Source: allAFrica.com
Visitors to Kisumu are marvelling at the clear waters of Lake Victoria. For four months, the lake weed, hyacinth, has migrated from the lake shores due to what experts attribute to strong winds that came with the short rains. But the fisher folk who are more conversant with the waters are not in a celebratory mood. Fish stocks too, appear to be dwindling.Among the groups that are mostly affected by the consequences of the drop in amount of fish are women who are involved in the fish trade.

 They can often be spotted at the different beaches every morning, waiting for the youthful fishermen to arrive with the day's catch before the scramble begins.

US Peace Corps volunteer Dominic Mucklow, who has been working with the fishing community in Nyando District for the last two years, said there was need to address the rising HIV prevalence rates that are coming about due to the overdependence of women on the fishermen.

According to Mr Mucklow, this can be achieved if the women are trained and equipped to embrace entrepreneurship.

"It is great to talk about a role for ladies in the new Kenya, but they need economic power. They need to be behind business and take up roles that were traditionally considered only for men," he said.

To that effect, the US Peace Corps formed the No Sex for Fish women group for women involved in the fish trade, and initiated a project to make women own the fishing trade process.

A pilot project has already seen the donation of six boats to the group of 10 women drawn from three beaches across the district. Each boat costs Sh75,000.

"It is Peace Corp's belief that such initiatives, though minimal, will eventually gain popularity and sustainability to reduce the number of women engaging in the sex-for-fish trade," Mr Mucklow said.

Mrs Jostine Obura, who is a fish trader at Nduru Beach in Nyando disclosed that the sex-for-fish culture, locally referred to as jaboya has been rampant despite the increase in rates of HIV infections reflected on landing beaches in the region.

She said some of the women gave plastic bags to the fishermen as they went into the waters, and when they returned, some of the best catch would be set aside for them, stashed in the bags.

"When the young men who go fishing return, the fish can easily belong to you if you are willing to pay in kind," Mrs Obura said.

According to a 2009 Kenya Aids Research and Study Committee report, fishing beaches in Nyanza have a documented HIV prevalence rate of 30 per cent.

The situation is further complicated by the fishermen's frequent movement between landing sites on a daily and seasonal basis. They are estimated to be contributing up to 25 per cent of new infections in Nyanza Province.

But to the women, this is an inevitable means of survival without which they would not be able to take good care of their families.

With the drop in amount of fish available in the lake over the years, it is feared by researchers that the culture may continue to set deeper roots as the demand for fish keeps growing beyond the available supplies each passing day.

Mrs Obura, a mother of 10, says that the culture could be eradicated gradually if the women had a means to own the fish.

"The biggest challenge to women engaged in fishing activities is in acquiring money, since they will need at least Sh100,000 to buy a boat and fishing gear," she said.

By owning such equipment, the women would be able to be in charge of the fishing process, either by hiring out the boats to fishermen or employing the fishermen who can be paid on commission, depending on the amount of fish they catch in a day.

"Single women and widows are the most vulnerable since they need a means to provide for their children. They are left to depend on somebody who might end up infecting them with HIV," she said.

The pilot project aiming at encouraging women entrepreneurship will be overseen by the Victoria Institute for Research on Environment and Development (Vired).

Prof Okeyo Owuor, an environmentalist who is a director of Vired, said entrepreneurship could be the solution to the sex-for-fish culture among the fishing communities.

"We want to ensure that the women have enough resources to take care of themselves in order to counter the dependency syndrome that makes them more vulnerable," Prof Owuor said.

Members of the women's group will be expected to raise funds from the profits earned through managing the six boats, and the proceeds will be used in expanding the project to reach more women involved in fish trade around Lake Victoria.

The Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization estimates the number of fish landing sites in the province to be about 316, with over 44,000 fisher folk.

The disappearance of the water hyacinth and hippo grass that have made their source of income a living nightmare over the years, the fishermen believe, is only seasonal and has resulted from the wind's change of direction.

Winds blowing

"They are bound to return once the winds start blowing them back," a fisherman at Ogal beach, Mr Otieno Agola, says.

Senior wildlife and environmental conservationist Arthur Mahasi attributes the current clear condition of the lake to the torrential rains that have been experienced lately in the lake region.

According to Mr Mahasi, the rains that occur with strong winds have caused turbulence in the lake, blowing off the weeds, but he warns that this is something that has been witnessed before.

"This is a temporary situation caused by turbulence. The torrential rains have caused a strong flow of water from rivers into the lake and they are coming in with very strong moisturised winds," Mr Mahasi said.

Before the weeds came about to contribute to the dwindling fish stocks in the lake, the fishing community had already started bearing the brunt of pollution of the lake through industrial and domestic wastes spilling into it, as well as the use of illegal fishing gear.

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