capital and governance in Africa.7
Although there is a managerial consensus that Lake Victoria is over-
shed, exports of Nile perch llets remain Uganda’s second highest
“nontraditional” foreign exchange earner.
Although Lake Victoria, as a lake dened by its Nile perch exports,
may indeed be dying, the body of water – or Ennyanja, as it is referred
to by most residents of its northern shores – still lives on.8 Indeed, resi-
dents of its northwestern shores were intimately familiar with this enny-
anja (lake) as Ennyanja Nalubaale long before anything called Lake
Victoria ever existed. This lake was given its name in honour of the
“really living spirits of the mighty dead people,” whose various abilities
and activities helped to form, and still inuence, life within and around
this expansive body of water. Nonetheless, there is as much new and
global about this lake as there is indigenous and local. Most residents of
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198 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
Ennyanja Nalubaale have taken up Christianity or Islam as their formal
religion, although many still practise vernacular spiritual traditions,
such as paying tribute to important familial and occupational shrines in
hopes of receiving blessings for their health and for their businesses,
including those that involve shwork. However, many contemporary
residents who live and work around this lake were born and raised for
a time elsewhere within and outside of Uganda, and they may not
believe in, or choose to engage in, spiritual practices that pay homage
to this lake’s various spirits. These residents will most often refer to this
lake as simply “ennyanja” but will specify which ennyanja they are
referring to if they suspect there is any confusion, although this is often
unnecessary.
We do not wish to denigrate the diverse and prestigious lineages of
Ennyanja Nalubaale, as they are still important to both of us in different
ways; however, we choose to refer to this lake throughout as simply
Ennyanja. When using the name “Lake Victoria,” we refer to classic
global understandings of this lake as “discovered” by an Englishman,
named for an English queen, and managed in accordance with global
sheries management norms. When using the term “Ennyanja,” we refer,
as best as we are able, to vernacular understandings of this lake that
residents who live and work along Ennyanja’s north-central shores have
developed to make sense of this body of water and to live well with it.
Ennyanja supports a multiethnic and multispecies shery; it is normal
for at least ve vernacular languages to be in use at a single shing site,
and many more species could be harvested there. Despite a barrage of
accounts reinforcing an image of Lake Victoria as ravaged by too much
shing, uncontrolled pollution, and the uneven geographies of global
capitalism, as well as by climate change, more Ugandans may be eating
more sh from Ennyanja than they have in recent years, although most
of these sh are formally illegal. Still, the range of consumers of
Ennyanja’s sh extends into Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic
ofCongo, South Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania. Would-be consumers of
Lake Victoria’s sh extend beyond the continent to include residents
ofevery other country active in the now global sh trade.
Vernacular shwork broadly refers to sheries-related activities con-
ducted in relation to Ennyanja’s socially and ecologically complex,
dynamic, and historically inected shoreline rather than in accordance
with relatively static economic, managerial, and academic understand-
ings and categories of what Lake Victoria’s shery is and how it must be
sustained. To begin describing vernacular shwork in more detail, we
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 199
must rst make one additional conceptual and material distinction
between the sh we use to frame our analysis – that is, between Lake
Victoria’s Nile perch and Ennyanja’s emputa.
Nile perch and emputa are both recognized by sheries scientists and
managers as the same species of sh, Lates niloticus (see gure .).
These sh, however, take very different forms depending on whether
this body of water is experienced and understood as Lake Victoria or as
Ennyanja. The majority of Nile perch caught in Lake Victoria are uni-
formly processed into chilled or frozen -gram llets in sh factories.
These llets are then exported outside of the continent and sold as one
of many “whitesh” available on global seafood commodity markets.
Emputa caught from Ennyanja, however, are usually processed whole
by frying or smoking at or near a processor’s home and are traded and
consumed locally. Many smoked emputa are also traded far inland and
regionally to neighbouring countries, and some are also sold fresh or
fried in local markets as whole sh or in bone-in pieces. Regardless of
where the nal consumers of emputa reside, those who eat emputa are
usually eating technically “undersized and illegal” sh.
The Nile perch was introduced clandestinely, but intentionally, into
Lake Victoria from northern Ugandan lakes in the s, where they are
indigenous. The British colonial game warden who took credit for rst
introducing the Nile perch into Lake Victoria did so because he believed
that it would boost commercial sh production and provide opportuni-
ties for elite recreation and tourism based on sport shing, even though
he knew his actions were technically illegal. He was not wrong.
The Nile perch is a large carnivorous sh capable of growing to well
over kilograms. Its voracious appetite, and the exibility of
Ennyanja’s shworkers, quickly established this sh as an integral part
of Ennyanja’s cosmopolitan cultural ecology. By the early s, sev-
eral decades after the three basin nations achieved independence, the
Nile perch had come to dominate sh catches at the beach, having con-
sumed approximately half of Lake Victoria’s estimated hundreds of
indigenous sh species into extinction.
Although elders around the lake still reminisce about the kinds of sh
that the Nile perch consumed out of existence, they and their children,
like many newcomers to the lakeshore, enjoy eating forms of emputa
that resemble these extinct species. Specically, Ugandans prefer whole
emputa that range in size from a hand’s length to the distance between
one’s elbow and the tips of one’s ngers, those the authors consider to be
of reasonable size. These forms of sh are easier than larger ones to
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200 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
catch, process, and transport, are sold at prices within reach of most
Ugandans, and retain the rich avour and nutrition found in the head
and skin. They also require the use of one’s bodily senses when making
decisions about how, where, and when to buy which sh. And because of
the widespread lack of home-based refrigeration in Uganda, fresh
emputa are purchased in proportion to one’s needs and preferences for
sh on a particular day. However, as we will see, these forms of sh and
decisions about what constitutes a good sh for most Ugandan consum-
ers directly compete with the high-modernist ideology of science-driven
sustainable development that the Ugandan state and a multinational
cadre of experts and consumers of sh llets have cultivated for Lake
Victoria’s Nile perch industry. As an industry that literally produces dis-
embodied sh products, its value is judged by standardized numerical
measurements of quantity and quality rather than by the bodily senses
and knowledge of those who work with and eat whole emputa.
Like Samuel, we are inspired by Ivan Illich’s description of the ver-
nacular domain as “homebred, homespun, homegrown, homemade …
absorbed by roots that grow from each individual into the environment
in which he or she has an ‘abode.’” Vernacular shwork occurs when
and where sh are caught, traded, processed, and purchased closest to
home, although this does not exclude the vernacular work required to
supply and source sh for intercontinental markets. Vernacular practices
around Ennyanja’s sheries are rooted in particular places, but they are
difcult, if not impossible, to calculate, control, or predict because, simi-
lar to the lake itself, they are always on the move. Like Illich, we
Figure . Lake Victoria’s Nile perch (left) and Ennyanja’s emputa (right)
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 201
recognize vernacular work as “unpaid activities which provide and
improve livelihood, but which are totally refractory to any analysis uti-
lizing concepts developed in formal economics.” However, we do not
exclude all shwork that involves cash exchange in our analysis of the
vernacular domain. If we did, we would be left with very little to describe
here, as cash is exchanged almost every time sh change hands around
Ennyanja: even between neighbours, friends, or lovers. Rather, we locate
the most vernacular forms of shwork where those doing actual work
with sh have the greatest say in negotiations over the prices at which
sh, or one’s work with sh, are exchanged. Vernacular work is often
unpaid in the sense of wage-based or salaried employment, but in
Ennyanja vernacular shwork most certainly pays.
Lastly, it is crucial that those who do the work of shing, processing,
and trading sh from Ennyanja are not relegated to the categories of
homogenous and genderless “shers” and “sherfolk.” Vernacular sh-
work is gendered; almost all emputa are caught by men, and almost all
emputa are processed and transformed into meals by women. Few of
Ennyanja’s women with whom we have spoken over the years want to
sh from boats on the open water, but some women own or would like
to own shing boats and shing nets. Few men we know want to process
or prepare sh for domestic consumption, except perhaps as prestigious
chefs employed in the region’s most expensive hotels. However, this does
not mean that gender comprises a static set of identities and practices
but simply that gender inuences who may do what with sh and where,
when, and how they may do what they choose.
a brief history o f contemporary fisheries commerce
an d control
Beginning in the late s, supported by conventional wisdoms linking
economic development to the export of high-valued products, industrial
sh-processing plants were built around Lake Victoria to skin, llet, and
ash-freeze Nile perch for export to growing intercontinental markets.
First, sh were exported to the European Union and the United States
and later to Asia and the Middle East. Almost all of these sh factories
are owned and run by non-Ugandans who successfully secured funding
from a number of international governments – primarily through
American and European development agencies but also via China – and
from international nancial institutions eager to see eastern African gov-
ernments earning foreign exchange. By the late s almost one-third
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 201 2016-02-12 14:14:50
202 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
of an estimated , tons of sh harvested from Lake Victoria was
consumed outside of Africa in the form of lleted Nile perch, bringing an
annual average of US million in foreign exchange into three coun-
tries. Industrially processed sh llets soon became Uganda’s second
most lucrative export commodity after coffee, with its contributions to
the national economy being commemorated in with several images
of sh printed on the new ,-shilling banknote (see gure .).
