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Rich Fisheries Poor fisherfolk.
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Introduction
Looking keenly on the situation in the Lake Victoria basin, the lifestyles, Education, infrastructure and health of the local people and the fact that these very people are directly involved in the generation of billions of shillings the fishing industry is known for, several disturbing questions arise from this situation; who receives the riches from the fish? Is it, the people who are involved in the fishing itself or is it people from outside? Does the revenue generated from the fishing trade benefit the areas that it comes from? Who are the main players in the fishing trade? Are they locals or outsiders? What are the measures that can be taken to reverse the situation?


Background of the issues in Lake Victoria Basin
Lake Victoria is the second largest fresh water lake in the world. With its 69,000 km, the lake has the same size as Ireland. The lake is shared between three countries Tanzania (which possesses 49% of the area of the lake, Uganda (45%) and Kenya (6%).

The total fish catch from Lake Victoria during the 1960's and 1970's was quite stable; about 100,000 tons of fish was caught annually. Until the mid 1970's the fisheries of Lake Victoria was exploited solely by small scale fishermen. During the early 1970's it was estimated that some 50,000 fishermen operated from some 12,000 fishing vessels (Butcher and Colaris, 1973). The fishermen had a varying degree of involvement in the fisheries; some fished only on a part-time or seasonal basis while others were full-time fishermen. Some 80% of the fishermen derived their primary income from fishing. Most of the fishermen were engaged in complementary agricultural activities. The tendency during the 1960's and 1970's was, however, that due to increased scarcity of land and lack of employment opportunities, a larger number of the men left the originally subsistence/part-time mode of exploitation and became full-time fishermen.

The fishing activity has since blossomed into a main player in the countries economy. The industry contributed 0.2% of the annual GDP between 1971- 1981 while in 1990 the contribution rose to 2% and 4.4% of the non-monetary and monetary GDP. In 1995 fish export earned Kenya Ksh.15 billion in foreign currency while in the same period fishermen earned a total of Ksh. 5.2 billion from fishing, less than 30% of the value of the retail trade. In 2007, the fishing industry earned the country Kshs. 6.2 billion in revenue from approximately 165,000 metric tons of fish.

World bank (1972) defined poverty as hunger, lack of shelter, being sick and not being able to see a doctor, not able to go to school, not able to read, not having a job, fear for the future, loosing a child brought by unclean water, powerlessness, lack of presentation and living one day at a time. With this definition , we are within relevance in discussing the issue around the lake since the highest levels of malnutrition in Kenya are now found within fishing communities because fisher folk consume very little of what they harvest and yet they have no access of supplementary sources of protein. The high poverty levels that exist among the fishing communities contribute to high fish pressure even with rising real prices. All these discrepancies in terms of the relation between the abundance in resource and the poverty levels of the fisher people is a sure proof that there is a situation within the lake Victoria basin which needs the serious attention of researchers and by extension development experts.

Although there in principle has been an open access to fish in the lake, the local fishing communities around the lake have all through the centuries developed rules which regulate the fisheries (Ogutu: 1992). These rules stipulate who may fish, in what season, in what area, what types of fishing gear which are acceptable and what type/size of fish which can be caught. When such rules were in force, the situation was different. The fishing was valuable to the local people and their poverty levels were not as high as it is today.


Conclusions
Fishing has been an important source of livelihood for many Kenyans for many years. It is also an important source of animal protein, especially for most people living around the lake. In theory fishers of Lake Victoria are regarded as the poorest group of people in all sectors of the economy. Looking at the way they live, the way they look, assets they own, saving habits and their family sizes one wonders. The standard of living of majority of fishers around Lake Victoria is very low. Shelter and food are the most important basic needs of mankind but looking at the landing beaches around the Lake, fishers live in poor housing structures with inadequate social amenities and inadequate food supply.

Results from past studies indicate that 89.4% of fishers around the Lake Victoria (Kenya) have no other sources of income except fishing. Fishers around Lake Victoria earned income from the fishery an average income of Ksh. 107,063 per fisher per year. This is evidence that fishers get good earnings from the fishery but they are not able to mobilize their earnings properly (Abila: 2003).

It is crucial that answers be found to explain why with what is considered good earnings, the fisher people are still classified as poor. A research that is tailor-made to distinguish between the Socio-economic and cultural systems and practices among the fisher communities and how they relate to their livelihood plans and priorities may be what is necessary to bridge the gaps between the available research findings, development interventions and the situation as it is on the ground.

Mark Okowa

February 18, 2009 | 6:45 AM Comments  0 comments

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