allAfrica.com: East Africa: Saving the 'Fish Basket' From Drying Up (Page 1 of 2)

This is the third and final part of a three part series exploring the human

dimensions of the recent decline in the Nile perch fishery of Lake Victoria. In this part, Gina L. Gettum talks about the recommendations that can be taken to increase the amount of fish in the lake

While Lake Victoria remains the most productive fishery in Africa, with annual fishery yields fluctuating around 600,000 tonnes, valued at $350 - 400m, catches of Nile perch are steadily declining. In 2001, boats caught an average 160 kilos of Nile perch each trip, today they catch less than 20. At the same time, catches of lower valued species, such as the silver-coloured mukene are steady, if not increasing.

According to fishermen and fishery managers alike, the causes of the Nile perch fishery crisis are complex and there will be no single silver bullet solution. Additionally, the future unknown and variable impacts of climate change require that the basin is strong enough to cope with future change.

According to Robert Baakai, long time fishermen, boat manager, and Vice Chairman of the Kigungu Beach Management Unit, the fishery is in crisis due to the influx of new fishermen from inland to the lake and the catching of undersized fish. "Competition and declining stocks have driven our fishermen to fish for illegal, undersized Nile perch," says Baakai.

Others attribute the declining fish stocks to decreased oxygen levels in the lake. Decreased oxygen levels are caused by the influx of untreated industrial, agricultural and human wastes into the basin system.

The decline in Nile perch stocks is not going unnoticed by the hardworking fishery scientists and managers in the basin. Management institutions are taking prudent fishery management measures designed to protect the fishery, but the lack of a clear definition of what a sustainable Lake Victoria fishery actually is hinders the development of comprehensive solutions to solve the fishery crisis.

Is a sustainable fishery defined by consistent, high quality exports of Nile perch? Is it defined by a vibrant and enduring local fishery? Or does sustainability lie in somewhere in between?

Strengthen science and management

In 1993, the East African Community established the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO) to harmonise research and management of the fishery.

Acknowledging the shared responsibility of fisheries management between the three basin countries, the LVFO has the "function and responsibility" to promote management, research, institution building and optimum utilisation of the fisheries and other resources of the lake. The LVFO works collaboratively with the fisheries science and management institutions around the basin.

The LVFO is funded primarily by grants from the European Union. Because of this, the mission, goals, agenda and activities of the LVFO are largely outlined by foreign donors, rather than the three contracting parties.

Similarly, due to the African Caribbean and Pacific Free Trade Agreement which is currently being renegotiated, the three Lake Victorian countries are unable to assess meaningful duties on exports of Nile perch. The inability of the Ugandan, Kenyan and Tanzanian governments to assess duties and reinvest them in fisheries science and management challenges the sovereignty of these nations over managing their own resources toward their own goals.

While it is difficult to acknowledge that the most productive fishery in Africa is in serious decline, the LVFO and the fisheries management and research arms of the three basin nations are taking prudent, but incremental steps to attempt to manage the fishery towards sustainability. While focusing on fishing effort alone is unlikely to save the fishery, there is hope that more comprehensive management strategies just might.

Promote integrated, ecosystem-based management

Like most fisheries management organisations the world over, the LVFO and national fisheries institutions lack jurisdiction over management and regulation of some of the major causes of fishery decline in the basin - namely, loss of suitable fish habitat caused by industrial pollutants and agricultural runoff. These inputs decrease oxygen levels in the lake, shrinking suitable habitat for fish to reproduce, mature, and thrive.

There is an urgent need for an integrated, ecosystem-based management approach to fisheries management in Lake Victoria that acknowledges and incorporates actions on land that affect aquatic life. Opening communication between management institutions with overlapping resources but different jurisdictions is an important step towards ecosystem-based management in the basin.

Additionally, recognising and harnessing the socio-economic drivers of population increase in fishing communities may reduce fishing pressure in the lake if incentives are created to encourage new fishermen to return to farming or other land-based activities. According to Baakai, targeted aid towards the upcountry agricultural sector, coinciding with a temporary ban on fishing would help reduce the number of fishermen on the lake.

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