National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI)
Abstract
Worldwide, human activity in the watershed has been
found to induce lake responses at various levels, including
at population and ecosystem scale. Recently, Carignan
and Steedman (2000) reported on disruptions of
biogeochemical cycles in temperate lakes following
watershed deforestation and lor wildfire and Carignan
et al., (2000 a, b) concluded that water quality and aquatic
biota are strongly influenced by disturbances in the
watershed. Similarly, Lake Victoria is no exception as
people in its catchment have exploited it for the last hundred years or more, but have now begun to understand the extent to which they have thrown the lake into disorder and how their increasing activity in the watershed have driven some environmental changes within and around the lake