Abstract:
The study is about An Assessment of the Beach Management Units in combating illegal fishing with specific reference to Bukoba District. The aim of the study was to identify factors leading to ineffective performance of Beach Management Units in combating illegal fishing in Lake Victoria, Tanzania. Ninety six (96) respondents were interviewed using structured questionnaires also information collected from a fishery officials at District and Regional level by focused group discussion. Descriptive data were analyzed by the descriptive analysis method and SPSS 20 version and presented in frequencies. The findings revealed that the performance of the BMUs is poor because of, lack of boats for patrol (fishery patrol vessel), lack of source of revenue, difficult to get information about illegal fishing, BMUs leaders were found to be part of illegal fishing, also intimidation to BMUs’ leaders by big fishers who practiced illegal fishing and lastly voluntarism nature of work demoralizes the BMUs leaders to concentrate in combating illegal fishing. Given the above mentioned reasons fueling illegal fishing, this study recommennds local and Central Government to support the BMUs to improve its performance to achieve the sustainable and equitable exploitation of fishery resources. The basic support recommended include: Adequate funds to support their operations including the purchase of the fishery patrol vessel, awareness raising/sensitization to local authorities and community living along Lake Victoria shores on the importance of these Community-Based Organizations in combating illegal fishing, the impact of illegal fishing and how to provide information to the BMUs leadership about illegal fishing.
