1. OVERVIEW OF INLAND FISHERIES IN EASTERN, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

This section provides an overview of inland fisheries in the 11 countries under consideration. It focuses on basic fisheries and socio-economic indicators, the general evolution of fish production by country and water bodies, and provides an overview of the fisheries of major shared lakes.

1.1 Basic fisheries and socio-economic indicators

The region encompasses the Great Lakes of East Africa and a number of smaller water bodies. Table 1 indicates the relative importance of inland waters for each of the countries concerned. Overall, inland waters cover an area of approximately 305 000 km², representing about 4% of total surface area, significantly more than the surface of Uganda. For some countries like Malawi, Uganda, Burundi and Zambia, inland waters constitute a significant proportion of total surface area.

Table 1 Relative importance of inland waters by country

Source: Bonzon and Horemans (1988).

The economies of the countries concerned are essentially based on agricultural production and related industries. Basic socio-economic indicators presented in Table 2 show that their GDP (gross domestic product) per caput mostly varies between US$ 100 and 350 per year, with significantly higher figures for Zambia and Zimbabwe (US$ 400 and 600 respectively). Life expectancy and infant mortality figures are quite similar for all countries concerned, reflecting a generally low level of development, with limited medical care and often severe malnutrition problems.

In this context, the fisheries of the region offer both a relatively cheap source of animal protein, and a source of employment and revenue to a significant proportion of the rural population. For the whole region, fish production in 1990 reached the impressive total of 1.2 million tonnes. Allowing for imports and exports of fish products (although data on fish trade are most unreliable, these generally exclude interregional trade) fish supply per caput can be estimated at about 6.5 kg/year. This estimate is to be compared with the overall African average of 8.1 kg/year (Laureti, 1992).

The fisheries sector is also a major source of employment. Primary employment in the sector in 1990 is estimated at 470 000 people, with perhaps three times as many people employed in secondary activities and related services. Overall the sector may therefore employ about 1.8 million people and ensure the livelihood of an estimated 9 million people (based on an average of four dependants per worker). This means that the sector is supporting about 4% of the population for the region as a whole.

Table 2 Basic socio-economic indicators by country

Source: FAO FIPPDAT for population and GDP; ADB (1992).

Information on fish production by country is provided in Table 3. For coastal countries, marine fish production is also included. Table 3 shows fish production around 1990 varying from a few thousand tonnes in Ethiopia and Rwanda, to over 200 000 tonnes in Kenya and Uganda. Tanzania is the major fish producing country of the region with a production of close to 400 000 tonnes.

In value terms and based on ex-vessel prices, total fish production is estimated at close to US$ 400 million. As price data are not very reliable, this figure should be considered as indicative of the relative importance of the sector. As shown in Table 3, ex-vessel prices vary mostly from US$ 200 to 500 per tonne, with an average of US$ 324 t. For Mozambique, reported data are thought to be quite unreliable, and to reflect mostly industrial landings, therefore grossly underestimating production and overestimating average price. Accordingly, production estimates by Tembe (1991) were used, in connection with an estimated ex-vessel price of US$ 500.

Table 3 Total fish production by country

Retail prices are seldom available but are generally 2 to 4 times higher than ex-vessel prices, depending on the extent of processing and marketing activities involved. Assuming an average ratio of 3, the market value of fish production can be estimated at around US$ 1 200 million. This represents only 3.3% of GDP for the region as a whole, but the contribution of the fisheries sector to national GDP is nevertheless significant for some countries such as Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Table 4 provides information on international trade. As indicated before, import-export data generally exclude cross-border trade, although this generally informal trade is important. Overseas exports concern essentially marine fish products, but in recent years increasing amounts of Nile perch fillets from Lake Victoria are being exported. For example, Kenyan exports of Nile perch products reached over 10 000 tonnes in 1991, valued at around US$ 20 million, up from 6 500 tonnes in 1989. Meanwhile Uganda and Tanzania are dramatically increasing their processing capacity to match that of Kenya (Gréboval and Mannini, 1992).

Imports of fish products are limited for most of the countries concerned. (For Mozambique, import figures reflect essentially the local landings of the foreign fleet licensed to operate in its marine waters.) The major exception is Zaire, for which official imports amounted to 117 000 tonnes in 1990, down from significantly higher amounts in the mid 1980s. In addition, an important percentage of the catch from its shared lakes is exported (unrecorded) into Zaire by other riparian states: between 40% and 60% for Lakes Albert, Edward, and Mweru-Luapula.

