Improving fishery catch statistics for Lake Victoria

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Improving fishery catch statistics for Lake Victoria I. G. Cowx,1∗ M. van der Knaap,2 L. I. Muhoozi,3 and A. Othina4 1 University

of Hull International Fisheries Institute, Hull, UK 2 Wageningen, Netherlands 3 FIRRI, Jinja, Uganda 4 KMFRI, Kisumu, Kenya *Corresponding author: University of Hull International Fisheries Institute, Hull HU67 RX, UK; E-mail: [email protected]

The fisheries of Lake Victoria are highly dispersed and catch statistical information is insufficient for supporting management. Catch assessment surveys for the three riparian countries were found to be weak or inadequate and a strategy for improving this source of information is proposed. Considerable illegal fishing, using banned gears and small-meshed nets was prevalent and considered to be detrimental to the sustainability of the fishery. The principal problems underlying the poor fishery assessment were inadequate resources, poorly trained and unmotivated personnel, and externalities, such as poverty and poor employment opportunities, which override the resource monitoring and assessment mechanisms. Keywords: illegal, unreported, unregulated, assessment

Introduction Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes, and the second largest lake in the world, covering 68 000 km2 . The lake is shared by Kenya (6% by area), Uganda (43%) and Tanzania (51%) (Figure 1). It has a mean depth of 40 m, maximum depth of 84 m, shoreline of 3450 km, a water retention time of 140 years and a catchment area of 193 000 km2 , which extends into Rwanda and Burundi. Over 30 million people live in the Lake Victoria Basin and depend directly or indirectly on the lake’s resources. Fisheries contribute up to 3% to the gross domestic product of the riparian states and they are major sources of income, food, employment and foreign exchange earning. Lake Victoria is the most important source of affordable animal protein, in the form of fish, in East Africa, as well as being the most important source of freshwater fish on the African continent. The fishery is diverse, highly dispersed, and fragmented with about 1500 landing sites and more than 120 000 fishers. The lake is also important in conservation terms

because of the great diversity of endemic fish species. Additionally, the lake is an important moderator of regional climate. The lake fisheries are diverse and dispersed, and the catch statistical information is inadequate for supporting management. This paper evaluates the catch statistical programme in Lake Victoria, its limitations and the strategies adopted to improve the monitoring of the fishery.

Production trends Until the 1970s, Lake Victoria supported a multispecies fishery dominated by tilapiine and haplochromine cichlids. Signs of overfishing were reported as early as the 1970s when catch rates of the native tilapiine fishes of Lake Victoria, Oreochromis esculentus and O. variabilis, once the backbone of the commercial fishery, were reduced by selective fishing and the failure to control fishing effort (Jackson, 1971; Fryer, 1973).

299 C 2003 AEHMS. ISSN: 1463-4988 print / 1539-4077 online Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, 6(3):299–310, 2003. Copyright DOI: 10.1080/146340390236144

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Cowx et al. / Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 6 (2003) 299–310

Figure 1. Lake Victoria showing the international boundaries.

The stocks of most of these species further declined and others disappeared following the introduction of four tilapiines (Oreochromis niloticus (L.), O. leucostictus (Trewavas), Tilapia rendalli Boulenger and T. zillii (Gervais)) and Nile perch (Lates niloticus (L.)) during the 1950s. The contribution of haplochromines (cichlids) to fish biomass decreased rapidly from 83% during the 1970s to less than 1% by the mid-1980s (Figure 2), due, in part, to predation by Nile perch. Oreochromis niloticus on the other hand, hybridised and competed for food and space with O. variabilis and O. esculentus, leading to the decline of endemic tilapiines. It is believed that more than 60% of Lake Victoria’s endemic fish species became extinct between 1970 and 1986 (Witte et al., 1992), with the remaining species reduced to insignificant levels (Figure 2). The Lake Victoria fishery has changed from the complex multispecies fishery of the late 1970s, to one dominated by three species, namely the introduced L. niloticus and O. niloticus, and the native cyprinid species, Rastrineobola argentea (Pellegrin) (Figure 2). In Kenya, total fish landings increased from about 19 000 t in 1977 to approximately 220 000 t in 1992 due to increases in

