STATE OF CAGE CULTURE IN LAKE VICTORIA, KENYA

Abstract

Fishery development is one of the key global development goals embodied in agenda 2030 under the fourteenth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), in which countries seek to support the restoration of fish stocks to improve safe and diversified healthy diets. Lake Victoria’s capture fishery has gradually been on the decline over the last three decades due to overfishing, ecosystem degradation, environmental pollution and climate change (Ogello et al., 2013a; FAO 2016). Consequently, fish production for human consumption has declined, leading to nutritional insecurity and poverty in the larger East African region. Today, there have been both national and regional efforts to address the declining fish stocks through innovative technologies and expanded culture species (Orina et al., 2018). At the national level, fish cage culture and aquaculture parks have been identified as strategic cutting edge technologies with the potential to increase fish production and as potential mitigation measures to reduce fishing pressure on the lake and bridge the gap between fish demand and supply. Aquaculture, through its value chain linkages has become an important pillar for rural livelihoods in situations where increasing population pressure and environmental degradation limit catches from wild fisheries (Ogello et al., 2013b; Munguti et al., 2014; Ogello and Munguti 2016).