ANNEX 1
Agenda

ANNEX 2
List of participants

ANNEX 3
Compendium of Abstracts

I. Harvesting sector

Abstract :

Lake Victoria is the second largest lake in the world and a major source of protein for more than ten million people. The Fisheries have undergone successive disruptions since the early 1920's. Major contributing factors have been the intensive non selective fisheries, extreme modification of the drainage area, invasion of introduced species and the progressive build-up of physico-chemical changes in the aquatic environment. Anoxic waters were observed at shallower depth than ever before reported in Lake Victoria suggesting a greatly increased oxygen demand in the seasonal hypolimnion.

With the above information, we studied the feeding ecology of the commercially important tilapias in Lake Victoria. Out of 1698 specimens Oreochromis Esculentus was absent; O. variabilis was rare; while Oreochromis niloticus, Tilapia zillii and Oreochromis leucostistus were abundant. Lake Victoria tilapias feed mostly on bottom organisms. They are now depressed from the open lake into shallow sheltered areas where the bottom fauna are predominant. Feeding experiments show that Lake Victoria tilapias, when given the opportunity, may feed on zooplankton and phytoplankton. the phytoplankton community is dominated by Cyanobacteria, diatoms, green algae and dinoflagellates in the order presented. Careful stocking programs of tilapia species to restore the fish balance would be appropriate for Lake Victoria.

Abstract :

The lake Victoria Fisheries which is predominantly artisanal now remains with Nile perch - (lates niloticus), RASTRINEOBOLA Argentea or Dagaa and Oreochromis species or tilapias as the backbone of commercial fishery in that order respectively. The socio-economic impact of these fisheries remain to be assessed in light of cost-benefit analysis of each fishing unit.

A review of the current fishing gear and method employed in harvesting the three commercial species and how they have evolved over the last decade is covered.

The prevailing high demand for all the three species under review has got an adverse price - effort compensation effect that require careful management approach that will help us in maintaining “Maximum Sustainable Yield” levels.

The mushrooming merchant fish traders with five operational processing plants are constantly exerting irreversible pressure on the standing stocks. The new export market has helped to revitalize fishermen cooperatives and to establish a steady high demand while the local market suffers shortage, especially of nile perch and tilapia.

As a result of the excessive demand, if fishing effort is left unchecked, there will soon be acute overfishing that will automatically check down commercial investment and will have resulted in financial losses due to economies of scale. Presently fishing grounds have been shifting from shallow waters into deeper areas. Size composition of the stocks in terms of age groups is also declining fast, resulting in the use of smaller meshed nets, (a clear indication of overfishing). In this process of decline, we shall sooner or later be catching the juveniles on gill nets which juveniles are currently heavily harvested by beach seines and mosquito/attraction lamp nets used at breeding and nursery grounds.

Financing of the fishing units have remained to be the concern of individual investors who may negotiate bank, mortgage or savings and credit cooperative loans. In other cases, it is the hardworking fishermen's savings or family arrangement where urbanite working class finance their relatives back home. It involves a socio-economic fabric that characterizes African socialism that maintain extended families without social security insurance arrangements.

Abstract :

Information on the social and cultural features, gears and general impact of small-scale fishery on the lower Sondu-Miriu river is presented. 64% of the population were fishermen along the river while 30% fished from Lake Victoria. 64% of fishermen along the river had other source of income. 86% were young people below 30 years of age. Peak seasons for catch fell within the established annual rainfall pattern for the area (March-April and August-December).

Catches in the river were dominated by the catfish Schilbe mystus. Fishing gears included hooks, traps, gill nets and beach seines. Other gears tried were less successfull. Decline in species abundance was realized for Labeo victorianus, Alestes spp., Bagrus docmuc, Oreochromis leucosticus and Barbus neglectus. The fishery activity is associated with high percentage of dropouts from primary school going ages. Fishery management along the river could be enhanced through clans, co-operative societies, party elders and social organizations while the introduction of exotic Nile Perch, Lates niloticus was not beneficial to the fishery.

Abstract :

In the early 1960's the Nile perch (Lates niloticus), a large predator, was introduced in Lake Victoria. Following the enormous and sudden expansion of this stock at the end of the 70's, an artisanal fishery for Nile perch fastly developed.

Already before the increase of the Nile perch stock, a light fishery was developing on a small pelagic Cyprinid, Rastrineobola argentae, known as dagaa in Tanzania. Presently the Nile perch and dagaa stocks are the dominant stocks in the lake, supporting the most important commercial fisheries.

The main features of the three major Nile perch fisheries (gill netting, long lining and beach seining) and the three major dagaa fisheries (lift netting, scoop netting and beach seining) are described.

The need to assess the exploitation pattern using Catch Per Unit of Effort (CPUE) per type of fishery and the incorporation of length measurements are discussed.

II. Supply of fishing inputs

Abstract :

Input supply revolves around factors of production: land, labour, capital and entrepreneur. Lake Victoria in this case is the resource base (land).

Supply of labour is considered overtime by looking at trends of boat registration from 1977 to February 1990. Assuming 4 people as members of a crew in a fishing boat, there are 32,969 actual fishermen with some 8,242 boats.

Capital supply is limited to the fishing industry due to migratory behaviour of the fishermen. With high cost of equiping one boat rising well above K.shs. 45,000, the fishermen are bound to remain poor and fall prey to middlemen. The cooperative through which the fishermen could obtain loans have failed and they remain a risk to loan supply sources.

