By AGENCIES
POLLUTION and poor harvesting methods are choking fish breeding grounds in Lake Victoria, threatening some species with extinction in the next 30 years, a researcher has warned.
Philip Odino, an environmental researcher with Chalmers University in Sweden, said the number of species in the world’s second largest fresh water lake had reduced from 400 in the 1920s, however he did not say how many species exist today.
“The situation is alarming because indiscriminate fishing and environmental degradation are still at their peak,” Mr Odino said.
Magnam Environmental Network chairman Michael Nyaguti said most people were harvesting small Nile Perch and Tilapia despite the ban on catching immature fish.
“Nyamware Beach in Kano is notorious for using a chemical called Endosulfan to catch small fish that are sold at a Kisumu market very early in the morning,” Mr Nyaguti said.
Illegal fishing gear
Researchers have in the past found residues of Endosulfan in fish species like Tilapia and Nile Perch.
Some fishermen also use illegal fishing gear, which has led to a huge drop in the population of Nile Perch and Tilapia in the lake.
“Riverine fish species also face extinction; they are no longer found in the Kenyan markets compared to three years ago when they flooded the market,” Mr Nyaguti said.
According to a Lake Victoria Environmental Management Programme study, Nile Perch stock dropped from 750,000 tonnes in 2005 to 337,000 tonnes in 2008. Tilapia dropped from 27,061 tonnes to 24,811 tonnes over the same period.
The impact of declining fish stocks is felt on the dinner table with Tilapia meat selling at two times the price that prevailed three years ago.
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