EU donates Sh260m to boost fishing activities in Lake Victoria

In Summary

• The
project is aimed at sustainable management and development of fisheries
to contribute to poverty alleviation, food and nutrition security while
addressing climate change resilience and enhancing marine biodiversity.

• In the past 10 years, there has been a decline in fish catches, leading to low revenue generation.

The European Union has donated Sh260 million towards sustainable fishing in Lake Victoria.

The funding has been done through the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO), an institution of the East Africa Community.

The ecofish project is aimed at sustainable management and
development of fisheries to contribute to poverty alleviation and food
and nutrition security while addressing climate change resilience and
enhancing marine biodiversity.

It is a component of the major project
called the Contribution of Sustainable Fisheries to the Blue Economy of
Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, and the Indian Ocean region. The parent
project is worth about EUR30 million (Sh3.9 billion). It covers 31
countries.

LVFO Deputy Executive Secretary Anthony Munyaho said the project will
enhance the institutional, structural and legal frameworks of the
organisation against the backdrop of expanded scope and mandate.

The five-year programme also focuses on reviewing the performance of
Lake Victoria Fisheries Management Plan-III (2016-20) and drafting the
Lake Victoria Fisheries Management Plan-IV (2021-25).

Other activities to be implemented are regional harmonisation of the
annual licensing of fisheries, fishing boats and fishers; marking and
protection of biodiversity hotspots and breeding/nursery areas in
selected areas; and conducting lake-wide frame survey in the lake.

Munyaho said they will be establishing and implementing a regional
monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) system. They are also
focusing on the development of regional guidelines or framework on
fisheries licensing, the establishment of user rights-based management
systems and regional harmonisation, planning the implementation and
conducting of MCS operations in the lake.

They will also train in enforcement, compliance and prosecution
procedures and facilitation of national high-level policy dialogue on
illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The officer spoke
during the First ecofish regional programme steering committee meeting
for the LVFO, which is high-level policy guidance for efficient
implementation of the project in Kisumu.

During the meeting, the committee endorsed the programme estimate
No.1 and its operational and closure periods from February 25, 2020, to
September 13, 2024, and September 14, 2024, to May 12, 2025,
respectively.

The project will also see fishing
communities and lower-level leadership sensitised on the importance of
their roles in combating IUU.

Further, the LVFO is committed to the provision of communication and
visibility actions in line with the ecofish communication and visibility
strategy. Deputy Director of Fisheries and Blue Economy Rodrick Kundu
said the project focuses on the sustainability of fisheries resources in
Lake Victoria.

Lake Victoria is the largest inland fishery in Africa and supports
millions of people directly and indirectly, hence need to be
well-managed, he said. In the past 10 years, Kundu added, there has been
a decline in fish catches, leading to low revenue generation.

“With the project, we hope it will add value to the investments
already done by the national government and partner states,” he said.

Kundu said the ecofish project will complement the efforts done by
the countries. “In two to three years, we are expecting the recovery of
fish stock and more people employed in the fishing industry,” he said.

The project will also strengthen the implementation of existing
frameworks such as the regional fisheries management plan. Already, the
regional leadership has made the initiative to control the illegality in
the lake through the establishment of units such Fisheries Protection
Unit (Uganda), Kenya Coast Guards (Kenya) and Multiagency Task Team
(Tanzania).

Regional Lake Victoria Beach Management Unit Network chairman Tom
Guda said the project will build on the existing structures and help in
the recovery of fish stock.

The LVFO is one of the institutions of the East African Community
(EAC) as provided for under Article 9(3) of the Treaty for the
Establishment of the East African Community. It is a regional
intergovernmental organisation established by a convention that was
signed in Kisumu on June 30, 1994. The convention has open membership to
all of the EAC partner states and has competence in fisheries and
aquaculture resources of the EAC water bodies.

Currently, the LVFO is constituted by four member states: Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania. The ecofish programme is also implemented in four other regional economic communities such as the Southern African Development Community, Comesa, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, with the support of the European Union.

Source:https://www.the-star.co.ke/counties/nyanza/2020-01-30-eu-donates-sh260m-to-boost-fishing-activities-in-lake-victoria/