Motor Vehicles: Are they emerging threats to Lake Victoria and its environment?

Lake Victoria and its basin supports more than 30 million people, while its fishes are exported the world over. This second largest fresh water body is however experiencing stress due to eutrophication, sedimentation, declining levels and more recently the motor vehicle sector. This contribution examines the general pollution from motor vehicle and gives an in-depth analysis of motor vehicle washing along the lakeshore. The results indicate the water samples from the motor vehicle washing and urban runoff points to be slightly acidic (i.e., average pH of 6.7) and average Total at these points. The conductivity for the motor vehicle washing points averaged at 150 S/cm, while the urban runoffs point was more varied ranging from below 150 S/cm to over 400 S/cm (average 301 S/cm). A positive correlation coefficient of more than 0.7 is obtained between the total daily count of vehicles and each of the water quality parameter tested. This signifies a strong correlation between motor vehicle related activities and the pollution of the lake. In general, the motor vehicle industry is found to have a noticeable negativeeffect on the lake

Knowledge and experiences gained from managing Lake Victoria ecosystem

Lake Victoria is considered one of the most important shared natural resource of Eastern Africa. The Lake Basin supports about 30 million people one million of whom are employed formally or informally in fish related activities. The fishery of Lake Victoria is a major source of income to the fishing communities, Government tax revenue and protein for the local communities. Lake wide fish production is estimated at about 600 metric tones annually with Tanzania landing 40%, Kenya 35% and Uganda 25%. In recent years the Lake has become an important source of export earnings for the riparian countries through the Nile Perch Fishery – the largest inland fishery in the World. The Lake Basin is a rich agricultural area and is of global significance in view of the biodiversity of its flora and fauna particularly the fishes endemic to Lake Victoria and has a great potential for tourism. The Lake is a source of water for agricultural, household and industrial use, wastewater disposal and hydroelectric power. Lake Victoria is the source of River Nile, an important asset for all countries within the Nile Basin. The waters originating from the Lake provide hydropower through its only outlet at Owen Falls in Uganda and other power plants lower down the river in Sudan and Egypt. Based on the socio-economic importance of the Lake Basin, the three East African Community (EAC) Partner States have declared the Lake Victoria Basin an Economic Growth Zone.World Bank and GE

Assessment of potential risks and effectiveness of agrochemical usage in a catchment: A case study of the nzoia nucleus estate sugarcane farms in Western Kenya.

Monitoring of agronomic inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers in canals, streams, and rivers within catchments and subsequent modeling of their fate and toxicity are useful tools in determination of their efficient utilization and ecological impact on a given area. In addition, some of these agronomic inputs such as fertilizers and biosolids (mixtures of scum and sludge) contain heavy metals that accumulate in soil with repeated applications and can cause changes in soil and water quality. Effective agricultural sustainability should incorporate water quality and aquatic ecology in planning and development. This chapter uses a case study, the Nzoia sugarcane farms, to demonstrate the need for sustainable agricultural practices including integrated analytical approaches to assess indicators of effective pesticide and fertilizer management practices

Governance in a beach seine fishery: a case study from Lake Victoria, Tanzania

Beach seine gear is one of the prominent fishing gears in Nile Perch fishery. Before Nile Perch was introduced to the lake, beach seines the species targeted with beach seine were Tilapia, Bagrus, Haplochromis, Protopterus and Labeo. In 1994, beach seines were banned in Tanzania and by 2004, this particular regulation and others, were harmonized and applied to the entire Lake as a result of implementation of Regional Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing on Lake Victoria. The paper describes research findings on how the Nile Perch (NP) beach seine fishery is organized in Lake Victoria, Tanzania. The paper is guided by the following research questions: How is the Fisheries Department in Tanzania trying to govern the fisheries of Lake Victoria? How the beach seine fishery is governed in reality? What are the drivers for its continuity despite the ban? What are the counter-tendencies at local level and how and why do they emerge? We argues that it is the markets and associated graft – that drives coordination between the beach seine fishery; and the networks that depend on individuals’ network motivations – to get money, that together shape the fishery’s management and governance