A study of impacts of fishing pressure on Nile perch fishery on Lake Victoria (Uganda) using fisher folk community collected data

Abstract

Fishery management on Lake Victoria in Uganda is constrained by lack of an effective fishery monitoring and regulatory mechanism, coupled with inadequate budgetary allocations to the fisheries sub-sector. This has led to high fishing pressure and a decline in the fishery. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of fisher-folk data collected over a period of one year at four landing sites in four districts along Lake Victoria in Uganda under a co-management pilot project aimed at addressing some of the problems in the fishing industry. Gear type and size and catch size of Nile perch in the different gear types/sizes was examined. Results indicated a declining fishery. Around 62.7% of the fishing canoes that target Nile perch on the lake were using fishing gears and methods that catch high proportions of immature Nile perch. Around 7.1% of the canoes caught Nile perch that was predominantly immature and illegal. Some 43.4% of the Nile perch in the overall sample was smaller than the size at first maturity for males and around 99.7% was below the size at first maturity for females. Expansion of the project in space and time, together with a revision of the current fishery regulatory law is recommended to improve the fishery management on Lake Victoria.