18 
Bulletin of the EANHS 29(1/2) 
to have heavily impacted the breeding zones and patterns 
of several fish species, leading to then population 
decline 
Over exploitation of the lakes resources is not 
restricted to fisheries alone. The reclamation, through 
destruction and clearance, of swamps for development 
along the shores of Lake Victoria is cause for concern 
When talking of swamplands around Lake Victoria 
basin, as elsewhere, the main question is “do we need 
swamp lands?" I am not committing myself to providing 
an answer to this disturbing question, but I am instead 
dwelling on some vital questions that arise from the 
many answers that arc likely to come from this question 
It is sad to note that swamps have been historically 
treated, not as wvtlands. but supposedly as wastelands 
which should be “reclaimed" for "better" use However, 
swamps serve many purposes, including the very 
important one of controlling silt, a nutrient inflow into 
the lake. and. by acting as silt sieves, regulating the 
amount of pollution getting into the water body 
Done in the name of development, to accommodate 
the increasing population and provide land for 
agricultural expansion, swamp clearing has increased 
massively A ease of conflict arising between 
development and the healthy ecology of Lake Victoria, 
is manifested clearly by the swampland reclamation 
project at the Yala basin, by the Lake Basin Development 
Authority. Although it boasts a lot of economic and. by 
extension, political, benefits, the reclamation of this 
swamp, already underway and projected to cover an 
area of approximately 11,500 hectares comes at an 
expensive and painful environmental and ecological 
price 
The reclaimed land is economically beneficial 
because it is used to grow crops like sorghum, hybrid 
maize and mangoes Other ideal crops include rice, 
cassava, groundnuts, yams and sugarcane. Much as they 
may be economically desirable, some agricultural 
developments, like the introduction of sugarcane 
production within the reclaimed areas, may not be 
justifiable for the country in question For the past few 
years, the Kenyan market has been flooded with cheap 
imported sugar from foreign count ncs and this has Im 
most sugar factories in western Kenya hard. Sugarcane 
is already going to waste m farmlands, and ihc factories 
arc in fact down on their knees. It would, therefore, 
appear that development for this use is completely 
unjustifiable in comparison to importance of this 
swampland to the lakes ecosystem 
Lake Victoria’s swamps, like any other tropical 
swamps, arc very productive ecosystems that affect the 
health of the adjacent water body. It is noteworthy that 
the biomass produced in swamps is un indispensable 
element in the complex food chain within Lake Victoria 
itself. These swamplands are the natural habitats ot 
many species of plants and animals, which may 
disappear in the name of development. These include 
aquatic plants like the sedges {Cyperus cladium and 
papyrus Cyperus papyrus) and grasses {Vossia sp . 
Mi scat hid i urn sp. and Londetia sp.) 
Bird species that inhabit the Lake Victoria swamp 
lands include Papyrus Gonolck Lanlanus mufumbiri. 
Black Headed Gonolek L erythrogasier. Papyrus 
Yellow Warbler Chloropeta gracilirosiris. and Crow ned 
Crane Balearica pavomna, to mention but a tew These 
arc swampland specialists, hence their endemism io this 
specific ecosystem In addition, swamps are home to 
animals like the rare sitatunga Tragelaphus spekei. the 
bushbuck Tragelaphus scnpius, recdbuck Redunca 
re dune a and the waicrbuck Kobus ellipsypnmnus. all 
of which may just be on their way to extinction as a 
result of swampland reclamation. 
Another threat to Lake Victoria, with serious 
consequences to endemic species, is the introduction 
of the Nile perch Lairs nilolicus This has been 
considered by some authorities as an act of “biological 
pollution" because the Nile perch is a predator, preying 
harshly and extensively on the indigenous fish specie* 
of the lake, leading to a substantial decrease in their 
numbers within the lake nils fact, however, has been 
lost on observers and stakeholder* .dike because of the 
increasing catch and the subsequent handsome prices 
that Nile perch fetch in both local and international 
markets, boosting the local economy 
While the seeming never-ending controversy over 
ihc effects of its introduction into the lake in the sixties, 
continues, tt cannot be denied that the introduction of 
Nile perch has had a detrimental effect on the 
biodiversity of lake Victoria It has almost eliminated 
haplochrominc* (of which 200 species exist in the lake 
and nowhere else) and the endemic tilapia Oreochmmis 
esculenia This accusation i* further fuelled by- the 
evidence that Urge individuals of Nile perch are reported 
to he predominantly feeding on the young i»r their own 
species, suggesting that ihc number of indigenous fish 
species has declined to a critical level. Other species 
facing threats from the Nile perch arc catfishcs. 
mudfishes and cyprinids which arc increasingly 
becoming rare. 
For die-hard conservationists, the Nile perch menace 
doc* not end with the threat to the extinction of the 
lake's indigenous fish species only. A school of thought 
argues that the Nile perch has led to deforestation on a 
number ol islands It argues that because of its large 
size and oily nature. Nile perch cannot be sun-dried, 
forcing the local people incut down trees and use ihctn 
to smoke the ftsh-an outright ad of deforestation 
Either way the Nile perch debate, largely ignored by 
the press* seems to be an irreversible situation and it is 
only a matter of lime before it shifts to land based and 
by extension social issues concerning Lake Victoria 
rhe foregoing threats all boil down to a single major 
problem "threats to Lake Victoria as a common 
heritage." and a question “For how long will we allow 
this destruction to continue?” The effects of these 
threats, are unacceptable and for iJtke Victoria, the 
horoscope of tunc shows that tt is at the sunset of its 
existence if quick action is not undertaken now to salvage 
the horrible situation. 
Over and above all. Lake Victoria as earlier 
mentioned, is important for provision of water for 
domestic, agricultural and industrial uses Water is the 
