A new study into drownings of small-scale fishers on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria has found that extreme weather and boat owners’ failure to provide life jackets are causes.
Fishermen turning a boat on Lake Victoria in Kenya. The lake is covered by the aquatic plant water hyacinth.
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The dispute between Uganda and Kenya over an islet half the size of a football pitch has been fuelled by the perceived imbalance in fish harvests and the prospects of oil reserves beneath.
Lake Victoria sustains about 200,000 fishers.
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Social ties between Lake Victoria’s fisherfolk are critical for gaining access to credit, employment, maintaining reliable and skilled labour and access to markets.
The aquatic weed water hyacinth is causing major problems in Ethiopia’s Lake Tana.
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Deputy Director of the Centre for Biological Control at Rhodes University and Biological Control and Freshwater Alien Invasive Species Management, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity