Aquatic biodiversity of Lake Victoria Basin.

Abstract

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa, with the largest freshwater fishery in the world. There are nine main affluent river basins (Sio, Nzoia, Yala, Nyando, Sondu-Miriu, Awach, Kuja, Mara, and Kagera), and one surface outlet, the River Nile. The basin has extensive wetlands and small water bodies, which have (or had) a hydrological connection with Lake Victoria and therefore constitute potential “refugia” for biotic and genetic diversity from the main lake. The biological diversity in these waters is known to be exceptional both in number of species and in their endemism. While the ecosystem changes have been documented, causes of these changes remain uncertain due to lack of basic data on the abundance and diversity of the biota. Through the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP), the three riparian states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, with assistance from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the International Development Agency (IDA) have collectively