Pollution Killing Tons of Fish in East Africa's Lake Victoria

Communities around Lake Victoria, the world's second-largest lake, have relied on the body of water for food, energy, and water for generations. It has been estimated that the 30 million people's livelihoods are directly or indirectly to the Lake, which is estimated to generate U.S.$300-400 million each year. Lake Victoria has also historically been a source of important biodiversity and home to hundreds of species of fish.

But this has changed in large part due to the uncontrolled flow of pollutants, which has led to fish deaths, algal blooms, and the spread of the ferocious waterweed hyacinth. Oxygen levels in the water have fallen and scientists have been warning for several years already that Lake Victoria is "dying".

In the last year or so, huge quantities of fish have also been found dead on the shores of the lake. In just two months in 2021, over 100 tonnes of mostly Nile Perch washed up in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, the three countries spanned by the lake. At up to about U.S.$4,000 per tonne, this is the equivalent of around U.S.$400,000 in potential lost revenue.

Officials in both Kenya and Uganda have suggested the deaths were caused by a range of factors that have led to low oxygen levels.

Research by World Bank's Water Global Practice in 2020 found that the primary drivers of Lake Victoria's degradation are untreated wastewater as well as unsustainable land management and agricultural practices, reports Nangayi Guyson for African Arguments.