Lake Victoria degradation threatening livelihoods

A few years ago, Charles Kyagaba used to sell up to 300kg of fresh fish at the Gaba landing site near the Ugandan capital of Kampala each day, but now the situation is markedly different.

"These days, you sometimes go out there and come back empty-handed," he said. "My income has declined by over 70 percent and the impact on my family’s livelihood is serious. I am struggling to make ends meet, trying to establish other businesses to balance the situation."

Generally, Kyagaba said, there was now less fish in the lake. "I have had to change my children's schools to ones that I can afford," he told IRIN. "The fishing business is no longer sustainable and many of my friends feel frustrated. I am thinking about selling some of my assets to diversify my options; I am beginning to fail to provide some essential needs for my family."

Kyagaba is not alone. According to environmentalists, over-fishing, pollution and other human activities along Lake Victoria as well as climate change are threatening to destroy Africa's largest freshwater lake resource.

Lake Victoria is the second-largest freshwater lake in the world, covering nearly 68,800 sqkm. It is shared by Kenya (6 percent by area), Uganda (43 percent) and Tanzania (51 percent).

Its basin, according to specialists, has the fastest-growing population in East Africa - more than 30 million people. Much of this population derives its livelihood directly or indirectly from the lake.

Pollution

Frank Mulamuzi, an environmental advocate and executive director of the Ugandan NGO, the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), said the lake was mainly threatened by pollution. Across the three East African nations, the lake had become a reservoir for excessive untreated effluents, including sewage, industrial waste and other chemicals.

"Pollution is a serious problem," he said. "This has been brought about by carelessness of both the communities and governments along the lake. We don't know how long it will go on because we have talked to everybody who could listen, but the authorities are more interested in development."

Uganda, Mulamuzi added, had deficient sewage and industrial wastewater plants, small-scale workshops that were polluting the lake with waste oil from parking lots and car-repair garages. The sewers in Kampala drain into the lake "but information indicates that only 10 percent of the sewage gets treated".

Photo: Ann Weru/IRIN

The lake is threatened by pollution, according to experts

Fred Mukisa, Uganda's minister in charge of fisheries, told IRIN that apart from pollution, over-fishing was depleting the fish reserves, with the apparent decline in fish harvests forcing some processors to close shop. Those remaining were operating at less than 50 percent capacity, due to reduced stocks.

"The problem is huge," the minister said. "We have many players licensed to go fishing by local governments. To mitigate this, we are planning to again centralise licensing because local governments are more interested in the revenue not conservation."

Meanwhile, earnings from fish exports keep declining. "We were earning over $150 million from fish exports in the past years but I don't think that we shall even earn $90 million this year," Mukisa added.

Jackson Wadanya, acting head of the fisheries department, blamed a policy he described as a “free-for-all” in the fishing sector. Up to 55,000 fishermen with an estimated 1,000 fishing boats were operating on the Ugandan side of the lake without restrictions on new entrants.

"Anybody attracted by the huge demand available on the market can get his boat and line up his gear to start fishing," he said. "This has created a lot of pressure on the lake and the fishing gear used is not the best to allow the resource to renew."

The department, he added, could not determine how soon the situation could be reversed, but a community management programme has been drawn up, geared towards educating the population about proper fishing methods. "We also plan to promote the use of fishing gear that [allows] the fish to grow as mostly young fish are being caught currently," he said.

On pollution, Wadanya said the landscape around the lake was being destroyed, as agro-chemicals were entering the lake. "The flower factories are all located along the lake in all three countries and they use a lot of chemicals that end up in the lake," he said.

Water levels

A recent report by the UN Environment Programme listed Lake Victoria as among African water bodies whose water level is falling due to environmental degradation and climatic changes.

It noted that the loss of trees and wetlands, which form the Lake Victoria water catchment, was partly to blame for the receding shoreline. "Over 75 percent of the wetlands have been significantly affected by human activities and 13 percent are severely degraded," UNEP noted. Water levels, it added, had started dropping considerably in 2002.

Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

Climate change affects fish stocks

Other experts blame Uganda's two power dams at the Owen Falls for at least 55 percent of the decline in water levels, arguing that they routinely release twice the permitted water volume. As a result, the water level reached an 80-year low in 2006.

Experts also blame rapid population growth, estimated at 7 percent within 100km of the Lake Victoria catchment area, saying this reflected a growing dependence and pressure on the lake's resources.

"Population growth around the continent's largest lake is significantly higher than the rest of Africa," the UNEP report stated. "If they are not managed properly, the continent's lakes face loss of sustainability for future generations."

The lake surface also has an algae mass, which looks like green paint. Specialists say this is because of increased pollution from human and industrial waste. The main reason for the spread of algae on the surface is the presence of increased nutrients, such as phosphates and nitrogen, substances that algae feed on.

Chemiphar, a Belgian laboratory with a branch in Kampala, tested the algae on the lake water and said it was toxic. "From the preliminary results, cyanobacteria like Anabaena were found in the water samples. These can be very toxic for plants and animals, including humans, because of the toxin microcystin," it said.

"They can accumulate in the fish tissues, liver, intestines and gallbladder, which means that secondary contamination by eating toxic fish from an infected pond or lake is possible."

Fish stock

According to the regional Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO), the annual fishery yield from the lake is estimated at about 800,000-1,000,000 tonnes, valued at US$350-400 million.

These days, you sometimes go out there and come back empty-handed

However, while the total catch from the lake has been increasing over the years due to more intense fishing, changes in the contribution of different species have been observed. The Nile perch stock, according to LVFO, was estimated at 40 percent of the unexploited level but "Dagaa" is considered underexploited. However, the Nile Tilapia, which is one of the more popular fish types, appears to be fully exploited.

As a result, it is proposed to prohibit fishing within 200m of the lake shore to create a buffer within which to monitor the tilapia.

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