Fishing on Lake Victoria

The French Cultural Institute here in Nairobi is housed in a very modern building and plays host to a number of very good cultural events. Over the past two months, I have been there twice to hear Kenyan musicians play – Eric Wainaina and Susanna Owiyo, two popular Kenyan pop fusion musicians (Susanna is from Kisumu and sings a song called “Kisumu 100”). Also a few weeks ago I saw the documentary “Darwin’s Nightmare” there. I recommend this film which was filmed on shores of Lake Victoria, on the Tanzanian side, in a town called Mwanza. It concerns the fishing industry on Lake Victoria and, specifically, the fishing for Nile Perch. The film argues that the introduction of the Nile Perch (or “mbuta”) into the Lake in the 1950s has destroyed the natural ecosystem there and led to the exploitation of fishermen and women by mostly European fish processing companies and distributors.

As part of the Millennium Cities work, we are examining the fishing industry on Lake Victoria, the possibility for its growth and, importantly, how future investments in the industry can be sustainable, improve lives and help Kisumu achieve the Millennium Development Goals. There are about 54,000 fishermen in the Lake. Nile Perch accounts for 2/3 of their catch, the remaining being tilapia and smaller fish such as the butterfish. Currently, fish from Lake Victoria earns about $590 million annually, $340 million generated at the source and another $250 million from export of the Nile Perch to European Markets. Europeans love the Nile Perch but, I have been told, it has been hard to market it in the U.S. because of the perception that anything deriving from the Nile would not be clean. Kenyans also do not care much for Nile Perch, but prefer instead tilapia. The Kenyan portion of Lake Victoria is only about 6% but the waters should be open to all properly licensed fishermen from any of the East African countries that border the Lake (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). However, in reality, Kenyan fishermen who cross into another country’s territory find themselves face to face with armed pirates or, supposedly, even corrupt fishing authorities who steal, extort and, at worst, kill.

Pirates are just one of the many problems facing the fishing industry. Starting with the Lake itself, arguably, there is no potential to increase the size of the catch of fish in it. Possibly even the number will decline, as the Lake faces environmental and man-made problems, some for decades. Some environmentalists have gone so far as to predict the disappearance of the Lake in 100 years. Drought and the Kiira damn in Uganda have decreased water levels. The Nile Perch, a predator, has said to have killed over 200 species of other fish and contributed to decreased oxygen levels in the Lake. The Lake is polluted from sewage and other run-off pouring down from encircling hills, as well as other manmade activities. I have seen dozens of men eke out a living by washing cars on the shores of the Lake in Kisumu, an illegal activity to which everyone has turned a blind eye. No one swims or boats in the Lake anymore. I have been to the Kisumu Yacht Club for dinner and observed only one wooden yacht in the yard that does not look like it could float. Finally, there has not been much control over the number of fishermen and the methods of fishing used on the Lake. We are examining the potential for fish farming, but the costs of production are quite high and land and irrigation problems are many.

There is the water hyacinth. Flying into Kisumu, I always request a window seat so I can examine the state of the water hyacinth – the thick, lily-pad shaped, waxy dark green leaves, with pretty lavender flowers, that float freely on the surface of the Lake – one of the world’s most noxious weeds. It comes and goes. At its height in 1998, the water hyacinth covered 77 square miles of the Lake. With aggressive removal efforts, by 2005, the Lake was almost clear. But due to high rains in late 2006, agricultural run-off and sediment fed a fresh outbreak of the hyacinth. It reappeared and as a result, today, most of the Kisumu bay is covered in the green hyacinth. Flying into Kisumu, I often think I am seeing land, but it is the thick massive mat of the hyacinth. Due to this, fishermen cannot launch boats or bring fish to the shore; sunlight cannot penetrate to feed plants; dying plants cause fish and animals to starve; and water flow is impeded and irrigation pipes are clogged. We are looking at uses for the hyacinth (e.g., fertilizer, paper) and ways to rid the Lake of it.

There are the many problems beset by the fishermen and women on the shores. I spent one early morning at a fishing village called Dunga, just on the outskirts of Kisumu. The men, most whom cannot swim, spend 12 hours a day out on the Lake in simple wooden boats powered by splintered oars and tattered sails. I was there at 7:00 a.m. to watch them row furiously into shore with their catch. There is nothing modern about this process: no fancy hi-tech vessels or equipment, only those that have been used for decades; no docks, only landing beaches on the shoreline; no refrigeration facilities, either on board or on shore; and no sophisticated marketing organization to help them store, bargain and control the price of their catch. The middlemen await fishermen on shore and offer to pay deflated prices that the fishermen must accept since they have no alternatives except to see their fish rot.

The local impoverished men and women often cannot afford to buy the fish, even the Nile Perch and tilapia deemed too small for the factories. Mostly, they are left scrounging for meat off of left-over fish skeletons sold back to the fishing community by the factories. Prostitution is rampant along the shores, women sell themselves for fish; HIV/AIDs is unbelievably high among the fishermen and women; orphans are many. After the men pulled on shore in Dunga and sold the few large fish that were big enough for the distributors. The women, probably 50 in all, rushed the shore to try to bargain for small, sardine-like fish – we would call it bait – paying nickels and dimes so that they can have this food to feed their families or to resell in Dunga.

Then, later that day after visiting the fishing village, I toured a fish factory which mostly sells fish fillets to European and other international markets. After donning white coats, boats and hard hats and managing to suppress my gag instinct throughout the tour, I realized the potential for much expansion of product offerings in the fish industry in Kisumu: bladders can be used for beer flavoring and surgical sutures; fish oil can be used for drugs because of high omega 3 fatty acids; fish scales can be used in collagen; fish skins can be used for purses and shoes; and prepared meals and canned fish could be processed. So, there seems that there is a lot more investment that could be made in the fish industry – whether in fish farming, hyacinth removal, fish processing – but a lot more work that needs to be done to make sure that the investments also improve the lives of the local men, women and children living in Dunga, and other fishing villages in and around Kisumu!

(Pictured: Fishing boats on Lake Victoria; Fisherman holding up a Nile Perch; Young boy buys small fish for a few shillings, crowds of women behind him behind left-over fish as well. Click to enlarge photos)