The development of Lake Victoria’s sh export industry recongured
the geographies of vernacular sheries practice in Ennyanja, as well as
the reach of what Timothy Mitchell might call “the rule of sheries
experts” in creating a manageable Lake Victoria. Although most sh
remained harvested from small wooden boats with gill nets or hook-
and-line gear, shing effort, reected in the number of shermen, sh-
landing sites, outboard motors, and nets or hooks per boat, more than
doubled between and alone. On land, new congurations of
sh collection and trade emerged to concentrate the supply of sh toward
industrial sh factories rather than local and regional markets. Resident
shermen who invested early in the Nile perch export trade purchased
more boats and nets, expanding existing communities of shworkers
and establishing new ones on distant islands. They also made a great
deal of money. Some of the most successful built schools, hotels, clinics,
specialty shops, supermarkets, nightclubs, and car dealerships inland,
and they sent their daughters and sons to the best schools their money
could buy. These already existing and new shing sites attracted young
men and women from inland with little to no education who were eager
to begin working with sh for the economic opportunities and cosmo-
politan culture provided at mid- to large-sized sh-landing sites. For
others migrating to shing sites from other inland lakes, rivers, and wet-
lands, where political conict and military intervention had made shing
and farming difcult, and in some cases impossible, Ennyanja provided
a fresh start.
At the same time, local and regional demand for sh, especially
emputa, increased alongside the establishment of the Nile perch export
industry. Many new and long-time residents of Uganda’s southern coast
either began eating sh for the rst time or increased their sh consump-
tion. Ennyanja now hosts a growing middle class comprised of individu-
als who enjoy eating sh, even if their parents or grandparents maintained
strict taboos against sh consumption. Littoral residents and leisure visi-
tors from the capital city are just as likely to have learned how to enjoy
“the engine” of a sh (i.e., its head) from their parents as they are able
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 202 2016-02-12 14:14:50
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 203
to condently state, “in my culture we don’t eat sh,” while politely
cleaning an expensive meal of fried sh and chips from their teeth. These
cultural transformations occurred alongside the rising domestic sh
prices that accompanied the development of the intercontinental Nile
perch trade. Within a generation, sh were transformed from a widely
available and generally affordable food that some people did not eat into
a luxury food item. However, domestic preferences for whole, afford-
able, and easy-to-transport emputa directly compete with the export
industry’s requirements for comparatively large, lletable Nile perch, as
well as with the Ugandan state’s perceived need for foreign exchange
from exports.
The designation of certain forms of shing practices and certain forms
of sh as illegal is premised on global sheries management norms that
claim to represent universal best management practice. For Lake
Victoria, these norms are translated as the formal prohibition on catch-
ing, trading, and consuming “immature,” “undersized,” or “juvenile”
sh. The law, however, is intentionally vague on exactly what constitutes
an illegal sh.
Management of Lake Victoria’s shing industry has focused on species
and forms of sh preferred by non-African consumers: rst tilapia in the
colonial period and now Nile perch and the export market for Nile
perch llets. This focus constitutes what John Balirwa, director of the
Ugandan National Fisheries Resources Research Institute as of ,
has called “special interest management.” There are many more kinds
Figure . ,-shilling banknote and coins
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 203 2016-02-12 14:14:50
204 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
of sh that ought to be better studied and perhaps even better managed.
The funds for managerially oriented research, however, are closely tied
to the most nancially lucrative sheries. As of , as prices for Nile
perch exports decreased relative to other globally traded “whitesh,” so
too did donor funds for sheries research and management.
Nile perch shery enforcement efforts have focused on the seizure of
sh less than twenty inches in total length, as well as on the conscation
of particular kinds of shing gear. Fishing nets made of durable plastic
materials, known as monolament nets, and beach seines of all kinds are
prohibited, but still used, in Lake Victoria. Gill nets made of ax or other
materials are permitted if their stretched mesh sizes are ve inches or
greater, the assumption being that this will ensure that harvested sh are
at least of a reproductive age, although this is not always the case. The
technically legal size of gill nets is actually seven inches. However,
because enforcement ofcials generally target nets of less than ve inches,
nets of ve inches or greater usually pass as legal in practice. Fishworkers
may also intentionally or inadvertently violate the law, such as by not
obtaining a valid licence, shing or purchasing sh from a nongazetted
site, or landing or purchasing sh anywhere after sunset and before sun-
rise. Still, the size of sh and the type and size of shing gear are what
enforcement efforts focus on and are in turn the criteria used to dene
“illegal” sh and shing.
Although familiar with these formal sheries regulations, many sh-
workers do not describe their own use of prohibited shing gear or their
participation in the “undersized” Nile perch trade as a violation of
proper shing practice. It is common, for example, for legal-sized gill
nets to catch emputa of less than twenty inches, even though shermen
using these nets may be targeting larger sh. It would be improper, sh-
workers say, not to sell, process, or eat these sh once they are already
landed on shore.
This is all to say that what constitutes an immature sh or an illegal
sheries activity is neither metaphorically nor materially xed. Enforce-
ment is often context-dependent. This has made it difcult for some sh-
workers, particularly women who smoke and sell sh, to know exactly
what sh they ought to be working with. Women who have had their
fresh sh seized on the way to their homes for processing or their smoked
sh seized on the way to market are often told to “stop working with
these small sh.” At times, even larger sh are seized, discouraging
women from trying to purchase larger sh in the future. Differential
interpretations of size and maturity absolutely matter.
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 205
which fish for whose future?
By late a crisis consensus was reached by the Lake Victoria Fisheries
Organization and presumably by the stakeholders present at the
conference “Fish for All Is Everyone’s Responsibility,” held in Kampala,
Uganda, in late October that year. The conference, primarily funded by
the European Union, the largest importer of Nile perch llets, purport-
edly brought “all relevant stakeholders” together to discuss the latest in
sheries science and policy. Fishermen and women who dry, smoke, and
fry sh for a living, however, were noticeably absent.
Co-author of this chapter Jennifer Lee Johnson presented a paper at
this conference and attended every ofcial public conference event, but
she had no idea that it would culminate in the release of a “conference
communiqué” on behalf of “We, the Participants of the Regional
Stakeholders Conference held at Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala,
Uganda from th–th October, .” This communiqué declared
that all participants were “concerned that the Stocks of Nile Perch is
[sic] in danger of collapse if urgent regional action is not taken.”
Although the communiqué acknowledged that “shing communities
and households in the region are more vulnerable than others in the
event of collapsed shery,” it did not address the economic and nutri-
tional importance of local and regional trades in a variety of species.
Instead, the communiqué “launch[ed] an appeal and call to action by all
and particularly the governments to take concerted actions to sustain the
[Nile perch] sheries” by reducing pollution, eliminating illegal, unregu-
lated, and unreported shing, increasing monitoring, surveillance, and
control of sheries, and developing mechanisms to limit access to sher-
ies resources. Jennifer and the majority of conference participants were
not asked to review a draft of the communiqué or to offer their approval
of the nal communiqué in any discernable way. Indeed, it appeared to
have been nalized long before the conference ever began. In early April
the three basin nations of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda were
awarded a loan from the World Bank for “sheries development” total-
ling US million, in large part to implement the agenda advanced in
the conference communiqué.
Nile perch exports are seen as a “quick” source of “dollars” for
Uganda, whereas the local and regional trades in emputa are described
as costing the country tens of millions of dollars in lost revenues each
year. As stated by His Excellency the Honorable Yoweri K. Museveni in
a presidential address on the economy,
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206 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
Quick dollars can come from sh exporters. In , [the year
Museveni became president of Uganda] there was not a single sh
factory in Uganda. There are now sh factories in Uganda, but
only are operational. They are, however, operating at % capac-
ity because there is not enough sh. This is caused by over shing –
eating the mpuuta [sic] before it is three months old – (before it has
started laying eggs). Fish is now bringing in m per year. This can,
within one year, go back to m or more. The factories and exter-
nal markets are there.
It is worth noting that President Museveni is not one of Ennyanja’s
newest residents who have begun eating sh even though their parents
have not. He can see Ennyanja from almost every corner of his spacious
State House gardens in Entebbe, but Museveni views eating sh “as a
punishment.”
This emphasis on “sheries development” and the potential prots to
be gained from the export of Nile perch has predictably led to a crack-
down on emputa shing and the processing and sale of emputa. In late
these efforts culminated in the announcement that a new division
of the Marine Unit of the Ugandan People’s Defense Force – Uganda’s
military – would be formed to enforce sheries regulations, yet for-
mally illegal shing, processing, and consumption of emputa continue.
Despite the formality of these laws, they are viewed by most shworkers
on the shores and on the water as “recommendations” rather than
legally binding codes of conduct. Although sheries experts maintain
that shworkers must still be “sensitized” to know what is best for them,
emputa consumers, shworkers included, cannot ignore their senses,
which tell them that a good sh is one that is whole, affordable, and
freshly caught. It is to these bodily senses and to the physical and social
work involved in catching, distributing, processing, and purchasing sh
that we now turn.
locating vernacular fishwork:
catching an d distributing fish
Industrially processed frozen and chilled sh llets comprise Uganda’s
second highest foreign exchange earner, although it is difcult, if not
impossible, to nd industrial shing in Uganda’s waters. Vernacular
practice guides the work of shing and sh distribution in Ennyanja for
all species caught, always directing a portion for home consumption
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 206 2016-02-12 14:14:50
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 207
and to local processors, although shing practice and the distribution
of catches are also inuenced by international market prices and sher-
ies regulations designed to produce exportable Nile perch llets from
Lake Victoria. Most notably, there is little to no bargaining possible
over the prices paid for exportable Nile perch. They are set by factories
and the middlemen who transport sh to the factories, although prices
are more exible for emputa destined for local and regional markets
and are dependent on the size of sh, how and when the sh were
caught, and the social connections that buyers and sellers may have
already established.