the contribution of Nile perch. More recently, catches have fallen to around 160 000 t as a result of a fall in catches of Nile perch. In Uganda, the total fishery yield increased from 11 000 t in 1977 to 120 000 t in the early 1990s. This was again due to an increase in the contribution of Nile perch. Data are fragmented in the 1990s, and no discernible trends are possible, except that landings in the year 2000 were of the order of 175 000 t. In Tanzania, the quantity of fish landed increased from 72 000 t in 1983 to 231 000 t in 1990, again due to landings of Nile perch increasing from 274 t in 1981 to 175 000 t in 1990. Poor quality catch assessment data have prevented the identification of any yield trends in recent years. It was the Nile perch fishery, however, that created a remarkable stream of economic benefits, which have ranged from expansion of the artisanal fishing industry and availability of Nile perch to consumers in the region to the development of a multi-million dollar export industry for chilled and frozen fillets. In 1994, the revenue from fish landings in Uganda was $77.13 million, in Kenya in 1998, $80 million, and in Tanzania in the same period it reached as much as $200 million (SEDAWOG,

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Figure 2. Trends in landings (t) of major fish species and species groups in the riparian countries of Lake Victoria ( Kenya; Tanzania; Uganda).

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Cowx et al. / Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 6 (2003) 299–310 Table 1. Summary of Frame Survey 2000 showing distribution of landing sites, crafts and gears between countries. Source, LVFO, 2000.

Item

Kenya

Tanzania

Uganda

Total

Area km2 Landing sites Fishers Canoes Gillnets total Long lines (# of hooks) Beach seines Cast nets Hand lines Traps Scoop nets Dagaa seines Lift nets Mosquito seines Engines Other gears

4080 297 33037 10014 125221 972087 5245 4418 27789 3192

34680 596 56060 15489 225803 2212571 1019 46 13238 2553 807 22 315 3267 1530 15

29240 597 34889 15544 297663 254453 811 1276 4585 11349

68000 1490 123986 41047 648687 3439111 7075 5740 45612 17094 807 22 315 16984 4055 1792

11265 494 1706

1999). However, since the mid-1990s, Nile perch, the dominant species in the fishery, has shown signs of decline (Mkumbo and Cowx, 1999). Changes in the efficiency of fishing gears, motorisation of canoes and increase in total fishing effort to maintain production were observed. The intensity of the fishing pressure is evident from the results of a frame survey carried out in the year 2000 (Table 1). Extension of fishing grounds was also evident, but all against a continued decrease in catch per unit effort and mean size of fish caught (Mkumbo and Cowx, 1999). The decline in the Nile perch landings have been mirrored by an expansion in the less profitable Rastrineobola fishery. Recent studies, however, have revealed that some species feared to be extinct, for example a few zooplankton-feeding haplochromine species, are reappearing in the lake thus posing a threat to R. argentea whose food requirements are similar.

Strengths and weaknesses of the data collection system At first glance, the trend analysis provided above suggests that the fishery is well monitored, and adequate catch statistics are available. Closer examination of the data, however, reveals numerous weaknesses with the output, most notably the lack of statistical data for Uganda and Tanzania, the two countries that comprise 94% of the lake surface area. The situation in Kenya is slightly different because all land-

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ing beaches are monitored by the Kenya Marine & Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) and the Department of Fisheries and total catch estimates are available, although the quality of the data is variable (see below). The weaknesses in the data and their root causes are as follows.

Catch assessment surveys To make a total count of the fish catches in a highly diverse and dispersed fishery such as that of Lake Victoria is difficult. The very nature of the fishery with many landing beaches and use of semi-commercial and subsistence fishing, complicates such an enumeration. The traditional way of assessing the fishery in these circumstances is to promote either a representative or random sampling strategy of the landing beaches (catch assessment surveys) to gain estimates of catch per unit effort and then raise the sampled catches by a value of overall fishing effort (frame survey data). Until recently in Lake Victoria, this has failed for a number of reasons, among which are lack of funds and staff, and no reliable catch statistics have been available in Uganda or Tanzania since the mid 1990s.

