Authored by Brad Czerniak

The research effort_looks at the trends in fishing effort and landings from 2000 to 2014 in relation to the performance of the Beach Management Units (BMUs) since they were put in place. Having conducted a survey on the performance of the BMUs, researchers notice that the BMUs have rules and regulations that have been put in place. Respondents identified critical habitats that are presented in this research, some of which have since been demarcated. Results show that BMUs know critical habitats and identify them as areas where fish breed (97%). Despite the knowledge of critical habitats (65%), respondents indicated that fishers use illegal gears indiscriminately due to ineffectiveness of their BMUs (60%). As a result, illegalities such as boat seining or Amuok (a new method of extracting fish ) is now prominent in the Kenyan sector of the lake among others. A rapid assessment on the incomes of fishers based in the Winam Gulf which is generally shallow (4 m max. depth), who believe that they are poor and cannot buy the required gears is on the contrary. A comparative study made on this research paper_indicate that fishers in the Winam Gulf earn well above 25,000 Ksh per month equivalent to US$ 263 (USD 1= 95 Ksh), which is much higher than most wages in major urban centers. Recommendations include limiting fisher migration and introduction of common pool resource regimes in the fisheries of Lake Victoria.