'Modern gear enough to halt illegal fishing activities in L.Victoria'

Rampat illegal fishing practices that are threatening to deplete fish resources in Lake Victoria can be brought to a halt if riparian states would come to the support of fishermen by providing them with modern fishing gear acceptable in fishing activities.

Africa Wind Energy Technology Associate Company Limited (Aweta) chief executive officer Robert Matiku told The Guardian on Wednesday that the Nile basin states should support fishermen in their respective countries because many are poor and don’t have enough funds to purchase modern fishing gear.

“To control unsustainable fishing practices or reduce illegal fishing practices in Lake Victoria, governments need to provide standard nets for fishing, modern boats, life jackets and also teach the fishermen how to do good fishing across the lake,” he said.

Short of this fishermen will stick to illegal fishing practices that are not accepted, resulting in depletion of fish in Africa’s biggest basin.

Net troll  fishing practice that is not allowed in fishing activities within the Lake Victoria, monofilament fibre, small-mesh-seine nets, beach sein, troll net and gillnet that destroy the lake’s marine resources, thiodan toxin are some of the illegal fishing practices that are still used by fishermen in the Tanzanian, Kenyan and Ugandan parts of the lake.

Besides gear provision, education on how to use best fishing practices and environment conservation are required by artisanal fisherman in the Nile basin because some contaminate the water because of lack of modern fishing gear, he said.

“We want the governments to come to the support of the fishermen because as a firm we plan to use the massive lake waters from Lake Victoria for irrigation farming as well,” he said.

Aweta is currently organizing to pump the lake waters by use of solar powered pumps so as to enable farmers living to the vicinity of the water body to carry out irrigation.

Informed sources within East African Community’s (EAC) Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation the world’s second biggest lake covers 68,800 sq kms is shared by Kenya (6 percent), Uganda (43 percent) and Tanzania (51 percent).

Also it has a mean depth of 40m, and a maximum depth of 84m, a shoreline of 3,450 kms, a water retention time of 140 years and a catchment area of 194,200 sq kms, which extends into Rwanda, Burundi and D R Congo.

Lake Victoria fisheries provide employment, income, and export earnings to the riparian communities and it is a source of water mainly taken without treatment and is used for transport.

As well as their food value, the fish species are of important evolutionary significance and have been extensively studied.

On Lake Victoria, the lake basin has the fastest growing population in East Africa of over 30 million, a third of the combined population of the East African States and much of this derives its livelihood directly or indirectly from the lake resources.

Lake Victoria fishery is mainly commercial, with artisanal fishermen working from canoes propelled either manually or with outboard engines.

There are three main commercial fish species in the lake that includes fresh dagaa, Nile tilapia and Nile perch.

Nile perch was introduced into the lake Victoria in the 1950s and 1960s and led to the huge boom in the fisheries in the 1990s, attracting investment, more fishers and the construction of processing plants.

Around 75 percent of the Nile perch landed is exported, especially to Europe, US and the Middle East, making a significant contribution to employment, income, GDP and foreign exchange.

Nile tilapia was also introduced to the lake in the 1950s and 1960s and mainly serves the domestic and regional markets, contributing to food security as well as income and employment

SOURCE: IPPMEDIA

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