Lake Victoria is suffocating under hyacinth that has undermined fishing activities in Nyanza.
Chemicals had been introduced to the lake to kill the invasive weed but was not successful.
Researchers are blaming the rapid spread of the weed to pollution arising from fish feeds, sewage, detergents and fertiliser.
Fishermen and investors that rely on Lake Victoria have been urged to adopt cage fishing in order to counter obstacles brought about by the water hyacinth menace.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett said research is ongoing to find a solution to deal with the weed choking Africa’s largest fresh water body.
The lake is suffocating under hyacinth that has undermined fishing activities in the region as the fish choke and die from insufficient supply of oxygen.
“We are now finding other uses of the hyacinth. We have research and other investors who are trying to covert hyacinth into fertilizer that would be another way to ensure we remove hyacinth progressively and free the waters of the weed,” said Mr Bett when he spoke to Nation yesterday.
The CS, who was attending the World Fisheries Day at Shimoni, said chemicals had been introduced to kill the invasive weed but that it was not successful.
Despite numerous interventions, the plant has continued to invade the lake, even going as far as to spread to sites where farmers have set up fish cages.
Fish harvested from cages in Lake Victoria. File Photo | Angeline Oketch | NMG
Before the hyacinth invasion, cage aquaculture had become the new way to rear fish in the region as farmers were able to keep thousands of them while still in their natural environment.
However, even as fish farmers cry foul, researchers are blaming the rapid spread of the weed on pollution arising from fish feeds, sewage, detergents and fertiliser.
In February, Dr Christopher Aura, the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute director in Kisumu, said that when fish cages are covered by the weed, they become excessively rich in nitrogen and phosphorus and are prone to low oxygen.
Therefore, this leads to the death of fish in their thousands.
