Abstract:

The purpose of the research was to determine economic returns for the different commercial fish species enterprises on Lakes Albert, Kyoga and Victoria and develop strategies for enhancing profitability and market access, aimed at improving incomes of fishers. The methodology involved secondary data review, focusing on past fisheries frame, catch assessment and socio-economic surveys and a sample survey of fishers conducted at 20 landing sites covering 587 respondents. the key profitability indices, namely gross annual profits, break-even points and pay-back periods were computed for the commercial species of the water bodies. The main market destinations and characteristics were also identified and transaction costs determined.
Net profit is a measure of the profitability of an enterprise after accounting for all costs. It is the money left over after paying all the expenses of the fishing business. Break-even point is the level of catch a fisher needs to achieve for costs and revenues to be equal, resulting in neither loss or gain for the fishing unit. Pay-back period refers to the period of time required for the return on an investment to "repay" the sum of the original investment. All else being equal, shorter payback periods are preferable to longer payback periods.