The Lost Coin: Redefining the economic and financial value of small-scale fisheries, the case of Lake Victoria, Kenya

Abstract

Official fisheries statistics have been characterized by under-estimation of catch and value. This study provided a methodological option to compare, contrast and validate official fisheries statistics using small-scale fisheries of Lake Victoria, Kenya. A standardized Fishing Business Model (FBM) was applied to reconstruct estimates of economic returns from Lake Victoria fisheries; taking into account fish auto-consumption, post-harvest losses and landings from illegal gears which are often missing in the official estimates. Primary data was collected using electronic questionnaires in various fish landing sites in July 2020 while secondary data was sourced from latest surveys on fish stocks, catches and fishing effort in the lake. Results indicate that fish catches amounted to 151,002mt, which implies 1.6 times the official estimates, and that Total annual Fishing Revenue (TFR) was USD 297,172,579.39 which was 1.9 times higher than published statistics. Further, a small-scale fisher was found to earn a daily wage of USD 17.6, inclusive of the value of auto-consumption, under-sized fish and other unsold catch which are usually unreported. We recommend a review of official fisheries statistics in order to correct under-valuation in small-scale fisheries and to re-adjust the management cost recovery and revenue allocation frame-work in the fisheries sub-sector.