Table 4 Import-export of fisheries products by country
(1990 unless otherwise indicated)

Sources: Laureti (1992) for quantities; FAO FIPPDAT for values.

Overall, the region remains a net importer of fish (around 100 000 t/year). However, one notes a trend toward a reduction of this trade deficit as a result of growing export trade in Nile perch from Lake Victoria, and of a relative decrease in fish imports into Zaire.

Information on fish supply per caput is provided in Table 5 for the countries under consideration. It shows per caput supply of fish to be quite high in Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Zaire, but quite low in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe in particular. As such, per caput supply reflects to a large extent national endowment in fish resources and, to a certain extent, related consumer preferences. In terms of percentage of animal protein supply, fish plays a key nutritional role in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire (around 40%), as well as in Zambia and Burundi (around 25%).

Table 5 Per caput supply of fish by country

Source: Laureti (1992); (*) data adjusted to reflect different production estimates.

The evolution of per caput supply of fish is given in Figure 1 for selected years of reference. Overall, per caput supply decreased from 6.7 kg/year in 1970, to 5.3 in 1980. Since then it increased again to reach 6.5 in 1990.

If compared to similar data for Africa as a whole (6.8, 8.0, and 8.1 kg/year for the three years of reference [Laureti, 1992]), per caput supply is relatively lower in the region under review. Since 1970, fish supply has barely kept pace with population growth, and this in spite of the considerable increase in fish production from Lake Victoria in the 1980s. On the other hand, per caput supply has decreased significantly in Zambia, Zaire and Malawi.

Figure 1 Evolution of per caput fish supply by country (1970–80–90)

Source: Laureti (1992); Table 5 for 1990.

1.2 Evolution of fish production by country and water body

The evolution of fish production in the region is given in Table 6 for the period 1970–1989. Total inland and marine production is seen to have nearly doubled over the last two decades from 680 000 tonnes in 1970 to 1 180 000 tonnes in 1989. This constitutes a significant development and the region has slightly increased its share of total African production (from 18% to 22%).

Table 6 further shows that the production of both the inland and marine sectors has more or less doubled over this period, following a relatively similar pattern: moderate growth in the early 1970s; moderate decline from the late 1970s to early 1980s; and rapid growth since then. This trend generally reflects the evolution of general economic conditions in Africa and illustrates the sensitivity of the fisheries sector to the global economic environment. As shown by Gréboval and Maes (1991), this sensitivity is closely related to the high dependence of the sector on imported inputs (engines, gear, fuel, transports). Table 7 relects the evolution of fish production from the lakes under review for the period 1950–1991.

As illustrated in Figure 2, the main characteristic of the fisheries sector in the region is the dominant contribution of inland fisheries, which represent almost 90% of total production. This situation reflects not only the importance of inland waters, but also the relatively low productivity of the Southwest Indian Ocean waters. For example, the contribution of the marine sector to total production in Kenya and Tanzania is only 5% and 12% respectively, in spite of sizeable coastlines. The only coastal country for which the marine sector is predominent is Mozambique, both because of relative resource endowment and because of the civil war preventing any development of inland fisheries.

Figure 2 Evolution of fish production by type of water body (1970–1989)

Table 6 Evolution of fish production by countries (1970–1989)
(A): Inland Production
(B): Marine Production
(C): Production by Origin

(A): Inland Production (1000 t)

Source: compiled from Gréboval and Fryd (1993); numbers in bold are estimates from the authors.

Source: compiled from Gréboval and Fryd (1993); numbers in bold are estimates from the authors.

Note: “Lakes” in Table 6-C refers to the shared lakes under review; “Lakes %” refers to percentage inland production from shared lakes.

Table 7 Evolution of fish production from shared lakes (1950–1991)

Source: compiled from Gréboval and Fryd (1993)
*) Values in italics corrected to reflect missing data for Tanzania.
**) Values in italics corrected to reflect unrecorded pelagic fishery in Zambia.
***) Values in italics include estimates for Zaire production.

The contribution of the major shared lakes to total inland production is very important, as shown in Figure 2, and is becoming even more so as a result of the tremendous increase in production from Lake Victoria. The shared lakes now represent nearly 80% of total inland production, up from around 50% in the 1970s. With respect to total inland production from Africa as a whole, the share of the region increased slightly from 51% in 1970 to about 55% in 1989. This implies that the major shared lakes of the region now contribute about 40% of total inland production from the continent.