Lake Victoria Fisheries Research Articles

An overview of the current status of Lake Victoria fishery: Opportunities, challenges and management strategies

AbstractLake Victoria is African's most important source of inland fishery production, exhibiting an annual catch of ≈500 000 mt. The lake moderates local climate, serves as a means of transport, and a source of human food and raw material for the fishmeal industry. The introduction of Nile perch transformed the fisheries from a locally based artisanal fishery to a national and international capital investment industry. The fisheries produce an annual income of $US 600 million, providing employment opportunities for over 3 million people. Although the benefits of transforming the fishery of Lake Victoria appear to be quite remarkable, the negative impacts of this development are even more dramatic.Several challenges face the lake fishery, including environmental degradation, the introduction of exotic species, overfishing, and a fish export ban. Nutrients inputs into the lake have resulted in eutrophication and increased algal blooms. Deteriorated water quality and increased anoxia have caused the displacement and decline of some fish species. Exotic tilapiines have hybridized, displacing the indigenous fish species. Nile perch predation has caused the disappearance of once abundant native fish species. The once complex food web is now dominated by Nile perch. Unhygienic fishing methods have led to several fish export bans, while water hyacinth invasion in the lake has affected water quality, fishing and transportation possibilities. The current top‐down management and use of different regulations by the riparian states have been a major drawback to sustainable management of the lake. There is a need for a paradigm shift, in which the lake is considered to be one ecosystem and relevant stakeholders are involved in the decision‐making process.

Preface

Preface

The future of change: roles, dynamics and functions for fishing communities in the management of Lake Victoria's fisheries

This paper is based on five years of research around the shores of Lake Victoria carried out by the lake's Fisheries Research Institutes in collaboration with the Lake Victoria Fisheries Research Project. Based on this experience, the authors identify a series of difficulties, which impedes the effective management of the lake's fisheries. These relate to profound weaknesses in the current state-administered management of the lake along with difficulties transferring regulatory power to fishing communities, and problems establishing an adequate ‘co-managerial’ framework for the development and implementation of managerial action. The authors propose a management structure based on three levels of administration which have at their core ‘beach committees,’ and which serve as forums for negotiated managerial outcomes.

Great Lake Victoria Fisheries: Changes, Sustainability, and Building Blocks for Management

Great Lake Victoria Fisheries: Changes, Sustainability, and Building Blocks for Management

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

AbstractInland fishery ecosystems in Africa are characterized by patterns of overexploitation, environmental degradation and exotic species introductions. Ecological complexity and diversity of aquatic habitats dictate that fishes in general are not evenly distributed in a water body. However, fisheries management regimes tend to ignore this basic principle, assume generalized conditions in a water body, and focus more on ‘desired’ objectives such as maximizing catch. The result is to disregard fish habitat boundaries and anthropogenic influences from the catchment that influence fish production. Overexploitation and environmental degradation disrupt sustainable socioeconomic benefits from the fisheries, create uncertainty among investors, but leave some managers calling for more information with the expectation that the fisheries will recover with time. Open access to the fisheries and full control of fishing effort remain challenges for managers. Exotic species introductions and fish farming can increase production, but such interventions require firm commitment to sound ecological principles and strict enforcement of recommended conservation and co‐management measures in capture fisheries. The general tendency to downplay fishing effort issues, other ecosystem values and functions or rely on temperate fisheries models until a new cycle of overexploitation emerges, characterizes many management patterns in inland fisheries. Aquaculture is not an option to challenges in capture fisheries management. Aquaculture should be developed to increase fish production but even this practice may have negative environmental impacts depending on practice and scale. Decades of information on Lake Victoria fisheries trends and aquaculture development did not stop the collapse of native fisheries. The successfully introduced Nile perch (Lates niloticus) has shown signs of overexploitation and aquaculture has again been considered as the option. By reviewing significant trends associated with Nile perch and its feasibility in aquaculture this paper uses Lake Victoria to illustrate ‘special interest management’ targeting selected species of fish rather than the fisheries.

The Nile Perch in Lake Victoria: Local Responses and Adaptations

AbstractIntroduced into Lake Victoria in the 1950s, the Nile perch has gained fame for prompting rapid regional economic growth and for driving scores of endemic fish species into extinction. This study uses oral and archival data to trace the historical development of the Nile perch fishery on Lake Victoria. Particular emphasis is placed on local responses and adaptations to (1) the Nile perch itself; (2) the abrupt integration of the Lake Victoria fishery with the global economy; and (3) the ecological changes that the Nile perch has precipitated. I also attempt to situate Lake Victoria's history in the larger debate about environment and African livelihoods. Because so much of Lake Victoria's species diversity has been lost within one generation – biologist E. O. Wilson (1992) has called this process ‘the most catastrophic extinction episode of recent history’ – the lake is an ideal case study with which to examine ‘local’ perceptions of biodiversity. The data suggest that species diversity is important and highly resolved in the worldviews of Lake Victoria's fishermen; yet, although the will for conservation is present, poverty obstructs its realization. These findings are discussed in relation to other work on indigenous environmental knowledge and ecological ethics. I argue that ‘intrinsic’ valuation of species diversity and ecological processes may be more widespread in rural societies than has traditionally been assumed by natural and social scientists, and that the preponderance of social studies highlighting oppositions between Western science and ethno-science, and between conservation concerns and local livelihoods, may have blinded us to synergies between them. More effort is needed to understand fully the nuances in these complex local ecological worldviews, perhaps via ‘social histories of extinction’ that explore the local consequences of species loss.

Exotic introductions to the fishery of Lake Victoria: What are the management options?

AbstractLake Victoria is Africa's most important source of inland fishery production, exhibiting annual catches of ≈ 400 000 mt. The predatory Nile perch, Lates niloticus, and the herbivorous tilapiines, Oreochromis niloticus, Oreochromis leucostictus, Tilapia zillii and Tilapia rendalii, were introduced in Lake Victoria in the 1950s and 1960s. Nile perch were introduced to convert the abundant, but bony, haplochromines to fish flesh, while the tilapiines were introduced to boost the declining fishery. Since that time, the fisheries of Lake Victoria have undergone dramatic social and ecological changes. The catches increased tremendously, changing the fishery from artisanal to commercial, in turn increasing fisher income and employment opportunities. However, there was a decline and, in some cases, the disappearance of many indigenous fish species, especially the haplochromine cichlids. This reduction was attributed to overexploitation, predation, and competition and hybridization with the introduced species. The decline of the native fish species has had impacts on the trophic and ecological status of the lake. Nile perch now dominate the formerly complex food web. The loss of phytoplanktivorous haplochromines has contributed to an increase in algal blooms, reduction in water quality and occasional fish kills. Water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, invaded Lake Victoria in 1988, with high rates of infestation in shallow waters and bays, which are breeding and nursery grounds for most fish species. Catches of Nile perch decreased following the infestation, while those of Nile tilapia, lung fish (Protopterus aethiopicus) and mud fish (Clarias gariepinus) increased. Haplochromines species also showed some signs of recovery. In view of all these changes, the future of the Lake Victoria fishery is uncertain.

Different property rights regimes in the Lake Victoria multiple species fishery

Greater ecosystem complexity is recognized by studying a two species predator–prey model under two property rights regimes: free entry and a system such as individual quotas which execute an economically optimal solution. A bottom-up management experiment is discussed in the context of Lake Victoria fisheries.

A Predator-Prey Model with an Application to Lake Victoria Fisheries

Greater complexity in renewable resource models is achieved by acknowledging that species interact through a predator-prey relationship in which both species are harvested. The price of greater complexity is that traditional concepts, such as maximum sustained yield (MSY), have to be revised dramatically. Moreover, having chosen greater complexity, fishery biologists and other researchers must choose an explicit value for each fish, a rate of exchange of one species for every other species. Policy makers and social scientists in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda with a keen interest in Lake Victoria fisheries regard the resource as a tool for furthering socioeconomic goals, such as foreign exchange earnings, employment for women, and nutrition. Comparative analysis allows policy makers to understand the consequences of choosing these goals in addition to economically efficient resource use. Foreign exchange earnings, employment for women, and healthy people are other goals promulgated by Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda in the management of Lake Victoria Fisheries. The conflicts among social goals are evident in the bioeconomic predator-prey model: a goal favoring a particular species reduces the sustainable harvest of another species. Data from Kenya are used to estimate the population dynamics equations.

