Co-management of Lake Victoria Fisheries

This research article published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG., 2017There have been concerns about the declining fish catches and fisheries ecosystem health for a number of fisheries including Lake Victoria. Consequently, a co-management system has been introduced as a means of, among others, reversing the declining catches. It is hypothesized that non-involvement of fishers in the management of the lake’s fisheries is a major reason for the ever-decreasing catches. This chapter discusses this particular management regime and its application in the lake’s fisheries. The analysis is based on data collected by the Fisheries Division since co-management was introduced in the lake in 1998. The chapter traces the lake’s fishery management since the pre-colonial to the post-colonial period. It presents the aim and rationale for managing the lake’s fishery, the structure of the management and roles of governors. It also analyses trends in illegal fishing practices as well as enforcement performance. The argument here is that co-management has helped in bringing on board fishers and this has enabled laws and regulations to be implemented in a much better way than they were under a central-command system. The chapter subsequently concludes that the involvement of fishing communities in the management of fisheries has created a forum for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience on the resources. This strategy has made the communities understand the importance of compliance to the law and regulations and effective management measures

Management of Fishing Capacity in the Nile Perch Fishery of Lake Victoria

The International Plan of Action for Management of Fishing Capacity encourages countries to develop regional and/or national plans of action for management of fishing capacity. The Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO) working together with FAO have come up with the Regional Plan of Action for Managing fishing capacity (RPOA-Capacity) on Lake Victoria. This paper illustrates the problem of fishing capacity on Lake Victoria and the need for managing the fishing capacity. In managing capacity there is a need to understand the current fishing effort and fish stocks and their interactions. Optimal levels of effort in terms of fishing boats, fishing gear, manpower and time are all needed for effective setting of management measures. A bio-economic model is required to guide management decision on managing fishing capacity. There is an urgent need to collect more reliable disaggregated data on effort targeting different species for effective management of the lake fisheries.Key words: Lake Victoria, fishing capacity, legislation, stakeholder views, action plan