Gear and equipment supply have changed with more fishermen aiming for Nile perch. Gill netting is still showing an upward trend despite the ban that has been imposed on the 4 inch mesh size.

Mosquito seine and beach seining are still in great demand and is actually rising.

Infrastructural facilities are lacking. Only Homa Bay and Uhanya are connected to the natural markets by surfaced roads. Other facilities such as postal services/telephone and power are also lacking, making it impossible to reach urban markets efficiently.

III. Processing and Marketing

Abstract :

Substantial changes have occurred over recent years in terms of the distribution, marketing, and utilization of fish from the Ugandan portion of Lake Victoria, owing largely to the dramatic proliferation of Nile perch. Over much of the same period, Ugandan national life has been beset by immense political, social, and economic disruption, the slow and difficult process of recovery from which is still only in its initial stages.

The present paper describes the way in which the fisheries of Lake Victoria and most especially the fishery for the Nile perch have mitigated the hardships of food shortages and economic collapse attendant upon this protracted period of national trauma.

Abstract :

Lake Victoria originally the centre of a multipurpose fishery comprised of the Cichlids (tilapias, haplochromines), Cyprinids (Barbus, Labeo, Rastrineobola) and Siluroids (Bagrus, Clarias, Synodontis Schilbe) has gone through a dramatic change resulting in almost one single fishery composed of the introduced Nile perch Lates niloticus with ‘dagaa’ and the introduced tilapia Oreochromis niloticus forming supplementary products. In Kenya waters of the lake Nile perch is the most widespread species contributing 68,000 tons or 60% of the total annual fish catch in 1987. ‘Dagaa’ fishery is second to Nile perch contributing 33,000 tons or 29% while the tilapias contributed 10,000 tons or 9% of the total fish catch in 1987.

About 10,000 tons of Nile perch fillet from Kenya side of the lake is now exported annually. For the ‘dagaa’, about 50% of the landings is now made into fish meal using simple posho milling machines. The product is incorporated in feedstuff for the livestock industry.

IV. Industrial sector

Abstract :

Although the idea of industrial fisheries activities and their related projects is as old as 40 years in the Northern waters of Lake Victoria (Uganda), the practical implementation is a new phenomenon.

The Haplochromines which used to form 80% of the ichthyomass is no more today and other large fishes like the Bagrus docmac, Clarias gariepine, Protopterus aethiopicus have tremendously decreased in the commercial catches.

There are three main speciesof fish i.e. the Nile Tilapia, the Nile perch and R. argentae on which the fishery of Lake Victoria are opearting. Much of the Nile tilapia and R. argentae form a big percentage of the fishery, industrial planning is focused maily on nile perch.

In Uganda there are four newly established industrial units, two in Jinja, one in Kampala and one in Entebbe. All are of fairly small capacities. Since the industrial sector is in its infancy, we have not so far experienced drastic socio-economic effects, but as these normally follow such establishments, we expect them too in the near future.

This paper therefore seeks to put into form the aspects of historical importance and precautions of anticipated industrial fishery activities on Lake Victoria and to outline possible remedial management measures.

V. Socio-economic studies

Abstract :

Site visits, trawl surveys and seining experiments were made in six selected beaches within the Nyanza Gulf. For the purpose of data collections, the beaches were selected based on the proximity to the laboratory and the intensity of the beach and mosquito seines being operated at the fishing sites. The catches were analysed on the basis of length-frequency distributions of the species landed. The results from the commercial landings were compared with the seining experiments and trawl survey. The landings of Lates niloticus and Oreochromis niloticus juveniles were significantly high in all the beaches.

Gear contributions to the landings of Lates niloticus and Oreochromis niloticus were analysed and compared. The results indicated that the use of beach and mosquito seines are on the increase in the beaches within the Kenyan waters of Lake Victoria.

Abstract:

There is sometimes only partial appreciation of the very important role which fisheries economics as a discipline can play both at the conceptual and practical levels, in the unravelling of the internal workings of fishery systems. This role extends to the formulation of management, development and research strategies, the assessment of the impact of intervention measures, and so on.

The complexity and diversity of the inter-related variables that dominantly control the behaviour of fishery systems, mean that our understanding and knowledge of the system structure remains incomplete if it omits a subset of important social-economic variables.

The paper uses Lake Victoria data, econometric models and a listing of these social-economic variables to highlight their importance in explaining fishery input-output quantity, quality and system variability. The study focuses on variables other than direct fishery inputs and ecological factors in explaining fluctuations in catches.

VI. Management

Abstract:

In the recent years Kenya administrators and researchers have viewed National Laws on Fisheries to effectively manage the fishery resources. There was a need to modify them to cope with the present requirement of fisheries management.

Researchers and Fisheries Administrators have realised that fisheries resources in the world are over-exploited. Major consultations in the fishing effort and management measures is therefore necessary.

The developing countries should adopt their own management measures and not copy the developed countries which had already made mistakes on issues like Total Allowable catch which would not be recommended in Tropical areas where we have a diversity of species and of limited amount in most cases.

It is suggested in this paper that a fishing property right system for artisanal fishery and a strict licence system for fishermen be seriously considered.

Artisanal fishermen should be protected from the Industrial Fishermen and they should have fishing property right where even the stock is viewed by them as their own so that they play apart in sustaining them to avoid depletion of various resources available. They should even be able to think of stock propagation.