Socio-economist Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI), P.O. Box 46, Tanzania. E-mail: onyango_paul@hotmail.com

Principal and process of fisheries co-management in the Lake Victoria, Tanzania

The countries riparian to Lake Victoria have along history of involvement in the development and management of the lake's fisheries. This history pre-dates the colonial period, since the traditional culture of many communities living riparian to the lake were very friendly to the stocks. This paper traces the colonial and post-colonial development and management of the fisheries in Tanzania. The paper tracks the evolution from the initial development of centrally controlled driven policies to a more inclusive and participatory systems with resource conservation and sustainable management of resources as the central foci. The paper will show the consequences of both colonial and post-colonial policies in terms of stock depletion and habitat degradation. This degradation necessitated the creation of Beach Management units. Institutional analysis is used to analyse the different factors and process.