Catch recording With the exception of Kenya, beach recording has been inadequate or non-existent. In Uganda, decentralisation of the local fisheries staff to the districts in 1995 resulted in loss of control of their duties by the central

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Figure 3. Comparison of Kenyan catch statistics from the Fisheries Department () and KMFRI ().

Fisheries Department. As a consequence, no beach recording has taken place since that time. The only records are for fish that pass through the larger, better organised, beaches and are usually destined for the processing factories. These records remain at the district offices and are not collated nationally. In Tanzania the situation is somewhat different but with the same outcome. Here a beach recording system is operational and records are centrally collected by the Fisheries Department. However, the quality of the records is dubious and the overall output is unreliable, and no national report is produced. This is somewhat surprising because the Tanzania Government imposes a 6% levy on catches so they are potentially losing revenue through poor recording. However, the imposition of the levy does mean some fishers tend to avoid traditional landing beaches. In Kenya, a comprehensive beach recording system is carried out by KMFRI and duplicated, in part, by the Fisheries Department, although not on the same scale.

The results from the two sources are conflicting (see Figure 3), instilling little confidence in the results. In all three countries the main problems with the beach recording systems are lack of financial resources and poor motivation of beach staff. The staff have no incentive to record information accurately because they are poorly, if at all, paid.

Estimation of fishing effort One of the key elements for assessing a complex fishery, such as that found on Lake Victoria, is an estimation of the effort expended within the fishery. This is usually done through a frame survey, which must be updated at regular intervals to ensure changes in fishing effort are known (Sparre and Venema, 1998). For a dynamic and rapidly changing fishery, such as on Lake Victoria, a biennial frame survey is deemed necessary. Prior to the start of the European Union-funded Lake

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Victoria Fisheries Research Project (LVFRP) (Van der Knaap et al., 2002), the last frame survey in Uganda was conducted in 1990 (Tumwebaze and Coenen, 1991) whereas in Tanzania surveys were carried out in 1990, 1995 and 1998 (Mkumbo and Cowx, 1999). These surveys were poorly conducted, and the results were never fully analysed because of the lack of resources and/or suitably qualified personnel.In Kenya, the need for a frame survey is less prominent because of the total coverage of the beaches. The frame surveys carried out are also considered weak because they were not harmonised between countries and were conducted at completely different times. This is an important issue because fishing in each country is not confined to national boundaries, and Kenya fishers, in particular, fish extensively in both Ugandan and Tanzanian waters. This is evident from stock assessment surveys carried out under the LVFRP where the annual catches for Kenya exceeded the total fish standing stock by some 50% (Cowx et al., 2002). The main reasons for regular frame surveys not being undertaken or reported were lack of financial and manpower resources, inadequately trained staff and poor motivation. The upshot is that estimates of catches in the late 1990s were based on outdated frame survey data and do not account for the major shifts in the fishery that have evolved because of over-capacity, for example, changes in gears used (types as well as mesh sizes of gill nets) and their modes of operation (e.g., active versus passive use of gill nets) (e.g., see Figure 4).

Export market chain One source of information that can provide potentially reliable capture statistics is the export figures. In the past this has created problems because the processing factories are reluctant to reveal their revenues or, indeed, give accurate pictures of their export volume.

Figure 4. Changes in the numbers and mesh sizes of gill nets in Ugandan waters between 1990 and 2000 to illustrate the increase in fishing effort with time and change in mesh size (Source, Muhoozi, 2002).

Figure 5. Total value of Uganda annual fish exports from 1991 to 2001. The grey boxes indicate the major reason for the EU ban of fish imports from Uganda in 1997 to 2000.

Since the majority of the export is freighted out of the region by air as chilled or frozen fillets, the volume can be determined from the shipping companies’ records (Figure 5). The problem arises from conversion factors from fillets to whole fish and the records only refer to the most valuable species, the Nile perch. However, a percentage take of 41% of the flesh was determined from work in the factories (M. Dillon, Grimsby Institute of Food and Fish, UK. pers. comm.) so the volume exported can be converted to wet weight of whole fish. Notwithstanding these problems, export figures are potentially a valuable source of reasonably accurate data.

