Waterways Project

Overview

The network of boat stations across QE is proving to be successful beyond initial hopes. Their strategic positioning is reducing the elephant and hippo poaching problems, in particular, across both Lakes George and Edward.

The problem 

The Albertine Rift is dominated by water courses yet, until four years ago, the Uganda Wildlife Authority had no ranger patrol boats or expertise for boat operations. This left the regions exposed to all forms of illegal activities; poaching, bushmeat and ivory smuggling, and illegal fishing.

In QECA hippo poaching for meat not only continues at very high levels but is also the most frequent form of poaching. The hippopotamus was listed for the first time as a species threatened with extinction in the IUCN published ‘2006 Red List’. In the mid 1990s, crocodile were reported in QE for the very first time.


However their expansion across QE is being limited due to the enormous number of illegal fishing nets in Lakes George and Edward and in the Kazinga Channel.

A potential solution

With the support of our donors, UCF has just finished construction of our fourth marine ranger station (at Kamulikwezi) on northern Lake George in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The ability for rangers to be deployed by boat means they do not have to travel long distances overland. They can be deployed anywhere along a shoreline, silently and without detection. By hampering the waterborne movements of poachers and wildlife traffickers and the moving of dried meat and animals these illegal activities will be forced to return to road and land’ access where their passage is much more hazardous.

UCF together with the Uganda Wildlife Authority now have 4 boat stations in QECA with patrol boat capabilities at: Mweya (the main tourist centre for QECA), Rwenshama on Lake Edward (a fishing community), Kashaka on southern Lake George (also a fishing community) and now Kamulikwez.

Methodology

Benefits

• Law enforcement
• UWA’s visible presence reduces shoreline bushmeat smoking, waterborne bushmeat smuggling and wildlife and ivory trafficking.
• Suspects have been arrested and prosecuted and illegal items (such as fishnets, canoes and bags of charcoal) confiscated.
• Lake rescue and recovery
• Life is dangerous for people living on or adjacent to the National Parks. In 2009, two boys were killed while collecting drinking water from Lake George. UWA – with the support of UCF-funded equipment and training – was able to help recover the bodies, allowing the families to grieve properly.
• Fishermen have been saved from drowning and sick people have made use of the boats to be quickly ferried for treatment.
• This added community benefit brings acceptance of law enforcement within the community.
• Research and monitoring
• Thanks to the Kashaka boat on southern Lake George, the first hippo census across QE since the 1960s, was carried out by UWA’s Research and Monitoring Warden in 2007. UCF is working with UWA on the next survey in early 2010.

The future

The construction and equipping of the four marine stations is only one step in a comprehensive programme. UCF is now focusing on their successful operation, enabling them to coordinate with land based patrols and with each other.
Over the next year UCF aims to increase capacity by upgrading the boats and engines and further equipping the mobile ranger patrols by providing them with logistical support to work across the region.
The Waterways project is already – particularly with the opening of the Kamulikwezi marine ranger station - offering invaluable support to the Dura Recovery Project - a very ambitious project to open up a 400km² ‘corridor’ to the north of Lake George.

Donors

UCF wishes to acknowledge the funding for this programme provided by the principal donor David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and the other donors, International Elephant Foundation, Tusk Trust and Riverbanks Zoo (Columbia, USA).
UCF continues to seek further funding in order to expand and complete the programme.

If you would like to help with a donation towards this project please click here.