| dc.description.abstract | Fisheries resources in Lake Victoria have been under immense pressure leading to over utilization
and decline of fish. Fisheries resources support livelihoods, generate income, ensure food security,
and provide raw materials used in animal feeds and pharmaceutical industry. However, fisheries
resources have faced ecological challenges in many freshwater lakes worldwide. Lake Victoria’s
ecological health has been deteriorating due to overfishing, use of illegal fishing gears and fishing
methods. Fisheries management strategies and regulations have been enacted to regulate fishing
in Lake Victoria. However, it was not known whether these strategies could enhance fisher folks’
compliance to fisheries regulations. In addition, Busia County government introduced aggregated
farming practices as income diversification. However, it was unknown whether these alternative
farming practices could improve fisher folks’ compliance with fisheries regulations. Therefore, the
goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of fisheries resources management strategies on
fishermen's compliance to fisheries regulations in Busia County, Kenya's Lake Victoria. The
objectives were to: Examine the perceptions of fisher folks towards the types of fisheries
management strategies and fisheries regulations; determine the relationship between types of
punitive measures and compliance with fisheries regulations; and determine the relationship
between categories of alternative livelihoods and compliance with fisheries regulations.
Descriptive cross-sectional research design was used in this study. The study population consisted
of 4200 participants including fishermen, boat owners, fish merchants, regional manufacturers of
fishing gear, and equipment dealers. The sample size of 324 respondents was calculated using
Kothari (2004) formula. Primary data was gathered from 13 landing beaches in the Samia and
Bunyala sub counties using structured questionnaires, Key informant interviews and focus group
discussions. Frequencies and percentages were used to present the data, and the Chi-square test of
independence and Spearman Rank correlation were used to investigate the relationships between
the variables. The results showed that respondents strongly agreed (r=0.714) that current laws and
regulations were easy to understand but the approaches used were ineffective. In addition, the
respondents strongly agreed (r=0.896) that even though fishermen are aware of fisheries
regulations, they are forced by hard economic conditions to violate income diversification
approaches. Types of punitive measures such as closed seasons, fish landing areas restrictions,
fishing areas restrictions, fishing methods restrictions and gear size restrictions showed a
statistically significant (p < 0.01) association with compliance to fisheries regulations. Moreover,
alternative livelihoods: Aggregated horticulture farming (χ26=30.35, p=0.00003), aggregated dairy
and poultry farming (χ26=21.38, p=0.0016) and aggregated aquaculture farming (χ26=94.79,
p=0.0000) showed statistically significant association with compliance to fisheries regulations. In
conclusion, stakeholders had positive attitude towards fisheries management strategies and
regulations. Low compliance to fisheries regulations led to dwindling fish stocks. Strengthening
punitive measures and aggregated farming practices could enhance compliance. There was need
to create awareness on fisheries management strategies and regulations, and build capacity on
aggregated farming practices to enhance compliance with fisheries requlations among the
fisherfolks. | en_US |