Illegal fishing In recent years the catches of Nile perch in particular in Lake Victoria have declined. This is coupled with a declining catch per unit effort (Cowx et al., 2002). One of the traditional responses in a poorly regulated fishery like that on Lake Victoria is for the fishers to move towards smaller meshed nets and to use illegal gears which exploit smaller sized fish. Such a response is in progress on Lake Victoria, where a high proportion of illegal gear is operated, both in the form of illegal mesh sizes and banned gears. Some 17% of the gill nets are below the legal mesh size of 5 and some 30 000 seine nets, a prohibited gear, are operating round the lake. Until the recent past some 15 trawlers were also illegally operating in Kenyan waters, but these have been outlawed. Part of the problem stems from the processing factories attempting to meet demands from the export markets. These markets are highly lucrative but are demanding fillets from smaller fish because they are less fatty. As a consequence, the factories were supplying smaller mesh sized nets to fishers tied into financial and supply agreements. Much of the very small fish caught by such gears was not recorded

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and siphoned off to other markets (see below) until the Council of Ministers of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO) adopted the proposal to exploit Nile perch within the slot size of 50–85 cm (total length) as recommended by the LVFRP in June 2002.

Unreported or unrecorded catch International demand for Nile perch is the engine driving the fishery (Figure 5). The huge quantities being exported from the region have undoubtedly pushed up the beach price for fresh fish and made the product too expensive for the local populace. Waste and smallsized fish rejected by the processing factories find their way into the local markets, but all too often this supply chain is unrecorded. In addition, a large portion of the fish not accepted by the processors is being exported to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and other adjoining countries. These fish are usually small sized and caught by illegal gears, and so bypass any recording system. This component can represent up to 20% of the total catch. These fish are transported by road and do not pass major urban centres where some control could be exerted. Dried, smoked and fried fish products provide the basis of an extensive trade in low cost fish protein that finds its way into low income households. There is also an extensive subsistence fishery around the lake, especially for households living close to the shore, and fish caught by household members is the main source of protein. These fish again bypass traditional recording systems. Finally, one component of the catch not usually considered is bait caught for the extensive longline fishery for Nile perch. There are an estimated 3.5 million longline hooks (Table 1) continuously being used around the lake, which need baiting on a regular basis. The modes of operation and the bait species used vary between countries (haplochromines in Tanzania and Uganda, and Clarias in Kenya) but it was estimated by Cowx et al. (2002) that some 5700 t of unrecorded fish are caught by hook and line or in seine nets to support this extensive fishery.

Catch recording and administration Until recently it has been the responsibility of national governments to co-ordinate data collection and reporting. As reported above, this has proved ineffectual and the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO), which was established in 1996, has been charged with co-ordinating the data collection on a re-

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gional scale. However, without the original datasheets it is difficult to see how this could be achieved. The problem is further exacerbated because there is no national or regional database on which to store and process the data. To date, all data are held in paper form and only secondary processing is carried out on computers. This inevitably leads to transcription and calculating errors. This is evident from the Kenyan problem where the Fisheries Department and KMFRI report different catches.

Role of the fishing communities One underlying factor that previously has been ignored with respect to the management of the fisheries of Lake Victoria is the role of the fishing communities. Management, to date, has been command driven from central government departments or agencies and this has led to many of the problems exhibited within the fisheries, including statistical data collection. The lack of involvement of the fishing communities can only be seen as a retrograde step. Central management has built up an atmosphere of distrust leading to noncooperation with the fisheries departments, and no support for the statistical data collection procedures within the fishing communities. Furthermore, over-fishing and the use of damaging or illegal fishing gear are only in part a reflection of the failure of centralised management strategies, but also due to the lack of feedback of ‘research results.’ The communities themselves recognise that the fishery is overexploited but unless they are informed of the status of the stocks in relation to catch statistics they cannot be expected to respond to calls to reduce the amount of fish harvested. There is thus a need to address problems in data collection and research result dissemination, and consideration must be given to exploring ways of relaying such information to stakeholder groups. The alarming situation described above represents a grave threat to the sustainability of Lake Victoria’s fisheries. It will only be with the support of the fishing communities that sustainability of the fishery can become an achievable objective by, for instance, adhering to agreed-upon fishing methods and patrolling of certain parts of the lake.

