The Nile Perch decline: Who is to blame?

Nile Perch is one of the fish species found  in Lake Victoria which is one of the great lakes in Africa. The lake cut across three East African Countries (Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda). Other popular fish species found in Lake Victoria include small sardines and Nile Tilapia. The three fish species serve as the main source of income for fishermen surrounding the Lake Victoria and therefore contribute to the growth of the economy of their countries like Tanzania.

Nile perch was introduced to Lake Victoria during the 1950’s and 1960’s followed by the introduction of other species like Nile Tilapia. This lead to the disappearance of many other native species which were found in Lake Victoria before the introduction of Nile perch and Nile Tilapia.

With the introduction of Nile Perch in Lake Victoria which has wiped out other species and therefore became the dominant fish specie, currently the fish specie is also declining. A number of reasons have been pointed out and reported by the media from time to time. According to the East African newspaper one of the most important reason is over-exploitation of Nile Perch. This is as a result of Nile Perch demand in the market both for export and domestic consumption. This has been one of the greatest problem especially with the small scale fishermen who mostly do not use the required fish nets which ends up destroying fish shoals. Illegal fishing activity has been an ongoing activity in the Lake Victoria also being associated with the use of dynamites.

The disappearance of Nile Perch is also being said to be an environmental factor. The climate change such as fluctuating water levels and natural disaster cause such as flood is one of the reasons to current declining of Nile Perch. There are also human caused factors such as agricultural activities along the shores of Lake Victoria, pollution caused by industrial emission and other human being activities have been destroying the breeding grounds of Nile Perch.

Such massive Nile Perch decline in Lake Victoria from 340000 tonnes of Nile Perch catch in 1990 to 251060 tonnes in 2014 has been challenging, both the local industries which depend on fishery for exportation as well as the local community who depend on Nile Perch for food consumption and source of income for local fishermen. Having more people venturing into fishery business is not a good sign for survival of fish species such as Nile Perch. Drastic measures has to be taken to save Nile Perch and other species in Lake Victoria.