The government has gazatted 80 square miles of the total 26,800square miles of Lake Victoria as a reserve in honour of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting - 2007

The minister for Agriculture, Animal, Industry and Fisheries, Mr Hillary Onek, and the state minister for Fisheries, Mr Fred Mukisa, on Saturday signed the statutory instrument that makes it prohibited for any one to conduct or carry out commercial fishing in the gazetted area. The two officials said spot fishing would only be allowed under strict conditions.

The ministers announced Uganda's first Lucustrine Protected Area (LPA) in a press release.
"Protection of species within the LPA will begin in December 2007 when the LPA is activated in honour of the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The LPA will be known as the Commonwealth lake reserve," the press release said. The LPA, which is situated close to Entebbe and Kampala, will also promote "spot fishing" as one of Uganda's tourist attractions as the first post-Chogm benefit.

The release said the LPA initiative is as a result of the concern resulting from depletion of the wild Nile Perch and other valuable fish stock in Lake Victoria.
It is aimed at creating a conservation area in which biodiversity (variety of plants and animals) will be protected.

The ministry says the LPA will allow fish to breed undisturbed, hence excess fish populations within the LPA, which will in time migrate or spill out into the nearby commercial fishing grounds, thereby increasing the catch for neighbouring communities on a sustainable basis.

The government also said the initiative would create an area in which scientific research can be carried out undisturbed and encourage the growth in numbers of other species that have been put under pressure as a result of the effects of commercial fishing such as otters and hippopotamus and various bird species.