The way forward As can be seen from the above description, fishery statistics for Lake Victoria are both inadequate and unreliable. It is imperative that the fishery statistics are improved because the resources represent a valuable commodity to the riparian states both in terms of export

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earnings from the Nile perch trade, but also as sources of income, employment and protein for the local people. If the current decline in the landings (Mkumbo and Cowx, 1999) is allowed to continue it could lead to considerable social hardship for the people dependent on the fishery for their livelihoods and as an important source of protein. The need to manage the fishery on a sustainable basis is therefore paramount but this cannot be achieved if information on the exploitation patterns is not forthcoming. To resolve this issue the LVFRP put into place, coordinated, or collaborated in the following actions:

r Improved fisheries data collection systems; r Regional fisheries and environmental database; r Co-management initiatives to manage the fishery. Fisheries data collection systems The institutions in the region charged with management and research on fisheries are all under-funded. In most cases the funds received from the central government pay only the salaries of employees. This leaves no extra funds to undertake research activities and management activities including Monitoring, Control and Surveillance. There are no funds to purchase equipment or to employ additional research and management personnel. Consequently any fisheries monitoring programme has to function on limited resources and be cost effective. Under the LVFRP, simple cost-effective data collection systems were designed, which provide the minimum amount of data to support management initiatives and meet the statistical reporting requirements of the countries. The programme is multifaceted to allow cross validation of the outputs.

Fisheries dependent survey programme With the exception of Kenya, the existing catch assessment surveys are woefully inadequate. Consequently one of the primary objectives was to promote efficient catch assessment data surveys linked to regular frame surveys. This was achieved on two fronts. A regional task force was established to set up a frame survey of the lake to assess patterns in fishing effort. This involved setting up an appropriate questionnaire that was sufficiently comprehensive to provide the information required but not too complex to make it unmanageable to complete in a short time or to extract the data. Several workshops were conducted to train regional representatives and then enumerators, the latter of whom were often senior members of the local

fishing communities. The frame survey was conducted lakewide over two days in March 2000 and repeated in March 2002. The 2000 frame survey (Table 1) was considered to be the most comprehensive overview of the fisheries of Lake Victoria carried out to date. The lakewide coverage over a very short time reduced possible double counting of boats, gears etc., especially because there is considerable cross border fishing. The greatest problem was accounting for the fishers and gears that stay permanently on the lake and do not return to the landing beaches on a regular basis. This was partially overcome by involving the local communities who were able to make the best possible estimates. Notwithstanding the success of the frame surveys, they are carried out at considerable cost. The initial set up costs were high and funded from regional development projects, although training of staff and implementation of the 2002 survey were much lower. The frame survey was carried out in conjunction with a dedicated catch assessment survey (CAS). This was set up from scratch in Uganda and Tanzania because the existing surveys were not functioning properly, whilst the Kenyan survey was formalised to improve the reporting procedures. In Tanzania and Uganda, it was realised that a stratified random survey would be difficult to implement because smaller landing beaches change over time. The surveys were therefore based on a set number of fixed beaches in each country, which could be surveyed appropriately on a regular basis. Each country was divided into three zones (Figure 1) and a number of landing beaches was surveyed in each zone each month. In total, 18 beaches were surveyed on a three-monthly basis in Tanzania and 25 in Uganda (Figure 1). Although the number of beaches was small, this was the minimum that would provide coverage of the fishing patterns. The beaches were selected to represent:

r Fishing in the major ecological zones, from shallow inshore waters to deep offshore waters;

r Landing sites specialised to either of the major comr

mercial fisheries, that is, Nile perch, Nile tilapia or R. argentea; Landing sites with a wide variety of fishing gears and methods, including beach seining, long lining, hand lining, cast netting, mosquito seining for R. argentea, and gillnetting by both large motorised boats and small paddled boats.

