Over-fishing depletes Lake Victoria’s annual numbers

The government will revive fisheries in Nyanza region, with a projection of raising the annual production to 200,000 tonnes by 2022, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri has said.

Kiunjuri, who was speaking during the opening of the Nyanza Region Blue Economy Conference in Kisumu yesterday, said Lake Victoria contributed about 90,000 tonnes of fish.

This is 80 per cent of the country’s annual fish landings from an Assessment Survey done in 2014.

He was concerned over the decline in fish stocks and diversity over the years, leading to subsequent fall in fish catches by 64 per cent from 140 000 tonnes to 90 000 tonnes annually in the last five years.

Kiunjuri said the declining fish stocks in Lake Victoria was due to over-fishing and use of illegal gears.