Abstract:
The three Partner States; the Republic of Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic
of Uganda sharing Lake Victoria have been managing the lake through agreed management plans to
ensure sustainability of the fisheries resources. The first Fisheries Management Plan was developed
in 2001 and implemented from 2005 to 2008. This was followed with the second Management Plan
for the period 2009 to 2014. The lessons from the first two plans were used during the review
process to come up with the Lake Victoria Fisheries Management Plan III (FMP III).
The FMP III aims to address the main challenges of the fisheries of Lake Victoria which include:
increased fishing pressure as a result of increasing demand and rising prices of fish and fisheries
products; inadequate and unsustainable funding to implement research and agreed management
interventions; increased illegalities due to weak enforcement; inadequate infrastructure for fish
quality and safety, under developed aquaculture to meet the demand of fish and relieve fishing
pressure from capture fishery, and other challenges caused by climate change