Neyman allocation was not used to select the beaches, as this proved unrealistic. During each survey the catch per species was recorded in relation to the

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Cowx et al. / Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 6 (2003) 299–310 Table 2. Nile perch catch statistics from Tanzanian waters in the year 2000.

Type of fishery Gillnet/motorized Gillnet/sails Gillnet/paddle Longline/sails Longline/paddle Beach seines Tilapiine fishery by catch Dagaa fishery by catch Total

Number of boats examined

Proportion fishing

CPUE (kg boat−1 )

Estimated catch (t)

1217 2682 2682 1790 1074 994 1493 3245

0.78 0.8 0.83 0.78 0.78 1 0.76 0.75

73.19 39.26 35.62 46.40 51.50 29.94 4.12 0.4

25359 30746 28942 23646 15747 10864 2088 212 138324

boat type and gear, and the number of boats operating. In addition, at each beach the length of approximately 100 fish of each of the major commercial species were measured for assessment of the population dynamics. The surveys took about 10 days each month. The resultant output for Nile perch in Tanzanian waters is given in Table 2. No such data were available from the official agency for data collection, the Tanzanian Fisheries Department. In addition to the regular CAS, it is proposed that observers are placed in the 27 Nile perch processing factories situated around the lake. These persons should record the volumes of fish entering and leaving the factory. These data could provide valuable insight into production trends and help validate the outputs from the catch assessment studies. These persons would also be able to collect basic biological information on the fish populations (e.g., length distributions, reproduction characteristics) which could support the management decision-making. They could also monitor whether the factories are complying with regulations on harvestable sized fish (i.e., between 50 and 85 cm, as recently adopted by LVFO) being processed in an effort to reduce fishing pressure on juvenile fish and large mature adults. It is recommended these persons be changed regularly. The efficacy of the catch assessment surveys was tested by comparing the outputs from the surveys against estimates derived from virtual population analysis (VPA) and processing factory outputs, adjusted for fish passing through other marketing channels in Uganda (Table 3). The similarity between the CAS and VPA outputs suggests that the former is a viable, cost effective approach, but it must be recognised that the work was carried out by a dedicated and highly motivated researcher. It is likely that poorly motivated,

95% CL 8870 31663 12027 22357 6543 14858 2473 94

poorly paid enumerators will not carry out the surveys with the same level of dedication, and may compromise the accuracy of the results. Such a scenario was enacted in Tanzania where the researcher lacked motivation and the quality of the output was weaker, despite intense supervision. Involvement of local fishing communities should help to resolve this problem. The poor conformity of the processing factory data was because the European Union imposed an export ban on Nile perch into Europe for most of 2000 because of problems with some fishers who used poison for catching fish, and consequently the factories were operating at very low production throughput.

Fisheries independent survey programme The research carried out has been mostly concerned with the ecology and biology of fish species including limited stock assessment and limnology, which essentially provides information only on trends in stock size and composition. There has been very limited attention to socio-economic criteria or methodologies in developing the strategies proposed to tackle the issues Table 3. Comparison of the estimates of total annual catches of Nile perch and Nile tilapia from catch assessment data and length structured VPA in the Ugandan part of Lake Victoria in 2000.

Species

Estimates from catch assessment (t)

Estimates from length structured VPA (t)

Nile perch Nile tilapia Totals

72632 29959 102592

81989 29278 111267

Processing factories 56000

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of declining stock size and adverse species composition changes. This shortcoming has contributed to managers being ill informed and equipped, and has exacerbated problems associated with the failure to regulate and manage the fisheries of the lake. To overcome these problems a suite of research projects dealing with the assessment of the stock abundance and fish population characteristics as well as with the socio-economic dimensions of the fishery was undertaken under the auspices of the LVFRP, in conjunction with the fishery dependent surveys (Cowx et al., 2002). The biological surveys included regular trawl surveys in the riparian countries to estimate standing stock biomass, and population characteristics such as size composition, growth rates, mortality rates, size at maturity, and were supplemented by six-monthly lakewide hydroacoustic surveys to assess stock biomass and distribution. These surveys provided valuable support information on which to base policy decisions on fishery regulations. The socio-economic studies concentrated on marketing, poverty, nutritional status of the lakeside communities, and the feasibility of introducing co-management initiatives for the lake fisheries. The latter studies were fundamental to establishing future management initiatives for the lake and the role the fishing communities could play to support assessment procedures of the status of the fisheries.