The actual work of shing is done almost exclusively by men, who
construct nets and boats, cast and pull nets, and manage boats and the
distribution of sh. Most shing is done at night by two men working
from a wooden boat lled with gill nets and propelled by an outboard
motor, although beach seining, an illegal but important shore-based
method, is still used. Women may pull nets from shore and may own and
manage boats, but it is rare, if not impossible, to nd a woman shing
from a boat. Fish for domestic consumption are predominately pur-
chased, cleaned, and smoked, fried, or stewed by women working with
whole sh. Nonetheless, men may do some of this work, although they
are more often seen selling whole fresh sh in large markets and pre-
paring bone-in portions of fresh Nile perch in these same markets for
domestic consumption.
Fishworkers, however, are not limited to those who sh, own boats,
and process and trade sh. A retinue of colleagues, friends, and family is
required to make shwork possible. Fishermen usually head out onto
the lake around : , with a bag of food, some water, and often
locally brewed alcohol to keep them warm and calm, although their
exact time of departure depends on the movements of sh. The farther
sh are from shore, the earlier shermen will depart to catch them.
Around : shermen will begin setting their nets and then, after
taking a brief rest on the water, will begin the several hours’ work of
pulling nets, and hopefully sh, into their boats around : ,
although this depends on the weather. If there are heavy storms, sher-
men will try to stay safe and dry under heavy plastic tarps, only begin-
ning the work of pulling nets once the sea calms down. Boats will start
reaching the shore from the previous night’s journey between : and
: , although when there is a strong land or sea breeze or a heavy
storm, boats may reach the shore much later in the morning, sometimes
after : .
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208 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
Another group of men are paid to lift nets out of boats and pile them
on shore. This can happen before boats are pulled out of the water to
reduce the damage these heavy nets may cause to the bottom of boats
when they are pulled to shore, or it can be done afterward. If there is a
strong sea breeze, boats are pulled in with their nets, but if there is a
strong land breeze, nets will be removed as quickly as possible. When
catches are good, these men are paid daily for their work. When catches
are less than favourable, these men will still work but not demand their
usual cash payment, leaving the boat manager to decide how much to
pay them. Either before or after removing nets, around nine to fourteen
individuals, usually men and almost always including the boat owner or
manager, gather around each boat and begin pulling it to shore. Time is
of the essence, as boats can be broken by strong winds and waves.
Sometimes women will join men in pulling boats, depending on the cul-
tural beliefs of the boat owner, although if a woman owns or manages a
boat, she will almost always be there to help pull.
Once this group is assembled, any one person there to pull the boat
will begin a call-and-response chant, or harambe, to begin the process of
pulling a boat to shore. He or she will usually start with “oooouuuh
yah” and the others will reply “yah.” Then again “oooouuuh yah,” with
all replying “yah!” Then the leader will say, “kale, kale” (okay, okay),
and all will reply, “kale” (yes) and then again, “kale, kale,” with all reply-
ing “kale.” Then the leader will say, “Kuula elyato tugende!” (Pull the
boat and we go!), and all will start to pull. After about ve to ten seconds
of pulling, all will rest a moment and then begin again. Once more, the
leader will begin with “kale, kale,” and both the chant and this pattern
of pulling will be repeated until a boat is brought safely to shore. Most,
if not all, of those who pull boats work with sh to some degree, but
they are almost never paid for their work.
Then the boat manager or owner, almost always a man, carefully sorts
the catches by size and quality. Only the freshest looking Nile perch of
over twenty inches are placed in a large thickly woven plastic bag
(kaveera) for weighing and sale to factory agents or suppliers. Emputa of
fourteen to nineteen inches are placed in another kaveera for sale to
regular buyers of sublegal sh. Individual sh that show signs of having
died as they were being caught in a net – with grey gills, cloudy eyes, and
softer esh – will be set aside either to be sold with sublegal sh of four-
teen to nineteen inches or to be given to shermen as part of their side
payment for their work. Fishermen are usually given two emputa of
reasonable size immediately after sh are sorted, one for “breakfast
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 209
expenses” and one for home consumption, irrespective of the number
and size of sh caught that day. He may choose to sell or give one or
both of these sh to one of several women who meet the boats at shore,
depending on his preferences and obligations. Given the heightened
awareness and enforcement of size-based regulations for Nile perch,
those sorting the catch will often intentionally ignore any emputa of less
than fourteen inches that are landed. Fishermen themselves will usually
tie sh of these sizes into bundles, conceal them during sorting, and
choose to sell these sh if and when suitable buyers are present.
The boat owner or manager is tasked with weighing legal-sized and
fresh sh for sale to industrial sh factories by the kilogram at a price set
by factory buyers. These sh are weighed together on a scale hanging
from one of many shing boats at a landing site. Middlemen buying sh
at landing sites make their money by paying shermen per cent of the
total payment they expect to receive from buyers at the factories and by
keeping the remaining per cent for themselves. However, if asked,
middlemen will tell boat managers that the scales at the factory reported
approximately per cent less weight than what was reported at the
shore. So, to avoid potential conict and disappointment, boat managers
have developed their own vernacular practice of deducting one kilogram
from every ten that they weigh when they report available catches for
sale to these same middlemen. Boat managers and middlemen are aware
that the other party is not entirely straightforward about the monetary
value or quantity of sh traded on a given day. But it takes a great deal
more than these everyday vernacular market manipulations to dissolve
amicable relationships between them.
Another man, known to and trusted by the boat manager, usually
weighs and purchases all reasonably sized, sublegal emputa from a given
boat or set of boats. He sells them at the beach by the kilogram either at
a price he sets or at a price negotiated with buyers, usually women, for
an individual sh or group of sh, depending on the weight and sizes of
sh caught and on the buyers present. The boat manager then collects
the proceeds for each boat from Nile perch destined for factories and
from emputa destined for local and regional markets. He calculates the
sum total of revenues per boat and deducts the costs of fuel for each
boat’s next trip, depending on the number of litres of fuel remaining
from the most recent trip, the current price of a litre of fuel, and how far
the shermen plan to travel. The amount of fuel allocated for each boat
is always decided through a daily negotiation between the boat manager
and both shermen, although the manager has the nal say. However,
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210 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
because a single manager may be responsible for running several boats
and is well aware that individual boats may operate at a loss for several
days before making a good catch, he may front his own capital for fuel
in order to distribute fuel supplies more evenly between his boats.
After deducting the costs of fuel, a boat manager will calculate per
cent of the total revenues from each boat as payment for both shermen.
That is, each sherman receives per cent of total revenues after fuel
costs, two reasonably sized sh, and the proceeds, if any, from selling
emputa of less than fourteen inches. Before being paid, each sherman
must also work with one hired worker to reorganize nets for the next
shing trip. Together, they straighten nets while placing them back inside
each boat. These hired workers may organize nets for one or more boats,
but each works with a sherman from that boat to ensure that the nets
are properly prepared. This takes time, and it takes even more time when
rougher waters cause nets to become entangled. After this task is com-
pleted, one sherman from that boat will request payment from the boat
owner. The boat owner then hands over the amount he has calculated
for their pay to one sherman, plus , to , Ugandan shillings to
be divided between the men who helped reorganize the boat’s shing
nets. This sherman will then give the other sherman half of all the
money received from the boat manager, and each will pay his support
staff for helping to arrange their nets. Fishermen may also skim a small
portion of the payment allocated to their support staff, arguing that the
nets were not in bad condition after all and that the staff’s work did not
therefore justify the whole ,-shilling payment. While all of the above
is ongoing, another man is usually seen preparing oats for nets, carry-
ing sh to middlemen and buyers from factories, and performing other
odd jobs that must be done that day, again for one or more boats. Wages
for these positions are also paid daily and are negotiated based on the
amount of work completed and on the total quantity and quality of sh
caught in a given day.
Women, and some men, also provide accommodation, sustenance, and
entertainment for those who sh. Sometimes these vital things are pro-
vided in private homes, but they are also available in rented rooms, local
restaurants, video halls, and bars. Although this vernacular work is
rarely, if ever, included in managerial descriptions of Lake Victoria’s sh-
eries actors, it nonetheless inuences the composition of sh catches and
their distribution, processing, and consumption. For example, if a sher-
man or the buyer of reasonably sized sh is married to a woman who
runs a local restaurant serving breakfast and lunch, or who resells fresh
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 211
sh, or who smokes or fries sh, he will usually give one or more of his
emputa to her or sell them at a discounted price. Other friends, neigh-
bours, and potential buyers may also request sublegal sh of various
sizes, although often sh of less than fourteen inches are preferred
because they are more affordable, easier to process, and suitable for con-
suming in a single meal. This context encourages the continued catching
and distribution of sublegal emputa, creating competition with factories
for Nile perch of exportable size, but nevertheless ensures that these
highly valued sh are available on local and regional markets.
fish processing
The distinctions between vernacular and industrial sheries practices
are clear at the processing level. Vernacular, artisanal processing is most
often done at one’s home in concert with a variety of other household
responsibilities. Industrial sh processing, in contrast, is conducted only
within factories, where working hours, social conduct, and the number
and kinds of sh products produced are strictly controlled. Although
both artisanal and industrial processors work with the same species of
sh and often work six days a week, the similarities seem to end there.
