Aquatic biodiversity of Lake Victoria basin | Environment for Development: An Ecosystems Assessment of Lake Victoria Basin.

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa, with the largest freshwater fishery in the world. There are nine main affluent river basins (Sio, Nzoia, Yala, Nyando, Sondu-Miriu, Awach, Kuja, Mara, and Kagera), and one surface outlet, the River Nile. The basin has extensive wetlands and small water bodies, which have (or had) a hydrological connection with Lake Victoria and therefore constitute potential “refugia” for biotic and genetic diversity from the main lake. The biological diversity in these waters is known to be exceptional both in number of species and in their endemism. While the ecosystem changes have been documented, causes of these changes remain uncertain due to lack of basic data on the abundance and diversity of the biota. Through the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP), the three riparian states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, with assistance from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the International Development Agency (IDA) have collectively responded to the issues of ecosystem and resources degradation in the lake basin. Areas of concern which constituted specific components of the project were declining fisheries, proliferation of the water hyacinth, extreme sediment and pollution loads in the river and lake waters, reduced vegetation and forest cover in the catchment, wanton clearance and draining of wetlands and poor land use practices in and around the basin. One of the critical components of LVEMP therefore concerned Fish Biology and the Conservation of Aquatic Biodiversity. This document provides information on the pertaining situation of the basic biodiversity in the Lake Victoria basin. The composition, diversity, distribution as well as the ecological and socio-economic importance of the various species have been presented. The communities discussed include macroinverterbrates, phytoplankton, macrophytes, invertebrates, and vertebrate. The need for more studies to ensure sustainability as a result of the ongoing exploitation is emphasised.

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