Community-level access and control in the management of Lake Victoria's fisheries

The fisheries of Lake Victoria have reached a critical stage in their development: catches are declining, and there is increasing evidence of hardship amongst the fishing communities. I n an effort to countermand the reduction in the flow of economic benefits the lake's riparian states are collaborating with international agencies to develop a fisheries management strategy that would be based on a partnership between stakeholders. One possible area for such collaboration is via the devolution of certain access controls to fishing communities. This paper describes findings from recent research and argues that notions of access are linked to community perceptions of the resource, control over it and their own individual and collective manoeuvrings designed to retain and improve livelihoods.

Management issues in the Lake Victoria watershed

AbstractLake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa (68 800 km2) and is the eighth largest lake in the world by volume. The three East African countries of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya share Lake Victoria and its resources. The total annual catch of fish from the lake ranges between 400 × 106 kg and 500 × 106 kg, bringing these riparian countries a combined annual income of approximately US$250 000–500 000 from exports alone. Approximately 30 million people live in the riparian region and the catchment, with about 2 million of these depending directly or indirectly on fishing activities. Tragically, Lake Victoria’s extremely diverse fauna was decimated in only 30 years following the introduction of non‐native Nile perch in the early 1960s. An estimated 200 endemic cichlid species became extinct. Dramatic increases in overfishing, pollution from various sources, effects of noxious water weeds and other associated problems threaten the sustainability of the lake’s resources and the economies of the riparian governments and peoples. Regulations governing Lake Victoria’s resources are different in each country. The laws concerning treatment of effluents from point sources in the three countries are not harmonized, neither are implementation or enforcement provisions. The governments of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have begun to put in place regional mechanisms to address the lake’s many problems including the creation of a permanent regional international institution through the establishment of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO). A strategic vision document and action plans have been developed. Efforts are being made at local, national and regional levels to control the water hyacinth, including manual pulling, mechanical harvesting and introduction of weevils that weaken hyacinth root systems. To address the problem of overfishing, fishermen committees at landing beaches have been put in place. Each country has committed to take all necessary measures including legislation to implement the decisions of the LVFO governing bodies. All three countries have agreed to adopt and enforce legislation and regulations prohibiting the introduction of non‐indigenous species to the lake and to enforce existing regulations regarding fisheries. A Global Environment Facility project which provides funding to the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization addresses land use management, catchment forestation, fisheries research and management, water hyacinth control, industrial effluent treatment and municipal waste treatment.

Constraints and Opportunities for ‘Community Participation’ in the Management of the Lake Victoria Fisheries

During the last 20 years the Lake Victoria fisheries have been completely transformed. From being a locally based fishery with little intervention and capital investment from outside, the present fishery is dominated by national and international capital penetrating the industry. There are many institutions and organisations involved in the management and development of the Lake Victoria fisheries. They all emphasise the importance of promoting community participation. The main objective of this article is to discuss some aspects of this concept and relate it to changes that have occurred. We discuss what we think are some of the relevant areas for community participation in the Lake Victoria fisheries. Employment in one of the sectors of the fisheries is, in our view, the precondition and major entry point for participation of the local people. We discuss in detail how the new technologies introduced in the fisheries and the new markets in the north for fish from Lake Victoria to a large extent have contributed to a loss of employment for the local people in many sectors of the fisheries. The role of the East African governments and the international community is discussed in this context.

7 EAFFRO, controversy and the big predators

On 5 December 1959, I left for Uganda to attend a meeting of the EAFFRO Board, of which I was a member, as Bob Beauchamp was of JFRO. I disliked these EAFFRO advisory meetings. East African research fell under the High Commission, a semi-federal agency also responsible for posts, railways, customs and other matters of mutual concern. This worked well until, as with all African federations, narrow nationalisms tore it apart. The research committees were chaired by members of the Kenyan upper crust, at first Sir Ferdinand Cavendish-Bentinck, not a very likeable man, and then the Earl of Portsmouth, who was. This EAFFRO meeting was attended by Beauchamp (the Director), the Chief Fisheries Officers of the three countries, and Desmond Kelsall, head of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Service. This was another quasi-federal agency, which, on behalf of the three countries which theoretically had a common management policy, managed and policed the Lake Victoria fisheries, by far the largest in African fresh waters.

