Fisherfolk suffer as Lake Victoria water level rises

It started as splashed waters wetting the floors and walls of houses near the shorelines of Lake Victoria.

Jacob Owino, a fisherman on Remba Island in Suba North constituency, says they thought strong waves had thrashed their houses.

His neighbours also complained of spillage of lake waters into their houses. In his 36 years of fishing on the island, Owino, 58, says they have never experienced such an incident.

After three days, more houses were flooded and some properties destroyed.

Owino says they realised the water level was rising after some houses next to the lake started getting submerged.

The situation grew gradually to a level where several people on Remba Island were getting displaced from their houses.

“There was a day we woke up and found about 20 fishing boats destroyed by water. Many fish bandas and boat-docking areas were also covered by water,” Owino says.

The advancement in water levels could be visible after every two-three days. He says the waters started displacing them in December.

Currently, the lake waters have overflown by more than 70m from the previously dry and riparian lands along the lake shorelines.

In Remba alone, at least 2,000 people have been displaced. They've sought refuge at relatives' houses in the mainland.

“Since I started staying here in 1984, I have never seen such a calamity,” Owino says. “More than 200 houses have been destroyed by the water backflow on this island."

Owino is among the many fishermen whose lives have been upended by the gradual and consistently rising water levels.

He says more than 120 fishermen on the island have lost their boats to the rising waters.

“Several boats have developed cracks because waters push them off the docking areas. Boats hit hard surfaces and split,” he says.

Mbita main fish banda is flooded with water due to rising Lake Victoria water levels. Fishermen cannot access their fish cooling plant at the banda
Image: ROBERT OMOLLO

FISHING DISRUPTED

Lake Victoria beach management units chairman Tom Guda says the catastrophe has interrupted fishing and business activities in the lake.

He says fishing in Homa Bay, Migori, Kisumu, Siaya and Busia counties has reduced.

Guda says many landing sites and areas for drying fish and fishing nets are no longer accessible, with Homa Bay, which has 147 beaches hard hit.

Homa Bay island beaches are known for plenty of fish production. They can no longer do so because they are getting submerged.

At least 240 boats and other fishing materials have been destroyed in Homa Bay beaches due to high water levels.

“Fishing and other economic activities previously conducted in the beaches have been paralysed. The accrued loss is over Sh150 million in Homa Bay,” Guda says.

More than 55 per cent of Kisumu beaches have been evacuated due to flooding. These include Dunga, Kichinjio, Nduru, Oseth, Arongo, Nyamarwaka, Nyanja and Sango-Rota.

“Tourism operations in hotels within the beaches have been thwarted. Many hotels and restaurants are deserted because they are marooned by floods,” Guda says.

In Migori, Migingo Island, which has been at the centre of conflict between Kenyan and Ugandan fishermen because of fish produce, is being swallowed by water.

Guda says Aluru Island and 18 out of 26 beaches on the mainland also risk being submerged.

More than 5,000 people have been affected at the beaches, while some 400 families are camping at schools after their homes were submerged.

“This is threatening the livelihoods of thousands of families who depend on fishing. The floods have left many more homeless,” he says.

In Siaya, the worst-hit islands include Ndeda, Siungu, Oyamo, Mageta, Saga, Sifu and Magare, where fish landing sites are submerged. Beaches in Busia have also been flooded.

Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo and Kenya Red Cross Homa Bay coordinator Samuel Omondi display donations to islanders affected by rising lake Victoria water levels on Remba Island.
Image: ROBERT OMOLLO

IMPACT AND CAUSES

“More than Sh500 million has been lost since the lake water levels began to rise. The displaced people are camping in churches, while a majority are stranded with nowhere to go,” Guda says.

Homa Bay Agriculture executive Aguko Juma says the rising water levels have hampered the safe handling of fish.

“Bandas where fish are weighed are filled with water,” Juma says. “It forces fishermen to carry the catch to different places, which may dirtify the fish.”

The executive says land conflicts have also increased along the lake after normal boat landing sites went underwater.

“Many fishermen have encroached alternative private lands to dock their boats, dry their omena and fishing nets,” he says.  

Ali Said Matano, executive secretary of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, says the lake waters have increased by 2.5m above sea level.

This means riparian lands that lie below that elevation are subjected to flooding due to excess water.

“The increased water volumes have caused a number of islands to get submerged. Floods have pushed people out of their homes and destroyed crops,” Matano says.

Nairobi University lecturer and climatologist Clifford Omondi blames the rising water levels on climate change.

He says emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere cause global warming, which generates rising temperatures in the sea and lake waters.

The high temperatures on water surfaces cause too much evaporation hence the abnormally high rainfall.

Omondi says the effect started in October last year. He says continuous warming of the atmosphere depletes the ozone layer and results in too much and unpredictable rains.   

“The high flooding we’re witnessing today is due to anomalous rainfall. The lake region is receiving convectional rains because of depletion of the O-zone layer,” Omondi says.

Lake Victoria receives its waters from at least 17 rivers across Eastern Africa with only one outlet, which is River Nile.

Rivers channelling their waters to the lake in Kenya include Nzoia, Yala, Nyando, Sondu Miriu and Migori. Outside Kenya, there are rivers Mara, Bukora, Katanga and Kagera.

Omondi says high rainfall has made the rivers and their tributaries to channel more volumes of waters into the lake than the amount it discharges.

The imbalance of the lake waters between inflow and outflow has also been caused by the expansion of Owen Falls Dam on River Nile in Uganda.

The Ugandan government is enlarging the dam for more production of hydroelectric power.

“The dam reduces the speed and volume of waters being discharged by the river. The blocked water flows back to the lake,” he says.

Climatologist Clifford Omondi
Image: ROBERT OMOLLO

CARE FOR HABITAT

Studies found that Lake Victoria has suffered siltation due to destruction of the environment. Cutting down of trees interferes with soil cover on land surfaces.

Omondi says the lake water is nowadays coloured due to foreign sediments washed downstream.

Human activities like sand harvesting near the lake shorelines and destruction of Mau forest contribute to more deposition of debris during runoff.

“Lake Victoria is a shallow and continuous accumulation of sediments makes its water levels to rise,” Omondi says.

The don says the rising in water levels of Lake Victoria is not new. It was also observed between 1961 and 1962. The phenomenon recurred in 1997 and 1998.

He says the previous increase in water levels were due to flooding and excessive rains. El Niño rains hit the country in 1997-1998.

“The government should prepare to handle such phenomena whenever they occur. We’re likely to see a similar situation after eight to 10 years,” Omondi says.

The climatologist urges residents to observe weather changes and avoid settling in riparian lands.

He urges people to engage in environmentally friendly activities to avoid more damage.

“Let people abide by guidelines given by organisations concerned with weather and environment,” he says.