The Committee for Inland Fisheries of Africa is a subcommittee of FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI), which was set up so as to highlight the specific management and development requirements for Africa’s Inland Fisheries.

Countries that are members of CIFA.

Since the inception of this committee, member countries of FAO in the Africa Regional have convened 12 times once every two years. Among some of the outcomes of such meetings is how to regionally handle issues that are financially and technically complex for a single member country to handle.

These include issues for example of management of fisheries resources in shared water bodies, development of riverine based fisheries from rivers traversing more than one country – which typical for most African rivers, and conservation of economically important fish resources among others.

Among the results of these CIFA multinational sessions has been the creation of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization, which has been very instrumental in the harmonizing and streamlining management of Lake Victoria Fisheries Resources.

Uganda is hopeful once again that through such sessions we can get similar results with Lakes Albert and Edward Fisheries Resources in Management. Also regularly discussed and a key topic in recent meetings has been Commercial Aquaculture Development in the Africa region, a theme of great interest in Uganda in East Africa Community as a whole.

Uganda is ranked 7th in the world in freshwater fisheries production, and the second to Tanzania in the Africa Region. She also shares with Kenya and Tanzania Lake Victoria, which is the single water body producing the largest amount of freshwater fisheries in the world.

The CIFA Secretariat has sent invitations to African Member States as well as Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) experts, observers and relevant international organizations.

The conference is expected to bring together large and small-scale fish farmers, traders, suppliers, policy makers, Aquatic researchers, scientists and conversationalists from all African member states as well as experts of the food Agricultural Organization.