Fishing on the fresh waters of Lake Victoria is one of the most important undertakings. The sector contributes 7% of regional economy.
It is believed that fisheries activities in the region leads in terms of foreign exchange earnings contribution to the region's economy.
According to 2011 frame survey, the Region had a total of 52,942 fishermen with 14,480 fishing boats and canoes.
There were 174,151 gillnets, 4759 fishnets for “dagaa” (Rastrineobola argentius), 3,379,474 longline hooks, 7,080 Handline hooks and 4,127 monofilaments.
Fish Farming
Fish farming has been an upcoming activity in the recent times due to decreasing fish output from traditional sources.
This has been caused by overfishing and mismanagement of waters of the Lake Victoria.
For the period of 4years (2009 – 2011) the region had a total of 128 fish ponds.
Fish Sales About 16,913 tons of fish is exported to European Union (EU) and Far East countries of Japan and Australia.
A total of 426,633.50 tons been sold to other regions within the country and about 6,214.10 tons is consumed locally within the Mwanza region itself.