Key differences between the two hinge on processing methods and the
forms of sh processed, control over how, when, and where to work,
and the potential nancial and nutritional gains from each form of
processing.
Perhaps most importantly, artisanal processors work with far fewer
sh and set the price for the sh they sell, whereas the industrial supply
chain is driven by orders and prices based on international market con-
ditions. Artisanal sh production is often described as having negligi-
ble impact on Uganda’s national economy because most of this vernacular
work takes place within the shadows of an economic calculus that views
formal wage work and the accumulation of foreign currency as ideal and
integral to economic development. On an average day, women may fry
or smoke twenty or more whole sh, whereas in processing plants, it is
not uncommon for employees to produce twenty tons of uniformly pro-
cessed -gram llets, although sometimes they may produce more
than fty tons. Despite the much lower volume of vernacular sh prod-
ucts processed in any given day, women who smoke and fry sh often
make three times more money than what most permanent employees of
sh-processing plants are paid in a single day, depending on how much
sh they purchase for processing.
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212 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
Women who work with sh at home complete a variety of tasks to
produce their sh for sale. Most sh processors we work with are women
who smoke and / or fry emputa, so it is on these methods that we focus.
Women source and purchase sh, as well as transport them from the
beach to their homes. Usually at home, but sometimes at the beach, they
descale, degut, and clean the insides and outsides of their sh and nd a
safe place to discard sh scales and innards. They also store and sepa-
rately sell the swim bladders (known as nuuni) found inside their emputa
to buyers supplying Asian markets, who are mostly Korean. Building
and repairing smoking kilns and stoves for frying are also part of the
shwork women must do, although sometimes they have help from their
husbands, neighbours, or colleagues. They also purchase salt, cooking
oil, and fuel wood, although if smoking sh near a forest, they gather
their own wood.
Before sh are smoked or fried, many women will rub the inside of
their sh with salt and other spices. Then comes the actual work of
smoking or frying sh, which can take several hours and requires a con-
stant re that is hot but not too hot. While keeping a watchful eye on
their res, many women will calculate the cost of each sh in relation to
the desired revenues from their sh. Their sh will then be sold from
home, on the way to and at local markets, or to wholesale markets in
large cities. Selling from home and to local markets gives women the
most freedom in setting prices for their sh and is most lucrative.
However, some women prefer selling at large wholesale markets, even
though their buyers almost always set the price for their sh, because
they prefer to receive one lump payment for their sh rather than selling
each individually or in small groups.
Women sh processors rarely work alone; indeed, it is often danger-
ous to do so. Most sh processed with vernacular methods used to be
purchased in the early morning between : and : . However,
recent efforts to “sustainably manage” shing in Lake Victoria have
reduced the quantity of sh available to processors in Ennyanja during
these times because legal-sized and even many reasonably sized sh are
too expensive for women to purchase or too expensive for their custom-
ers to buy and because efforts to enforce minimum size regulations for
Nile perch have actually increased. Thus much shing for and purchas-
ing of sh preferred by local processors and most local consumers occurs
between : and : , when most enforcement ofcials are not
working. Once it is dark, women who process sh in the same neigh-
bourhood meet and travel together to beaches where they buy sh.
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 213
Where they go to buy sh depends on the size and species of sh they
want to buy and on whether they know that shing is occurring at a
given site. These decisions are also inuenced by the social connections
women forge at shing sites with shermen and other women, who may
keep them informed of predicted enforcement operations or of particu-
larly abundant catches.
There are certain dangers associated with walking to and from shing
sites at night. Women try to avoid these risks by travelling with others.
Buying sh in darkness increases the likelihood that women will encoun-
ter thieves trying to steal their cash, sh, or mobile phones as they travel
to and from shing sites. It is worth noting that as formal enforcement
efforts have increased, so too have the number of self-styled “sheries
ofcers” who try to conscate fresh and processed sh, whether or not
they are legally authorized to do so. The risk of encountering thieves
and / or vigilante enforcement ofcers – who are also considered by sh-
workers to be thieves – is greatly reduced when women travel in pairs
and almost eliminated when women travel in groups of four or more. In
so doing, they come to view each other as workmates rather than com-
petitors, even though they may be selling sh quite close to one another.
They discuss and provide advice on processing techniques and on where
to purchase quality, but cost effective, fuel wood and oil to fry their sh.
They may even provide each other with loans when one is in need of
additional operating capital.
Most artisanal processors have children to care for, and many are sin-
gle mothers responsible for paying school fees and for making sure their
kids are well behaved, healthy, and clothed. Many who do not live
directly adjacent to shing sites prefer to buy sh at night because doing
so ts better with their responsibilities to their families. When women
purchase sh at night, they may clean them as soon as they reach home
or before their children wake up in the morning. Women with older chil-
dren and friendly neighbours may have help in cleaning their sh,
whereas others do this task alone. While their sh are drying a bit in the
early morning sun, a necessary step when processing the oily esh of
emputa, they prepare breakfast for their children, and if their children
are of school age and their school fees are paid, they prepare and send
them off to school. Then, around : or : , women begin to fry
or smoke their sh. It takes about two hours either to smoke a single
batch of sh or to fry several sh at a time in several batches.
After processing their sh, women will begin, and in some cases con-
tinue, to sell them. Women who fry sh usually sell their sh from
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214 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
home, whereas women who smoke sh often sell them on neighbour-
hood streets and at local markets. This independence means that both
have an easier time managing their multiple responsibilities, as most of
their sh will be sold within a few hours of processing due to high local
demand for sh. This gives women time to clean up, relax a bit, and
prepare lunch or an evening meal for their children. Later, after ensuring
that their children’s homework and evening baths are completed and
that they are safely off to sleep, many women will again meet their col-
leagues and begin another journey to the lake.
In our conversations with women who process and sell sh, they often
stress the emancipatory possibilities their work affords them, although
they are often depicted as victims in what academic and policy litera-
tures call “sex for sh” transactions. When asked, most state that
because of the high daily pay and exible schedule, they would rather
continue their work with sh than obtain a -to- job in an ofce with
an equivalent salary. Many say that their work with sh has afforded
them the nancial freedom to “chase away” abusive husbands or other-
wise not tolerate lovers who do not treat them the way they want to be
treated. Some women who process sh do have romantic relationships
with shermen. As one elder processor told us, “We’re all human, it
can’t be avoided”; others tell us, “It’s natural.” It is true that forging
intimate relationships with shermen usually allows women to be rst
in line to receive sh when nets are pulled ashore, and some women do
complain that this is unfair. Women also recount that whenever there is
a particularly forward sherman with whom they have no interest in
being intimate, they simply purchase sh from a different net, boat, or
landing site. Again, artisanal sh processors may feel like they must
work each day because the money is so good, but they do so with a high
degree of autonomy.
The average workday and working conditions in industrial plants that
process Nile perch llets for export are very different from those process-
ing emputa from home. The approximately thirty employees at agiven
sh-processing factory do only one specic task. Both men and women
work in sh factories, although men usually do the work of managing
factories, sourcing sh from the shore, initially cleaning and lleting sh,
and handling sh by-products. Women in processing factories are most
often found trimming llets of their excess skin and fat, making sure that
each order is accurately lled, or preparing meals in factory cafeterias.
Their attention to detail is perceived as better suited to producing more
appealing llets and more accurate shipments of sh for export.
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 215
Employees must report for work at a specic time, usually : ,
although when there are large orders there may also be a second shift.
They must dress in white lab-like coats and gumboots and must wear
gloves and hairnets. Wages are paid to plant workers based on a nine-
hour workday, but overtime is paid at the same hourly rate for addi-
tional hours worked beyond nine hours. Most days factory workers are
able to take an hour lunch break to eat a free meal of posho (stiff maize-
our porridge) and beans in the factory cafeteria, and they leave work at
: . When there are particularly large orders, however, employees
are required to stay until all sh are processed, frozen, and packed for
export, sometimes as late as : . Permanent employees are paid
every week or every two weeks, whereas “casual workers,” those hired
each day to clean factories and do odd jobs, are paid daily. Employees
are usually paid on time, but payment will occasionally be delayed up to
several weeks, and they are paid from around US to US a day,
depending on the nature of their work.
These factories are very clean – indeed, kept as sterile as possible – to
avoid accidental contamination of sh destined for export. This carries
over to the rules guiding bodily and social conduct while employees are
at work. On the walls of one of Uganda’s largest and most well-respected
processing plants, these rules are painted on a white wall in black, bold
capital letters (see gure .).
In stark contrast to the multiple and everyday sounds overheard
around the homes of women who smoke or fry sh, the loud din of
refrigerators, ice machines, and scraping knives is usually all that can be
heard at these industrial factories. There is no convivial conversation
outside of the lunchroom. If there is, employees will be warned to cease
or made to leave early without a full day’s pay. Employees may of course
gather together after work for a meal or a drink.
Factory employees may also leave work early but receive full pay if
they are injured on the job. About once a week in any given factory,
someone who works with a sharp knife will be accidentally cut or cut
themselves, sometimes very deeply. When this happens, factories will pay
for medical treatment and wages for all missed days. Employees may
also fall sick from malaria, a respiratory infection, or other common ill-
nesses. When this happens, employees have the option of either receiving
their regular pay for sick days taken or having the factory pay for
required medical treatment.
