Rescuing Lake Victoria: How the aquaculture revolution is restocking the blue economy

Across Nyanza and Western Kenya, fish is more than food on a plate: it is the lifeblood of the region's economy and nutrition. But as the population in these two regions has surged, fish stocks in Lake Victoria have struggled to keep pace with demand.

To bridge that gap, the Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) and its strategic partners have set up a state-of-the-art hatchery to produce fingerlings, restock the lake, and sustain local aquaculture.

Philip Oloo, Director of Agriculture and Natural Resources at LBDA, traces the authority's role back to the 1980s, when falling catches first raised alarm.

"Lake Basin Development Authority started this project way back in 1983. At that time, it had already been confirmed and really detected that the level of fish catch in Lake Victoria had dropped far below the demands of the farmers and the people in this region," Oloo says.

Beyond breeding, capacity building has been central to the initiative. Sharly Andeo, a Fisheries Officer at LBDA, points to the scale of community outreach over the past financial year.

"Our financial year starts in July up to the end of June. So we have trained approximately 2,000 farmers. That includes groups and single farmers," Andeo says.

At the heart of the intervention is the DABD AquaRech project in Kibos, a fully operational facility where staff work around the clock. Young fish are nurtured in well-aerated, carefully maintained and regularly fed waters before being handed over to local farmers.

For Victor Ochieng, a fish cage farmer at Dunga Beach, aquaculture has grown from a simple trial into a thriving venture.

"Fish farming is a new adventure to me. It is quite an experience with both ups and downs, but it is a good thing. It has impacted me for the three years I have been doing it; I have seen a positive change," Ochieng says.

"The cages that are here are 15, and there is another new one furthest out. Out of the 15, I only own almost six cages, but we are making another one out there. The rest belong to investors."

Ochieng's growth has been backed by LBDA's targeted support for organised farmer groups. "I get my fingerlings from AquaRech, bought from Kibos and Yala. With these fingerlings, we have seen a difference. Because I was once an investor, I have seen the growth rate change. Initially, we could feed this fish for like 10 or 11 months, sometimes a year. But now, the cycle has reduced to around eight or nine months, and you can start harvesting," he explains.

Support has gone beyond fingerlings, he adds: "At times, they also give us feeds. There was a program known as HISA. Through HISA, those who normally buy fingerlings from AquaRech were contacted based on data, and we received feed last year."

The lake can still turn unpredictable: sudden fish deaths remain a constant threat for cage farmers, even as LBDA maintains that modern aquaculture techniques can manage the risk.

CPA Wycliffe Ochiaga, LBDA's Managing Director, outlines the authority's roadmap for expanding fish farming, cage culture and pond management.

"What we do as an authority is to produce fingerlings. At the moment, we are doing around 2 million fingerlings per month. We are working on enhancing that to around 4 to 5 million fingerlings per month," Ochiaga says.

"Away from supporting fingerling production, we have also brought on board a number of development partners or players in fish farming: those that provide fish feeds, those that support farmers with training, and also those that support farmers with best practices in fish farming. That happens in Kisumu, and of course, we have fish farming not only in Kisumu, but in the entire lake region."