Fishermen Resistance to Exit Fisheries

Excessive harvesting pressure is an important force behind the decline of East Africa's Lake Victoria fisheries. The question of entry-exit is, therefore, crucial. This paper uses micro-data collected from the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria to analyze this issue. Results indicate that fishermen are in their current enterprise because alternatives are lacking. In spite of the commons nature of these fisheries, over two-thirds of the fishermen would welcome more fishermen, as the positive externalities of this exceed the negative ones. Opportunity cost of exiting, fishing experience, and whether the skipper of a fishing unit is its owner or an employee, are the significant determinants of resistance to exit from these Kenyan fisheries. Exit inertia usually associated with imperfect capital malleability and attachment to fishing is lacking, or minimal, in these fisheries.

Kenya–Tanzania–Uganda: Final Act of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization

There is a very lengthy history to the creation of the Convention for the Establishment of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO).In 1971, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Council established the Committee for Inland Fisheries of Africa, with the broad mandate to assist member governments in establishing the scientific basis for regulatory and other measures for the conservation and improvement of inland fishery resources, to formulate such measures through subsidiary bodies, as required, and to make appropriate recommendations for the adoption and implementation of these measures.

Lake Victoria fisheries: the Kenyan reality and environmental implications

The introduction of the Nile perch into Lake Victoria has dramatically altered the fishery in that lake and contributed to the decline of the fishery for indigenous tilapias. One sector of the fishery in Lake Victoria has benefitted from the Nile perch introduction, although catches have declined in recent years. Inefficient enforcement of fisheries regulations has had a detrimental effect on indigenous species but may also have contributed to the recent decline in Nile perch catches. Fisheries development plans have tended to favour capital-intensive fisheries and to ignore small scale subsistence fisheries. A case study at Wichlum Beach on the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria has revealed the efficiency of traditional fishing and fish drying methods as well as the high ecological costs of the practice of kiln-drying Nile perch. Forty-five tons of firewood are used per month at Wichlum Beach alone for kiln-drying perch. The increased economic viability of the fishery has attracted professionals into the industry and resulted in the development of an export-oriented trade. The Yala Swamp adjacent to Lake Victoria has been extensively drained as part of a large land reclamation scheme and more draining is planned. Increased environmental awareness in Kenya, and Kenya's membership in the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, has resulted in a critical review of these plans.

The lake Victoria fisheries: Some facts and fallacies

The lake Victoria fisheries: Some facts and fallacies

Geography and the Development of East Africa

Near the middle of Lake Victoria is a small island called Godsiba, or abuyongo. It was the site of a naval action in the first world war, a rather comic affair between German and British lake steamers. This little island was not visited after that action until 1927, when I was one of a small party which landed there and examined it. We found it very cut off from the world and all the young people were brought along to see our white faces. The island contained however quite a flourishing little community of fishermen and cultivators. After that visit Godsiba was left to itself for another twenty years or so, but was visited again last year, when the Provincial Commissioner and two of our Lake Victoria Fisheries Officers landed there and had another look around. They reported that no significant change had taken place, and another generation of the islanders saw white faces for the first time. Now Godsiba Island is a very unimportant part of East Africa, but I mention it as one of the few places which has not yet come into contact with European ideas. If Godsiba is left to itself for another twenty years, its little community would make a most interesting study in comparative geography and sociology. The changes which will by then have taken place in most of the neighbouring lands will be considerable, but Godsiba will still have its self-contained and self administered community of the old Africa. Changing our perspective from this little island to the whole political region of British East Africa (Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zanzibar), we perceive at once the unfortunate fact, arising from its historical geography, that the boundaries, whether of countries, provinces, districts, or even farms, so often run along drainage lines rather than along watersheds. Admittedly boundaries sometimes have no physiographic significance, having been defined as straight lines between points, as in part of the frontier between Italian Somaliland and Kenya; but in most cases where they follow a geo? graphic feature it is a drainage line. For the external boundary of the region there is a reach of the Daua river, a reach of the Nile near Nimule, a central line down Lake Albert, the Semliki river, Lake Edward, Lake Tanganyika and finally the Ruvuma river. At but few points do watersheds or mountains form the boundary; part of the Imatong mountains to the north of Uganda, a little stretch of the Nile-Congo watershed along the West Nile district of Uganda, Mts. Ruwenzori, Sabinyo and Muhavura, and a portion of the divide between the Luapula and Lake Rukwa drainage areas. It is obvious why it came about that frontiers in Africa, as elsewhere, were so often defined as drainage lines. They had to be laid down when there was little knowledge about the country and few maps of any accuracy. It was necessary to define frontiers with reference to obvious features on the ground, and a lake or a river is a much more obvious feature than a watershed. It is