The increased fishing pressure and the future of the fish stocks of Lake Victoria, Uganda
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Date
1992
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The Uganda sector of Lake Victoria occupies 29,580 km2(43%). The lake used to boast of a multi-species fishery butpresently relies on three major species Lates niloticus,Oreochromis niloticus and Rastrineobola argentea. During thepast decade the total fish production on the Ugandan sectorincreased drastically from 17,000 tonnes in 1981 to about 13,000 tonnes 1991, indicating a healthy state of the fishery. This was contributed by a combination of factors including the explosive establishment of the introduced L. niloticus which contributed 60.8% in 1991 and the increase in the number of fishing canoes from 3470 in 1988 to 8000 in 1990.Isolated fishery resources studies carried out in differentareas of the lake since 1971 seem, however, to indicate contrary trends in the available stocks and, therefore, the status of the fishery. In the experimental fishery, continued decline in catch rates have been recorded. Similarly, in the commercial fishery catch per unit of effort has been considerably poor (33 kg per canoe during January - March 1992) and the average size of individual fish laRded continued to decline, obviously pointing at possible over-fishing. This, therefore, calls for further urgent research on the available stocks for proper management strategies to be formulated.Page Range
1-10Conference Name
People, Biodiversity, Fisheries and the Future of Lake VictoriaConference Location
Jinja, UgandaConference Date
17-20 August 1992