Sometimes there are not enough sh or too few orders to justify run-
ning the entire factory for the day. On these days, all employees must
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216 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
report to work if they wish to be paid, but they can go home after
signing in and will be given a half-day’s pay. The comparatively higher-
paid technicians, engineers, and plant managers, however, still work a
full day, but they use this time to ne-tune and repair factory
equipment.
Factory employees we interviewed noted the steady wages that facto-
ries provided, but most would rather be paid slightly less to have more
freedom during their workday. Although we do not want to dwell on the
racial aspects of factory work in Uganda, most plants are managed by
expatriate South Asians who are usually not Ugandan citizens and have
a reputation for not being “easy” to work for. Despite the health benets,
steady wages, and permanent work that factories provide, it is common
for factory workers to refer to their current or former bosses as “slave
drivers” or as “people I just cannot work for.” Artisanal sh processors
face daily risks of having their sh conscated by sheries authorities,
and a few said that they would prefer a different form of work. But they
can and often do make much more money, have much more autonomy,
and derive a great deal more enjoyment from their work than those who
process Nile perch for export.
Figure . Rules for bodily conduct in a sh factory
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 217
purchasing fish for food
Domestic and intercontinental consumers of Nile perch purchase sh in
relation to its preparation, quality, quantity, and price. Both want to
purchase sh best suited to how and to whom sh will be served, and
both want to know that their purchase is safe and nourishing. Both want
to eat affordable sh, although they are also concerned about the nutri-
tional content of the sh they buy. Intercontinental consumers are
attracted to Nile perch llets for their rm esh and mild avour and
because they are wild, caught in clean waters, and possess a uniquely
high omega- content. Domestic consumers select emputa for these same
reasons, but they also reference buying sh of various species for their
food value, which is derived from the avour, protein, fats, and micronu-
trients found in whole sh, including sh esh, skin, heads, and some-
times bones, depending on the species. These disparate subsistence
preferences for whole sh on domestic markets and for lleted sh on
intercontinental markets strongly inuence the degree to which purchas-
ers and consumers are able to use their bodily senses when making deci-
sions about whether, where, and when to buy and eat sh.
As detailed in the previous section, most Ugandan sh exported to
Europe, the United States, and beyond take the form of -gram llets.
In niche markets, some are sold in larger pieces with their skins still on,
but the large majority of sh are sold without bones, skins, heads, guts,
or anything else except uniformly processed, ash-frozen esh. Most
consumers in Europe and North America nd negotiating bones in one’s
meal to be awkward, unappetizing, and potentially dangerous, but for
those used to eating whole sh, bones are not a problem. Fish in Uganda
are said to enter one’s mouth from one side, their bones effortlessly leav-
ing by the other. For sh consumers used to eating llets, this vernacular
way of eating takes a bit of practice but can be very satisfying. One must
eat slowly, examining each bite before actually biting down. One comes
to know where and what kinds of bones are in a given portion of sh.
One knows which bones may be easily pulled out with two ngers
before a piece enters one’s mouth and which bones are better suited to
separating from the esh by gently sucking on the piece once it enters
one’s mouth.
A large portion of the export market is still based on frozen Nile perch
llets, although processing plants prefer to export “fresh” or “chilled”
llets, as these fetch a comparatively higher price. Whereas “fresh” llets
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218 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
are most often consumed shortly after they are purchased, intercontinen-
tal consumers also purchase frozen llets for the convenience of consum-
ing sh at their leisure without worrying about the sh “going off.”
Payments for exported sh are usually received by processing plants
much faster for “fresh” llets, as they are transported via airplane, pay-
ments for frozen llets being much slower because they are rst trans-
ported by truck and / or train to the coastal port city of Mombasa, Kenya,
and then transported via large oceangoing cargo ships.
Fish sold domestically in Uganda may be fresh, fried, dried, salted, or
smoked. Fresh and fried sh are usually purchased for eating that same
day, as many Ugandans do not have refrigerators, and most who do have
them know they may be rendered useless by power outages. Smoked,
dried, and salted sh may also be purchased for consumption that day,
but they can also be stored for use in the near future. Most domestic sh
consumed are purchased whole, with eyes, skin, and bones intact, as
these are important indicators of sh quality. Large hotels may also
purchase llets cut at landing sites, where they are less expensive than
llets cut in factories. Particularly large emputa may be sold in pieces
either fresh or fried, but they too are most often sold with their skin and
bones intact.
Ugandans purchasing emputa for themselves or to share with one or
two other people usually prefer sh that are medium-sized, or what we
call reasonably sized, those about the length of one’s forearm or the
length from one’s elbow to the tips of one’s ngers. Those with larger
families prefer to purchase a number of smaller sh, those about the size
of one’s hand. This way, when sh are served at mealtimes, all members
of the family may have their own sh, instead of pieces from a single
larger sh. This eliminates possibilities for potential disagreement over
who may get which part of a sh, as all individuals tend to have their
own favourite part. Some prefer the head for its tender meat, nutritious
eyes, and rich-tasting gills, whereas others prefer the middle sides, belly,
or tail for their rm esh, their crispy ns, and the comparatively little
work involved in actually eating them. Most sh consumers in the long-
industrialized world also prefer eating their sh in pieces, but they prefer
pieces that have been stripped of their actual shiness.
When reading articles in Ugandan news dailies about the local and
regional sh trade, one is left with the understanding that most sh
sold on these markets are processed and sold in “unhygienic condi-
tions,” although Ugandans almost never get sick from eating their
sh. Maintaining “hygiene” is key in industrial plants to avoid
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Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 219
potential contamination to the extent that some processors dip freshly
cut llets in chlorine before freezing or chilling them – when sheries
department ofcials are not watching. After industrial processing, Nile
perch llets do not smell, taste, or look like sh to sh consumers who
prefer whole sh. Most Ugandans cannot fathom eating a supermarket-
bought sh llet, not least because they are priced well outside of their
ability to purchase these forms of sh. For most Ugandans, supermarket-
bought sh are no longer fresh and, to them, no longer sh.
Domestic purchasers of sh have an expansive repertoire of vernacu-
lar techniques based on their bodily senses, particularly sight, smell,
and touch, to determine the quality of the sh they buy, whereas inter-
continental consumers must rely on industrial and impersonal signiers
of freshness and quality based on statistical quality-control systems.
When purchasing any domestically available sh, consumers can imme-
diately smell and see the environment where sh are sold to ascertain
general quality. Fish on domestic markets should smell like sh, but
they should not smell too much. The environment where sh is sold
should show signs that basins, market stalls, and outside home counters
from which sh are sold are cleaned regularly, although they need not
be as sterile and impersonal as a supermarket freezer isle or a stainless-
steel sh counter.
When buying fresh whole sh, domestic purchasers can and do touch
the sh skin and esh to make sure it is rm, while visually inspecting a
sh’s eyes to make sure they are clear and at times pulling back a sh’s
gills to make sure they are still pink and not grey in colour. If upon
touching a sh, the marks of one’s ngers remain, or do not immediately
disappear, it is clear that the sh is not as fresh as it could be. Less than
perfectly fresh sh may still be purchased, and are almost always still
safe to eat, but purchasers will bargain over the price.
Smoked and fried sh are similarly examined to ensure that these sh
are not over- or undercooked. A sh that is too dark or too light in
colour, or with esh that is too hard or too soft, is understood not to be
as delicious or nutritious as another sh that is dark or golden brown,
with rm but somewhat exible esh. A buyer of smoked sh may take
hold of a sh, place the sh’s mouth up to her nose, and inhale deeply to
smell whether a given sh or batch of sh has been well processed. If the
sh smells “dark,” it is usually rejected, whereas if it smells “sweet,” it is
usually purchased. If there is some ambiguity, domestic buyers have the
ability to speak directly with the individual who initially purchased
and / or processed the sh or, at the very least, to speak with a buyer of
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 219 2016-02-12 14:14:50
220 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
sh who usually knows who processed the sh – although this knowl-
edge usually decreases in relation to the number of buyers and resellers
who have played some role in bringing sh to a particular market.
Domestic buyers who will either consume or resell sh may ask whether
a sh was purchased and processed that day or the night before, as well
as whether the sh may have died in the net in which it was caught
rather than upon being hauled into a boat or onto shore. Only when a
buyer is satised with the quality of a sh, ascertained by the use of mul-
tiple bodily senses, and a satisfactory price is agreed upon will a Ugandan
purchase the sh.
Domestic buyers purchasing sh from the most vernacular of loca-
tions – directly outside the homes of processors and where sh are also
smoked or fried – may purchase sh every few days or even every single
day from the same seller. They will already know when and where a
particular processor goes to purchase sh and when they are usually
processed. Because these buyers are almost always neighbours of the
processor, they will often smell the appealing aromas of sh being
smoked or fried almost immediately if they are home when processing is
occurring. Buyers are often happy to buy sh that were processed the
previous day, or several days before purchasing if the sh are smoked,
because they are still perfectly safe and enjoyable to eat. However,
domestic buyers who are used to eating the freshest sh are averse to
eating fresh sh that have been preserved on ice, as this is said to signi-
cantly alter the avour, making them “less sweet.” As mentioned in the
previous section, a processor’s reputation for preparing delicious and
nutritious sh, or not, is very important for building and maintaining a
customer base. There is direct accountability for the quality of a given
sh sold, purchased, and consumed.
