Livelihood Coping Strategies among Artisanal Fishing Households on the Shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue V, May 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Livelihood Coping Strategies among Artisanal Fishing Households on the Shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya

Jared Linus Magego¹, Christopher Obel Gor², Zackary Kinaro^3
1School of Education, Humanities & Social Sciences, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science & Technology, Kenya
²School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science & Technology, Kenya
³School of Spatial Planning & Natural Resource Management, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science & Technology, Kenya

Abstract:-Developing countries are endowed with abundant natural resources. They are also more reliant on natural resources given their limited technology and inadequate infrastructural development. Despite the abundance of such resources, many rural communities are struggling over access to natural resources including fish. Fishing households are faced with ever-declining fish catches and combined effort of overexploitation. The impacts have been severe, especially among small scale fishing households. Many artisanal fisher folks have lost their mainstream source of livelihoods and have had to struggle with meeting their daily subsistence.Onedominant sources of fishing livelihoods have either collapsed or proving unsustainable for manyhouseholds. Fishing households are adapting to the declining livelihoods by diversifying and complementing their traditional fish-based livelihoods. Furthermore,the available formal institutions either facilitate or impede full realization of the potential of other sectors. The study examined the coping strategies of artisanal fishing households living on the shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya amidst declining fish stocks. It concludes that many small-scale fishing households have adopted various livelihood strategies such as increased effort in fishing, migration, reliance on remittances, subsistence farming, targeting fish species, sand harvesting, wage employment and localized credit mobilization in form of merry-go-rounds.The study recommends that the government needs toput in place sustainable livelihood opportunities to assist fishing households along the shores of Lake Victoria to diversify their survival.

Keywords: Artisanal, coping strategies, fishing, household, livelihood, Lake Victoria

I. INTRODUCTION

Rural communities have diverse strategies that employ to cope with their vulnerable situations. For example, many households suffer from low income, environmental stresses such as floods, drought, diseases and overall poverty. Small- scale households,fully dependent on aquatic resources are always at the greatest risk given their limited livelihood alternatives. A study conducted by Asravor (2018), indicates that fishing households employ temporal livelihood strategies which are not sustainable because they lack adequate livelihood alternatives. They, therefore, depend on fishing and farming.

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