Abstract:

Fishing all over the world is a major source of food for humanity and a provider of employment and economic benefits to
those engaged in the activity. However, with increased knowledge and the dynamic development of fisheries, it should
be known that world living aquatic resources, although renewable, are not infinite and need proper management, if
their continued contribution to the nutritional, economic and social well-being of the growing world’s population is to
be sustained.
Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest and most important inland water body with a total water surface area of 68,800km2.
Lake Victoria contributes significantly through its fishery and generation of electricity to the economic benefits of not
only the riparian states, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, but also to the neighboring countries and the world at large.
Lake Victoria is arguably the most important single source of freshwater fish on the African continent, contributing
significantly to national and regional economies and livelihoods of the regions inhabitants. Although not often associated
with inland fisheries, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and the trade of illegal fish has threatened the
biological, social, financial and cultural integrity of the lakes resources and those that depend on them.