By VITALIS OMONDI
 

BIDS FROM seven shortlisted firms – from East Africa and overseas – that are competing to provide consultancy services to manage Lake Victoria are to be opened in May in Jinja, Uganda, in a move that signals a shift in the use of the resources of the lake by the three riparian states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

A spokesperson at the secretariat of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO) in Jinja, would not reveal the names of firms that have been prequalified, but Kenya's Director of Fisheries Nancy Gitonga said that, after the evaluation of bids, the winner will be expected to start work immediately. 

The move by the three states, partners in the East African Community, follows a Euro 29.9 million ($35.58 million) grant from the EU in March last year, which is to be used in the reduction of wastage, cleaning up of the beaches and development of infrastructure around the lake over a five-year period.

"With this change in focus we have now set our eyes on reaping the maximum benefits from our fisheries," said Kenya's Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Joseph Munyao. 

The project will be administered by the six-month old Lake Victoria Implementation of Fisheries Management Plan (LVIFMP), which falls under the umbrella of LVFO, whose mandate is to facilitate the harmonisation and strengthening of fisheries policy in East Africa. 

LVFO is a component of the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP), which is charged with the conservation of Lake Victoria. Its members are permanent secretaries and ministers responsible for fisheries and researchers and fisheries officials from the three East African states.

The new project will also empower local people to form beach management units with powers to arrest offenders. Currently, the three East African Community partner-states are putting together working groups and their terms of reference.

The new funding by the EU – the largest and most lucrative destination for East Africa's fish –follows a tranche released in 1999 to the Lake Victoria Research Project, which is being undertaken in two phases of four years each. The major issue for the three East African countries is how to stem the alarming decline in fish biodiversity and the deteriorating water quality, which is increasingly impacting negatively on the lake's ecosystem and the communities living around it.

"We want to manage Lake Victoria as a single ecosystem," said Kenya's Director of Fisheries Nancy Gitonga. "We are putting limits to the size of nets to be used by fishermen and we want the local community to take an active role in managing the resources of the lake." 

Through the use of microprojects, the three countries also want to lower post-harvest losses. A task force has also been formed to look into the regulation of fishing standards, through the support of LVEMP, which is actively involved in the surveillance of the lake through the rehabilitation of mv Pelican, at a cost of Ksh5 million ($64,000). Already over 60 fishermen have been arrested and prosecuted for using illegal fishing gear.

The three countries have also undertaken to harmonise fish inspection and quality assurance procedures in the region. To make quality assurance workable, the three countries have been carrying out Frame Surveys every two years, during which data is taken on the number and size of boats, number of landing sites, fishermen, storage rooms and the number and size of nets.

This year, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) and LVEMP funded the Frame Survey in Kenya to the tune of Ksh4.3 million ($55,000). A similar activity is running in Uganda and Tanzania.

The recommendations of the survey will form the basis for future management decisions on the lake, said Romano Kiome, the director of Kari. "Results from previous Frame Surveys have shown that fishermen are now fishing mature fish and the slot size of the nets is in tandem with the requirements demanded at regional level," he said.
 

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