Sharing Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria is dying. Pollution from industry, sewage, agriculture,deforestation, climate change and over-fishing are all key elements in the demise of Africa’s largest freshwater lake. Every day, an estimated 2 million fishermen sail out in search of the coveted Nile Perch, responsible for a multi-million dollar fishing industry vital to landlocked Uganda and neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania, all of whom export their fish to the European Union and beyond. As fishstocks decline, the East African fishermen are forced to go farther towards the centre of the lake in order to catch their fish.In an attempt to reach some of the richest remaining deep-water fishing zones,fishermen are turning to Lake Victoria’s 3,000 islands, and none more so than Migingo Island. This small, one-acre island (about half the size of a football pitch) is located in the border confluence of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Territorial ownership of the island was claimed by both Uganda and Kenya, until July 2009 when an official survey team found that the island is 510 metres (1,700 ft) east of the Kenya / Uganda border. The Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni conceded the sovereignty of the island claiming that « The island belongs to Kenya…. » However the tension escalated when he added; »…but the water belongs to Uganda. »

Photos and text by Andrew McLeish/Orizon/LightMediation

For more Pictures and Informations please contact – Thierry Tinacci – LightMediation Photo Agency – email: thierry[AT]lightmediation.com – mobile: +33.6.61.80.57.21

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