National Geographic: Fishermen fight to survive on the world's second largest lake by Alec Jacobson

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National Geographic: Fishermen fight to survive on the world's second largest lake

alec jacobson

May 4, 2019

Location: Uganda

National Geographic just published a story that I've been following for quite a while about the fishermen on Lake Victoria. When I went to Kasensero, Uganda in 2013 and 2015, fishermen were concerned that they were catching fewer and smaller fish. Many expected that the commons would be tragically depleted by 2020. But, in 2017, President Yoweri Museveni deployed a military force to the lake, ostensibly to crack down on illegal fishing and corruption. The National Geographic Society gave me a grant to go back to Kasensero last fall to figure out what kind of an effect that crackdown was having.

Fishermen fight to survive on the world's second largest lake
Lake Victoria supports hundreds of thousands of people, but overuse caused fish populations to collapse. Uganda sent in soldiers—but has it worked?

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Alec Jacobson