Governance and Fisheries Co-management on Lake Victoria: Challenges to the Adaptive Governance Approach

Fisheries co-management approaches have been widely adopted internationally in response to the ineffectiveness of government to prevent the devastation of fish stocks witnessed across the world. Increasingly, the nature and performance of governance within fisheries has come to be seen as essential, providing a framework within which fisheries can be more sustainably and effectively managed. This paper identifies how improving governance on Lake Victoria is supported in the design of co-management through mechanisms including representation, inclusiveness and the integration of nested co-management structures and processes within existing structures of government. Questions remain, however, regarding the capacity of governance in the lake fisheries to be responsive and so the paper identifies challenges in a situation of limited resources and capacity for an adaptive governance agenda to be pursued.