Charles Kazooba
2 November 2008
Nairobi — Fish catches from Lake Victoria, which jointly fetch Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania about $300 million annually, have dropped by as much as 29 per cent since 2005, according to the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation.
Leading the drop was tilapia, whose catch fell by 29 per cent followed by Nile perch at 20 per cent.
Tilapia's drop was partly responsible for the closure of 10 fisheries factories, leaving only 25 factories, which are producing way below capacity, according to surveys presented at an East African Community fisheries meeting in Kampala last week.
The catches of the other species like Dagaa, remained relatively stable at around 600,000 tonnes although with mild fluctuations, but contributed 60 per cent of the overall total catches.
"It is evident that the stocks of the major commercial fish species are under intense fishing pressure and the biomass is declining sharply," Robert Kayanda of Tanzania noted in a paper presented at the regional meeting.
Fisheries makes a major contribution to the economies of the countries around the lake, with the beach value of the catch now exceeding $350 million per annum, while total export earnings of Nile perch were about $310 million in 2007.
"The qualitative changes in fishing methods appear to be driven by declining Nile perch and tilapia catches and could lead to further depletion of these fisheries," experts said at last week's regional meeting for EAC fisheries sector in Kampala.
The international market for Nile perch -- currently standing at 300,000 tonnes -- has led to a scramble for fisheries resources. In 1999, Kenya had 38,340 fishermen, 11,515 fishing craft and 143 registered landing sites; Uganda had nearly 35,000 fishermen while Tanzania had 120,000 fishermen operating in Lake Victoria
The mean standing stock of Nile perch estimated from acoustic surveys declined from 1.2 million to 0.55 million tonnes between 1999-2001 and 2005-2008 while the distribution indicated higher densities in the northern and the south eastern quadrants of the lake.
The pelagics (Dagaa and Haplochromines) show an increasing trend in biomass from 0.8 million to 1.5 million tonnes over the same period. Some fisheries consultants claim that at least 200 species of fish have disappeared from Lake Victoria in the last 40 years.
The recent surveys indicate that Nile perch and tilapia are being overfished on the Tanzanian side where it is estimated that six million hooks (out of the total 10 million) have been deployed to catch the two fish species.
Research shows that hooks in the form of the long-line make up the most important gear used for catching Nile perch as they are cheap.
"In addition, the Nile perch hook fishery uses live bait whose main source is still the wild stocks in the lake and its basin. This suppresses the recovery of these species, causing a negative impact on the lake's biodiversity," D. Chitamwebwas, one of the researchers said.
Currently, the annual production of Lake Victoria is estimated to be one million tonnes, with about 30 per cent of the catch being Nile perch.
From 2000 to 2008 lake-wide co-ordinated biannia frame surveys were conducted as well as catch assessment surveys from 2005 to 2008.
The surveys note that there has been a 25 per cent increase in long line hooks, 87 per cent increase in beach seines and an eightfold increase of monofilament nets between 2006 and 2008.
In September 2007, the Fisheries Management Committee considered the decline of the Nile perch a regional crisis and organised a meeting with industrial fish processors in Nairobi two months later.
AT the meeting, Kenya agreed to the implementation of a proposed self-policing of the industrial fish processors.
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