Stocks in the multi-billion dollar Lake Victoria fish industry have improved following the government’s decision to streamline the licensing of fishermen.

A sharp rise in the number of fishermen in the lake was previously blamed for dwindling fish stocks, amid concerns that some fishermen were employing illegal methods such as undersize nets and chemicals, to increase their catch in the face of stiff competition.

Ecological experts had warned that congestion by fishermen had led to the destruction of several breeding sites, thus hampering stock development. However, the situation changed within a period of time after the government introduced a method in which licensing was done through the various beach management units (BMU’s) that were formed along the lake shores.

“To date we have moved ten-fold steps ahead in improving fish stocks in the lake, after regulating the number of fishermen through BMUs that hold more information on their members on issues such as who could be using illegal fishing methods,” said Migori County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Charge of Livestock Fisheries and Blue Economy Lucas Mosenda.

In a speech he made yesterday while wishing the fisher-folk a prosperous New Year, Mr Mosenda said the strict fishing control was already yielding fruit with the number of fishermen in the world’s second largest freshwater lake dropping to around 44,200 by June 2025 from 57,137 in 2023/ 2024.

Fisheries department statistics show that fish harvested by Kenyan fishermen from the lake rose to about 115,000 metric tonnes by March 2025 up from 97,500 metric tonnes from 2022 through to December 2024.

The report further indicates that about 10,000 metric tonnes of the catch was from cage culture farming that the government had encouraged the local people to practice in the lake as a step to save the natural lake fish from depletion.

Mosenda said that efforts were also being made to entice more farmers to embrace fish pond farming, to help decongest Lake Victoria from the many fishing boat fleets scouring the lake water for the precious delicacy daily.

“We are encouraging more farmers to take the route of making fish ponds in their small farms and providing them with the fingerlings and food supplements and fertilisers as a way to attract them to this kind of producing fish to help ease fishermen traffic on the lake,” noted the CECM.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By George Agimba