Data dissemination and database management Recent research programmes on Lake Victoria (LVFRP and the World Bank/Global Environmental Facility funded Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project) have considerably improved the knowledge of fish stocks of the lake. It is essential that this information flow is maintained and continually upgraded if the resources are to be managed on a sustainable basis. Financial and human resources must therefore be made available to monitor continually the status of the stocks and to allow management processes to respond to changes in the stocks in a timely and appropriate manner. Consequently, fish stock assessment, including analysis and timely reporting, is now a programmed activity of the research institutions in collaboration with the Fisheries Departments and answerable to the LVFO. The LVFO is charged with producing reports, to collate all available information, with appropriate interpretation, on the status of the stocks, exploitation patterns and socio-economic indicators to aid policy formulation. Reports should be made accessible to all stake-

holders and written in a language that both the layman and professional stakeholder can understand. One of the key problems faced by the region and LVFO was an appropriate database management system. Consequently a Database Management System for the Lake Victoria fisheries (SAMAKI) was developed under the auspices of the LVFRP. The system contains the following items:

r r r r r r

Frame survey database; Catch assessment database; Socio-economic database; Fish-processors database; Publication database; Additional tables facilitating data entry and security.

Partnerships: Co-management The current top-down approaches in managing the fisheries resources in the three countries have met with great difficulties. These have been caused by understaffing and poor motivation among others, but relationships between the lakeside communities and the fisheries departments also need to be improved. In an effort to contain the problem, the riparian governments are looking to empower local communities to enter actively the management process, especially in the areas of the monitoring (data collection), surveillance and control of all activities associated with the fisheries sector. There is also interest, both at the centre of government and the lake communities, to take on the challenge of security on the lake and the fisheries management process. The proposed institutional framework to address this scenario is given in Figure 6. The Government of Tanzania has set up Beach Management Units empowered to take on management functions at a local level. Similarly in Uganda there is interest in devolving powers to Landing Management Committees. These interventions are at an early stage of development. So far in Kenya there has not been any measurable progress in either decentralising or devolving power to the lakeside (fishing) communities. It should be mentioned that experimental co-management was put into place in the Obenge fishing community where researchers were encouraged by the positive response of the fisherfolk. It is important to note that the government still remains central within any system of co-operative fisheries management since it is an effective source of legitimacy in rule making and enforcing. The co-management approach is expected to lead to lower transaction costs at the planning and implementation phase because fishers can provide first-hand information on fishing patterns

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Figure 6. Proposed institutional framework for management of the Lake Victoria fisheries. Arrows between boxes indicate information flow, responsibilities and communication.

(indigenous knowledge), catches and the status of the resources (Sen and Nielsen, 1996). The success of comanagement will depend on political commitment on the part of the governments to fisheries management, and the commitment would require support by appropriate legislation and the provision of adequate technical and financial resources. Under co-management, new institutions would have to be developed. It is important to note that this will take time and that it is a long-term process.

Conclusions Lake Victoria is a valuable case study to demonstrate the importance of improving inland fishery statistics for diverse and dispersed fisheries in countries where infrastructure is weak and financial support lacking. Comparisons with the Lake Victoria situation will be valuable for helping to resolve the problems faced by similar fisheries worldwide. Ultimately, accurate fishery catch statistics are fundamental for the sustainable

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management of any fishery, which has to be the primary objective in the current economic and social climate where resource depletion is a common theme.

Acknowledgements The work was financed by the European Union Lake Victoria Fisheries Research Project (Project No. 7.ACP.RPR.227). The authors wish to thank colleagues in the fisheries research institutes in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for support during the project.

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