Item Details

Title: Impact of Fishing on the Inshore Fishery of Lake Victoria (East Africa)

Date Published: 1979
Author/s: GERALD G. MARTEN
Data publication:
Funding Agency :
Copyright/patents/trade marks:
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Affiliation: Environment and Policy il/stitl/re, Easr-IVesl Cel/ter, Honolulu, Hawaii 96848, USA
Keywords: Lake Victoria. ecosystem, succession, multispecies fishery, multigcar fishery, fish yield, Africa, lake, lungthh, Tilapia, Haplochromis, catfish

Abstract:

The inshore fishery of Lake Victoria has symptoms of severe overfishing. Curvilinear multipl~ regrcssion analysis wa, used to examine the large variation in fishing elfort, 'car composition, and CGtches around the lake and ,ug~estlishingrractices that would give highest yields. The overfishing problem i, due to the kind of gear in usc and not to excessive fishing pcr se. Heavy fishing is oftcn aS$ociated with the use of sma\[lnesh gill nets and seines to catch small tish such as Haplochromis, a practice that does not seem to justify the damage uont: to catches of the larger species by the same gear. The best strategy for maximizing the total tonnage yield is to fish optimally for the h<:rbivorous genus Tilapia. This nleans using: only the larger gillnets appropriate for Tilapia, a, w~ll as hoob, both at a very high fishing efTort. The hooks captur<: large predators such a.' lJw.;I'IIS, Clarias. and Proropterus, an abundant r<:source in themselves, and imultaneously appear to incr ,he Tilapia yields indirectly by reducing losses of Tilapia to predators.