The bodily senses of potential consumers of industrially processed
Nile perch llets are considerably disabled. This is particularly the case
for frozen sh llets, which are almost always purchased in a thick plas-
tic bag holding several uniform -gram llets individually packed in
similarly thick plastic (see gure .). Consumers of sh llets do exam-
ine the general conditions of where the sh are sold, but they have no
way of truly knowing where, when, and how sh were caught and pro-
cessed. This is why labelling is needed for llet consumers but not for
Ugandan eaters of sh. As shown by a recent spate of lawsuits brought
against sh importers who intentionally mislabelled the species of sh
for sale to suit local preferences – for example, selling Ugandan Nile
perch as Gulf of Mexico grouper in Tampa, Florida – it is difcult, if not
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 220 2016-02-12 14:14:50
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 221
impossible, to know whether the sh llets one purchases are even cut
from the species of sh they are purported to be.
Consumers of so-called fresh llets do use some of their senses to
determine whether or not to buy a given llet. They can smell sh at sh
counters at the time of purchasing, although they cannot tell which of
the many sh on offer may be producing a given smell. These same con-
sumers may be able to ascertain elements of quality based on whether
the sh is white or pink in colour rather than grey, but they have no way
of knowing whether llets have been chemically treated to maintain a
given colour, which they sometimes are. They may also be able to have a
conversation with the person working behind the sh counter about the
supposed origins of a given llet. However, like buyers of frozen llets,
they cannot speak with anyone who has ever touched the sh in its
whole form, who can say with any certainty which industrial plant pro-
cessed a particular llet, or who can even identify its country of origin.
The senses of potential consumers of frozen llets are much more dis-
abled. They may hold a package of sh to feel whether it is completely
frozen, but they have no way of knowing whether the llets inside were
ever accidentally thawed and refrozen or frozen quickly enough in the
Figure . Nile perch ready for shipping (left) and rebranded
in the Netherlands as Victoriabaarslet (right)
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 221 2016-02-12 14:14:51
222 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
rst place to prevent spoiling. Perhaps most importantly, they cannot
know whether a sh is truly safe to eat until their bodies begin the pro-
cess of digestion.
How then do consumers of frozen Nile perch sh llets know that
they are purchasing forms of sh that are delicious, nutritious, and safe
if one cannot literally look a sh llet in the eye to see whether it is clear
or cloudy? First, because an appetizing Nile perch llet consumed out-
side of eastern Africa is one that has very little avour of its own, the
actual taste of the llet depends on what other foods, herbs, and spices
it is cooked with. To determine whether llets are nutritious and safe,
consumers must trust the supermarket chains and sh counters where
llets are sold. If they are well lit, clean, cold, and do not smell like sh,
there is usually no doubt that what they sell is ne to eat. Consumers
may examine nutritional information on the back of a package of frozen
sh, although it is possible that because of chemical treatment and long-
freezing times, the generic nutritional information printed on the outside
of a package may overestimate the nutritional value of the sh inside.
Potential buyers of frozen llets may scan expiration dates imprinted on
each package, but we know that these dates are occasionally changed to
avoid discarding large quantities of sh that are over two years old.
Whitesh commodities are often priced based on the number of times
they have been frozen, thawed, and refrozen, which may be as many as
three to four times. These same buyers also look to the package itself,
scanning corporate logos, seals of compliance with intergovernmental
sh safety requirements, expiration dates, and increasingly markers that
the sh contained therein went through some kind of sustainability cer-
tication. Would-be consumers of industrially processed sh may trust
the image of quality constructed for them by corporations and regula-
tory bodies, but they are unable to rely on their own senses when pur-
chasing industrially processed llets.
thoughts on “ research b y people” from the shadows
of a singular sustainability
Lake Victoria is one of the most extensively studied lakes in the world,
yet it continues to be described by those who do not live there as one of
the most poorly managed. Most studies of Lake Victoria’s sheries are
conducted through large-sample research designs that use statistical sur-
vey methodologies, are funded by international donors, and are driven
by the need to sustainably manage Lake Victoria’s Nile perch export
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 222 2016-02-12 14:14:51
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 223
shery – without investigating the operational denition of “sustainabil-
ity” itself. Research questions, and indeed the possible answers, are
dened long before academic and governmental eld researchers reach
shing sites to administer their surveys. Most sheries researchers are
professionally trained, but they have little to no experience actually
working with sh in the ways we have described for Ennyanja’s sh-
workers. For us, it is not surprising that this mode of research, what Ivan
Illich calls “research for people,” has consistently underestimated the
economic and nutritional importance of the local and regional emputa
trade, as these studies rarely extend beyond the shing sites themselves.
Our ongoing collaboration is designed differently.
We take seriously the need that Illich identies for a “simple adjective
to name those acts of competence, lust, or concern that we want to
defend from measurement or manipulation,” and like Illich and a grow-
ing number of others, we nd this objective to be served by the term
“vernacular” (see also Samuel, this volume). For us, this shared prior-
ity emerged only after several years of knowing each other and working
together. We rst met one afternoon in July at the landing site
where Bakaaki Robert manages several shing boats. Because Robert
was the vice chairman of the landing site’s Beach Management Unit,
which is a co-management institution designed to mediate between
“shing communities” and the state, and because of his uency in
English, he was quickly introduced to Jennifer by knowledgeable outsid-
ers when she arrived at the site seeking more information about the Nile
perch trade. Robert was keen to help, not least because he feels an afn-
ity for the United States, where Jennifer is from. Our shared uency in
the English language, as well as in the languages and logics of manage-
ment, soon led to conversations that challenged both of us to think in
new ways about our interconnected economies, systems of knowledge
production, and domains for future inquiry.
That summer, Robert and several other shworkers and managers
around Ennyanja helped Jennifer to understand that sh and shing
were not simply legal or illegal, as all managerial publications had led
her to believe. Through informal conversations and sometimes semis-
tructured formal interviews about the practices of shing and managing
sh, a third category of sh and shing practice emerged, which Jennifer
rst introduced at the “Bringing Subsistence out of the Shadows” work-
shop as “[il]legal,” although we now call it “reasonable.” We met again
briey in November of but could stay in touch only via periodic
phone calls until Jennifer returned to Uganda several years later. By the
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 223 2016-02-12 14:14:51
224 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
time we met again in July , Robert had become the chairman of
Beach Management Units for all of Uganda, giving him unique access to
managerial discourses, as well as the burdens of mediating between the
concerns of his shing colleagues and neighbours and those of the state
and sheries experts. Jennifer had begun to focus on the region’s shing
histories and had nally convinced her dissertation committee, and her-
self, that she was ready to begin her long-term dissertation eld research.
We rekindled our relationship over a number of shared sh lunches
and a trip to revisit the nearby island where Robert grew up. Shortly
afterward, we began conducting oral history interviews together with
elders who live near the lake and gathering career histories from women
who process sh. As we began translating and transcribing these inter-
views from the Luganda vernacular language into English, we began
accidentally drafting the large majority of this chapter.
We opted to do most of our transcription work at the landing site
itself so that Robert could continue to manage boats while we worked
on our interviews. This arrangement also suited Jennifer’s desire to have
a good excuse to hang out for extended periods of time at the landing
site, where outsiders are welcome but rarely stay for long. As we encoun-
tered points of clarication that Jennifer required from our interviews
and considered interesting moments in the daily rhythms of life at the
landing site, we ended up spending most of our time informally discuss-
ing what we have elaborated here as the vernacular domain rather than
doggedly keeping our ears and eyes on our interviews. At rst, it was
challenging for us to nd mutually satisfying words to capture what we
were trying to describe, so we made up a few of our own. In the process,
we have become more than colleagues and friends; we have become fam-
ily. We have shared everyday concerns over bodily safety and job secu-
rity, as well as more difcult, but not less useful, discussions about the
social work of mediating between multiple individuals, institutions, and
circumstances in our respective and shared projects.
In our daily work straddling managerial and vernacular domains, we
cannot help but experience and reect upon how the professionalization
of sheries knowledge in Lake Victoria has criminalized the skills, prefer-
ences, and obligations of our colleagues who actually work with and eat
sh in Ennyanja. Fisheries experts with diverse disciplinary and profes-
sional backgrounds all seem to sing a common chorus about the need to
“sustainably develop” Lake Victoria’s shing industry for the benet of
present and future generations. Their individual focuses may be different
depending on the priorities of the organizations they work for, such
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 224 2016-02-12 14:14:51
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 225
as enhancing food security and food sovereignty with the Food and
Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, coordinating research
and management for a healthy lake ecosystem with the Lake Victoria
Fisheries Organization, and alleviating poverty and enhancing food sov-
ereignty with donor agencies like the United States Agency for International
Development, European Union, Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation, and Swedish International Development Agency. However
harmonious, humanitarian, and erudite their voices may sound, the ver-
nacular reality remains that “sustainably utilizing” Lake Victoria’s sher-
ies resources requires that species and forms of sh preferred by Ennyanja’s
residents never touch their lips. To supposedly increase household income
for the marginalized, impoverished, and malnourished, sh must literally
be conscated from the very people responsible for securing household
income by provisioning local markets with uniquely nutritious food. We
nd this intervention completely unacceptable. We believe that appropri-
ate vernacular sheries already exist in Uganda, although they do com-
pete with Lake Victoria’s “shing industry.”
