Fisheries Resources Research Institute, P. O. Box 343 Jinja, Uganda

Management of the fisheries of Lake Victoria through control of fishing effort, gears and fishing methods

The increasing fishing effort, fish processing plants, fishing boats using destructive fishing gears and unfavorable methods and other factors like the predation by the introduced Nile Perch, infestation by the water hyacinth, pollution and eutrophication, have led to the decline in fish yield and fish species diversity in lake Victoria. Historical annual fish catch - effort and catch per unit of effort (CPUE) data was analyzed for the Ugandan portion of the lake (CPUE for entire lake) period 1961 to 2000. The data showed an increase in fishing boats alongside an increase in annual fish catches and CPUE. The catches for example increased from 17,000 tonnes (1983) to 132,400 tonnes (1990) alongside the increase in fishing boats from about 3,000 to 8,000 boats and CPUE from 9 to 36 tonnes per boat per year. Further increases in boats from 8,000 to 15,418 (2000) showed a decline in fish yields from 132,400 to 100,000 tonnes and CPUE from 36 to 14 tonnes. The processing plants on the Ugandan sector of lake Victoria also increased from 3 (1990) to 11(2001).

Between the frame survey of 1990 and 2000, the effort on Lake Victoria (U) virtually doubled. Analyses of types of boats, mode of operation, fishing gears and methods and target species for different boat categories conducted in 2000/1 also showed use of increased number of gill nets, hooks and increased use of gillnet mesh size of nets below 127 mm in most of the boat categories. There was also increased use of destructive fishing gears (beach seines, basket traps and active fishing between 1990 and 2000 although use of gill nets declined from 85% to 60% of the gill netting boat categories. The size of the three major commercial fish species in the commercial catches (Nile Perch, Nile Tilapia, R. argentea; Mukene) was mainly below the size at first maturity.

The increase in fishing effort, use of destructive fishing gears, gear sizes and fishing methods among other factors have been responsible for decline in commercial fish catches on Lake Victoria, Uganda. It is recommended that the fishing boats be reduced to 8,000, the number of fish processing plants and destructive fishing gears and methods be controlled and gillnets be fished passively using a minimum mesh size of 127 mm and lampara nets for mukene not to be allowed to go below 5 mm and operated off shore.