1. Background of Fishing community around Lake Victoria

Fishing is the primary economic activity of the communities on or near the Lake Victoria. The communities are directly or indirectly involved in fishing either as fishermen or women, processing, buying or selling fish. The life of the Kenyan fisher folk around Lake Victoria revolves around the daily catch.

The annual catch from the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria is estimated to rake in 7 billion shillings in terms of revenue¹, making it the third largest foreign exchange earner for the economy-having catapulted over coffee and tea exports in terms of value.

Ironically, the actual fisher folk continue to wallow in abject poverty and are prone to the ravages of HIV/AIDS.

1.1 Challenges faced in the fishing industry

In terms of demographics, the majority of the fisher folk fall within the youth age bracket. Every year, approximately 500,000 young people join the Kenyan labour market- with close to 70% remaining unemployed. These statistics are replayed in microcosm within the Lake Victoria fishing industry.

It is estimated that Kenyan side of Lake Victoria which comprises of 6% of this fresh water mass can realistically support only 10,000 fisher folk. In reality, up to ten times this number are engaged directly in fishing activity- creating enormous pressure on this scarce resource, leading to the danger of the eventual depletion of the available fish stock on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria.

Apart from over fishing, the other major challenge facing the Kenyan fisher folk of Lake Victoria has to do with the fact that the vast majority do not own their own boats and fishing gear, but are employed by unscrupulous businessmen. To compound this problem, the fisher folk are at the mercy of well connected buyers (from outside the community) who dictate the whole sale price and are able to load the daily catch in their refrigerated trucks at rock bottom, throw away rates, only to turn around and make a killing with huge mark ups when these buyers supply the wider Kenyan lucrative retail and export market.

One of the negative side effects of the pressure on the fisher folk propelled by poverty is sexual exploitation. Among the most blatant manifestations of this malaise is the so called “jaboya system” – a system whereby women selling fish are forced to have sex with the fishermen just to be given the opportunity of buying from the catch. As a young fisherman said, “For us in the fishing communities, sex is like money.” This practice of exploiting women exacerbates the serious health crisis posed by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

HIV prevalence levels among the fisher folk along the shores of Lake Victoria on the Kenyan side are high. Fishing districts in Kenya report HIV infection rate as high as five times that of inland districts. For instance, while the national HIV prevalence for 2006 in Kenya stood at 5.8% that in Suba area near Lake Victoria was at 21% with a life expectancy of 37 years.⁴The fact that the life of the Kenyan fisher folk revolves around the daily catch, when the fish move, large numbers of the community move with them re-forming a community on another shore, or another island and even another country on the lake-whether Uganda or Tanzania. This itinerant group of men and women are separated from their extended families for very long periods in the year with all the dire social and health consequences.

Recommendations

Given the gloomy picture painted in the preceding paragraphs, what is to be done?

We suggest the following but should not be limited to:

● Value addition should start right from the lake shore. No fish should be transported from the landing site before being processed. The bones, scales and other wastes must be left at the landing site. These by products can be used as spinoffs to set up a complementary cottage industry targeting tourists;

● Cold storage facilities to be made available at every landing site to help the fishermen have bargaining power on their products;

● Loans and financial assistance to be extended to the fishers.

● Fisher folk cooperatives societies should be restricted to so as to prioritize the fisher folk needs and not businessmen and middlemen who aim to impoverish the fishermen.

● Pass necessary legislation on fishing that should cater for both the fish and the fisherfolk and ensure security to the fishing communities;

● Encourage women to initiate income generating activities to empower them so that they are not prone to sexual exploitation;

● Ministry of Fishing should enforce legislation to regulate fishing, setting benchmarks for those who want to enter the fishing industry;

● Under the new constitutional dispensation and in particular reference to devolved governance, ensure that the local fishing communities retain control of their resources and the attendant revenues and benefits;

● Eliminate middlemen from the chain of supply and pass on this role to cooperatives started and managed by the fisher folk themselves;

● Entrench awareness raising, support and related HIV/AIDS services