Fishworkers are almost always depicted as subsistence producers, the
poorest of the poor in Uganda, as elsewhere in Africa, but this portrayal
is simply not true. In early , whether working with gill nets from
a boat or with beach seines from the shore, shermen made around
US each working day, plus they took home at least two reasonably
sized sh for sale or their own subsistence. Women who fry sh at home
often earn a prot of about US in a day from purchasing just over
US of sh the night before, although depending on how much money
they have on hand to buy sh, they may make much more or much less.
In both cases, shworkers make the same, if not more, than many sala-
ried government workers, including administrative staff, technocrats,
and sheries enforcement ofcials, police ofcers, and soldiers. Although
required to have a university degree, many government employees bring
home just over US each working day, whereas those who work the
same hours cleaning their ofces make just under US per working day.
When we consider that shworkers usually work six to seven days a
week, we see that they may make twice what a highly educated, govern-
ment worker with job security may make. And if they are women who
process sh, they do all this while still having the time to greet their
children with a hot meal when they return from school, and they may
even manage to buy their homes and purchase livestock as an investment
in their eventual retirement. Although most government employees may
make only enough to subsist each month, with many trying to start small
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 225 2016-02-12 14:14:51
226 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
businesses in order to make ends meet, salaried work is never described
as subsistence production for the Ugandan state.
Although Ennyanja’s sh have long been produced for cash-based
exchange, the reality remains that sh and cash are incommensurable.
For , Ugandan shillings, you can buy three freshly fried hand-sized
emputa for lunch, but you cannot actually eat a ,-shilling banknote
– the going rate paid to shermen for catching a kilogram of exportable
sh – although you may be able to use one to purchase a prepared lunch
of rice and beans. Nor can you purchase a kilogram of similarly high-
quality animal protein in a market with the same banknote, as fresh
legal-sized Nile perch cost about per cent more than beef. However,
to live well in the cities and towns of Uganda’s southern coast, including
shing sites, one needs a steady ow of cash. When we ask women who
work with sh to compare the quality of life in their home villages
upcountry, where soap and parafn may be the only commodities that
one must purchase, they often lament the fact that they must buy every-
thing they need to live around Ennyanja. There is little available land for
farming, planting fruit trees, or gathering fuel wood, although some resi-
dents do creatively nd ways to do so. Ennyanja’s shworkers, and the
many consumers of emputa, need emputa for subsistence, but they also
want emputa to send their children to good schools, provide a safe and
secure home for their families, and invest in their retirement.
The ongoing situation in Uganda’s freshwater sheries is not unique
tothis country, region, or even freshwater sheries more generally. On
the African continent, as well as in other small-scale sheries elsewhere,
assumed globally relevant economic and scientic logics tend to drive
resource-based policymaking and implementation, often with detrimen-
tal impacts on resource bases and the communities that rely on them.
Ennyanja’s shworkers and eaters of sh are increasingly becoming u-
ent in these assumed globally applicable logics and languages that guide
sheries management in Lake Victoria, but this informs their vernacular
practices of working with and eating sh rather than supplanting them
altogether. Our focus on Ennyanja and its vernacular practices around
emputa is not intended, nor is it able, to refute the importance of Lake
Victoria and Nile perch to the future of Ugandans and eastern Africans
more broadly. However, we have situated vernacular shwork and ver-
nacular sh eating as ontologically different from the production and
consumption of industrially processed sh llets as managed by techno-
science. It is our hope that shedding selective light on vernacular sh-
work has revealed ways of knowing about, working on, and living well
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 226 2016-02-12 14:14:51
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 227
with a lake, with sh, and with each other that may be inuenced, but
not driven, by assumptions of scarcity, economic efciency, and the exis-
tence of a singular sustainability.
n o t e s
Jennifer would like to thank Uganda’s shworkers who have and continue
to share their stories, sh, and insights, although she apologizes that individ-
ual contributors must, at this time, remain anonymous. She would also like
to thank Dean Bavington for his sustained mentorship and generous enthu-
siasm, as well as for persistently encouraging her to stand with shworkers.
Financial support for Jennifer’s extended dissertation eldwork was provid-
ed by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropology, by the National
Science Foundation, and by the University of Michigan’s School ofNatural
Resources and Environment, Institute for the Humanities, Department of
Afro-American and African Studies, International Institute, and Center for
Comparative and International Studies. This support funded initial phases of
this research and, among much else, made this current collaboration with
Bakaaki Robert possible. Bakaaki would like to dedicate this honour of pub-
lishing his thoughts on subsistence, sustainability, and his own shwork to his
late mother, his two sons, and his only daughter, as well as to his wife, Veron.
He presents this research as a friend of the United States and Canada. Both of
us thank the editors of this volume and several anonymous reviewers for con-
structive comments and specic edits, although any errors remain our own.
Catherine Bekunda and Henry Sekanjako, “ s Want Economic
Saboteurs Killed,” New Vision (Kampala), January , http://www.
newvision.co.ug/news/-NRM-MPs-want-economic-saboteurs-
killed.html.
On southern African sheries, see David Gordon, Nachituti’s Gift:
Economy, Society and Environment in Central Africa (Madison: University
of Wisconsin Press, ); and Lance van Sittert, “The Tyranny of the Past:
Why Local Histories Matter in the South African Fisheries,” Ocean and
Coastal Management , nos – (): –. On South American
freshwater sheries, see Benjamin Orlove, Lines in the Water: Nature and
Culture at Lake Titicaca (Berkeley: University of California Press, );
and Dominique P. Levieil and Benjamin Orlove, “Local Control of Aquatic
Resources: Community and Ecology in Lake Titicaca, Peru,” American
Anthropologist n.s. , no. (): –.
For a careful elaboration of this concept, see Anna Tsing, Friction: An
Ethnography of Global Connection (Princeton, : Princeton University
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 227 2016-02-12 14:14:51
228 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
Press, ). For ethnographies of integrated conservation and develop-
ment projects in sheries, see Christine Walley, Rough Waters: Nature and
Development in an East African Marine Park (Princeton, : Princeton
University Press, ); and Celia Lowe, Wild Profusion: Biodiversity
Conservation in an Indonesian Archipelago (Princeton, : Princeton
University Press, ).
Jake Kosek, Understories: The Political Life of Forests in Northern New
Mexico (Durham, : Duke University Press, ); James Scott, The Art
of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia
(New Haven, : Yale University Press, ).
Laurie Ann Peach, “Scientists Rally to Save African Fish,” Christian
Science Monitor, July ; Reuben Olita, “ Countries to Save Nile
Perch,” New Vision (Kampala), November . See also a yearly
section in the New Vision entitled “Save Lake Victoria,” http://www.
newvision.co.ug/section/--save-lake-victoria.html.
J.H. Speke, What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile
(Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, ).
Hubert Sauper, dir., Darwin’s Nightmare, documentary (Paris: Mille et une
productions, ); Nancy Chege, “Lake Victoria: A Sick Giant,” ,
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/lake_victoria_sick.php; Animal
Planet, How to Catch a Nile Perch, video, May , http://animal.
discovery.com/videos/river-monsters-how-to-catch-a-nile-perch.html.
The name “Ennyanja” implies a large and largely uncontainable body of
water, be it a owing river or an expansive inland sea.
This is particularly the case for contemporary littoral residents whose par-
ents and grandparents may have avoided eating sh for cultural reasons.
See also Jennifer Lee Johnson, “Managerial Technologies, [Il]legal
Livelihoods and the Forgotten Consumers of Africa’s Largest Freshwater
Fishery,” in Toyin Falola and Emily Brownell, eds, Landscape and
Environment in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa, – (New York:
Routledge, ).
There is also a growing local and regional trade in frozen sh llets and
processed “sh ngers.” These are sold in the aisles of the region’s most
expensive supermarkets at twice the price of fresh sh in open-air markets,
where most Ugandans purchase their sh for home consumption.
Bruce Kinloch, The Shamba Raiders: Memories of a Game Warden
(Southampton, : Ashford, ).
Ibid.; Robert M. Pringle, “The Origins of the Nile Perch in Lake Victoria,”
BioScience , no. (): –.
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 228 2016-02-12 14:14:51
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 229
Richard Ogutu-Ohwayo, “The Decline of the Native Fishes of Lakes Vic-
toria and Kyoga (East Africa) and the Impact of Introduced Species, Espe-
cially the Nile Perch, Lates Niloticus, and the Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis
Niloticus,” Environmental Biology of Fishes , no. (): –; P.C.
Goudswaard, F. Witte, and E.F.B. Katunzi, “The Invasion of an Introduced
Predator, Nile Perch (Lates Niloticus, L.) in Lake Victoria (East Africa):
Chronology and Causes,” Environmental Biology of Fishes , no.
(): –; Frans Witte et al., “The Destruction of an Endemic Species
Flock: Quantitative Data on the Decline of the Haplochromine Cichlids of
Lake Victoria,” Environmental Biology of Fishes , no. (): –.
We recognize that this varies from person to person. This is not intended
to be a precise measurement.
James Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the
Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven, : Yale University Press,
).
Ivan Illich, “The Waning of the Vernacular,” Second Thoughts , no.
(), http://johnohliger.org/artman/publish/article_.shtml.
Ivan Illich, “Vernacular Values,” Philosophica , no. (): –.
A more thorough discussion of the development of the Nile perch export
industry, the actors involved, and the ways that they have recongured sh-
ing practices is available, but most accounts of this transformation in Lake
Victoria’s sheries, including Jennifer Lee Johnson’s early work, focus on
Kenya and Tanzania. See, for example, R.O. Abila and E. Jansen, From
Local to Global Markets: The Fish Exporting and Fishmeal Industries of
Lake Victoria: Structure, Strategies, and Socio-Economic Impacts in Kenya
(Nairobi: International Union for Conservation of Nature, ); R.N.
Omwega, R.O. Abila, and C. Lwenya, “Fishing and Poverty Levels around
Lake Victoria (Kenya),” in Eric Odada and Daniel O. Olago, eds, Proceedings
of the 11th World Lakes Conference, vol. , – (Nairobi: World Lakes
Conference, ); K. Geheb et al., “Nile Perch and the Hungry of Lake
Victoria: Gender, Status and Food in an East African Fishery,” Food Policy
, no. (): –; and Jennifer Lee Johnson, “From Mfangano to
Madrid: The Global Commodity Chain for Kenyan Nile Perch,” Aquatic
Ecosystem Health and Management , no. (): –.
Timothy Mitchell, Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity
(Berkeley: University of California Press, ).
Joost Beuving, “Playing Pool along the Shores of Lake Victoria: Fishermen,
Careers and Capital Accumulation in the Ugandan Nile Perch Business,”
Africa , no. (): –.
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 229 2016-02-12 14:14:51
230 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
The denition given in the Fish Act of states that an illegal sh is
“‘immature,’ in relation to a species of sh, mean[ing] that it is of a length
less than such as may from time to time be notied by the chief sheries
ofcer by statutory instrument, either generally or in respect of any specic
area.” See Government of Uganda, The Fish Act Ch. 197 (). Although
the Fish Act was revised in , the denition of “immature” sh has
been retained from the legislation, giving the chief sheries ofcer the
legal authority to declare exactly what constitutes an immature, and hence
illegal, sh. In practice, this denition means that “the maturity of sh is
based on the total length of that species at rst maturity,” which is general-
ly considered to be twenty inches for Nile perch. Joyce Nyeko, senior sh-
eries ofcer, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries,
personal communication with Jennifer Lee Johnson, July .
John S. Balirwa, “Ecological, Environmental and Socioeconomic Aspects
of the Lake Victoria’s Introduced Nile Perch Fishery in Relation to the
Native Fisheries and the Species Culture Potential: Lessons to Learn,”
African Journal of Ecology , no. (): –.
Government of Uganda, The Fish (Fishing) Rules, 2010: Statutory
Instruments 2010 No. 35 ().
Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization, The Joint Communique of the
Council of Ministers of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization, Issued
inKampala, Uganda on October 29, 2008 (Jinja: Lake Victoria Fisheries
Organization, ), .
Gerald Tenywa, “Shb for L. Victoria Development,” New Vision
(Uganda), April , http://www.newvision.co.ug/PA///.
Cited in Cyprian Musoke, “Museveni Speaks out on Economy,” New Vision
(Kampala), July , http://www.newvision.co.ug/D///.
Prossy Nandudu, “Uganda: to Patrol Fish-Producing Water Bodies,”
New Vision (Kampala), November , http://allafrica.com/ stories/
.html.
A factory buyer will offer a slightly higher price per kilogram if sh are
purchased on credit rather than with a direct cash payment.
Removing nets before landing is most important in the dry season, when
lake levels are lower and the ground where boats are landed is more rm.
Some boat owners and shermen maintain the “traditional” belief that it
is bad luck for women to touch shing nets and shing boats. This is not
apractice limited to Uganda’s shermen but is also common in North
American and Scottish sheries, among others. See Carrie L. Yodanis,
“Constructing Gender and Occupational Segregation: A Study of Women
and Work in Fishing Communities,” Qualitative Sociology , no.
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 230 2016-02-12 14:14:51
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 231
(): –; Jane Nadel-Klein, “Granny Baited the Lines: Perpetual
Crisis and the Changing Role of Women in Scottish Fishing Communities,”
Women’s Studies International Forum , no. (): –.
In Luganda, a vernacular language spoken by many in south-central
Uganda, the word “kale,” means “yes,” “okay,” or “you are welcome,” de-
pending on the context. “Kale,” is pronounced “kaa-lay,” not like the
darkly hued leafy green kale.
In Jennifer briey visited a shing island with a district sheries
manager who described shing on that island to her as “the best orga-
nized” in Uganda. There, men wore different coloured shirts representing
their specic task in shwork and were said to be paid a daily wage in ac-
cordance with the tasks they performed. This included those who pulled
boats to shore, but she did not ask any of these men whether this was ac-
tually the case. We have not seen this way of arranging work at shing
sites anywhere else around the lake.
Andy Thorpe and Elizabeth Bennett, “Market-Driven International Fish
Supply Chains: The Case of Nile Perch from Africa’s Lake Victoria,” Inter-
national Food and Agribusiness Management Review , no. (): .
Ennyanja is located on and near the equator, so there is very little seasonal
variation in when the sun rises and sets. It is usually completely dark by
: and completely light by : .
“Capital” is the actual word most women use to describe the cash re-
quired to operate their sheries activities, whether or not they are com-
fortable speaking English.
It is not uncommon for women to sell their neighbours a few of their sh
fresh before processing, although they much prefer to sell them after pro-
cessing because they will receive more money for their smoked or fried sh.
For a rich ethnographic study of market women and their interpretations
of the freedom that selling food affords them, see Garcia Clark, Onions
Are My Husband: Survival and Accumulation by West Africa Market
Women (London: University of Chicago Press, ). For an overview of
the “sex-for-sh” phenomenon from a policy perspective, see Christophe
Bene and Sonja Merten, “Women and Fish-for-Sex: Transactional Sex,
/ and Gender in African Fisheries,” World Development , no.
(): –; Z.A. Kwena et al., “Prevalence and Risk Factors for
Sexually Transmitted Infections in a High-Risk Occupational Group: The
Case of Fishermen along Lake Victoria in Kisumu, Kenya,” International
Journal of
and
, no. (): –; and Kathryn J.
Fiorella et al., “Transactional Fish-for-Sex Relationships amid Declining
Fish Access in Kenya,” World Development (): –.
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 231 2016-02-12 14:14:51
232 Jennifer Lee Johnson and Bakaaki Robert
It is important to note that this information detailing employee compensa-
tion and medical care came from a former employee of a sh-processing
plant, not from a plant manager, so we expect it to be quite accurate.
When buying fresh sh at local markets, there is almost always the option
to have one’s sh cleaned. Some purchasers prefer to clean their sh them-
selves at home in order to save a bit of money and to have the highly nu-
tritious organs of the sh on hand to feed domestic cats and dogs, whereas
others are able and happy to pay someone else to clean their sh for them.
Joel Ogwang, “Uganda: New Tough Fisheries Law Starts Biting,” New
Vision (Kampala), December , http://allafrica.com/stories/
.html.
Most sh are rst offered at a set price either for a single sh or for sev-
eral similarly sized sh. Although these are usually the prices at which
sh are sold, there is some exibility over the price, particularly if the
purchaser can make a compelling case as to why the asking price is not
appropriate. There is always a “nal price” set by the seller, below which
the sh will not be sold.
For example, women who purchase sh wholesale from central markets
and sell them at local, but retail, markets may have a good idea who pro-
cessed or initially purchased their sh, but they may not be able to pin-
point the exact processor. We say that this knowledge “usually decreases”
in this context because some of the supply chains for emputa sold in dis-
tant markets are tightly controlled, with only a few individuals being
responsible for sourcing and selling large quantities of these sh.
Margot L. Stiles et al., Bait and Switch: How Seafood Fraud Hurts Our
Oceans, Our Wallets and Our Health (Washington, : Oceana, ).
Consumers of Nile perch llets are not ill on a regular basis, although
there have been a number of quality concerns. See Stefano Ponte, “Bans,
Tests, and Alchemy: Food Safety Regulation and the Uganda Fish Export
Industry,” Agriculture and Human Values , no. (): –.
Ivan Illich, Shadow Work (Salem, : Marion Boyars, ), –.
Illich, “Vernacular Values,” .
For excellent treatments of poverty, trade, and the pro-poor functions
ofsheries in Africa, see Christophe Bene, “When Fishery Rhymes with
Poverty: A First Step beyond the Old Paradigm on Poverty in Small-Scale
Fisheries,” World Development , no. (): –; Christophe
Bene, Rebecca Lawton, and Edward H. Allison, “‘Trade Matters in the
Fight against Poverty’: Narratives, Perceptions, and (Lack of) Evidence
inthe Case of Fish Trade in Africa,” World Development , no. ():
–; Christophe Béné, Bjørn Hersoug, and Edward H. Allison, “Not
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 232 2016-02-12 14:14:51
Working with Fish in the Shadows of Sustainability 233
by Rent Alone: Analysing the Pro-poor Functions of Small-Scale Fisheries
in Developing Countries,” Development Policy Review , no. ():
–.
Vlad M. Kaczynski and David L. Fluharty, “European Policies in West
Africa: Who Benets from Fisheries Agreements?” Marine Policy , no.
(): –; F. Berkes et al., “Globalization, Roving Bandits, and
Marine Resources,” Science , no. (): –.
27767_MGQ_Murton.indd 233 2016-02-12 14:14:51
