The Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO) is a specialized institution of the East African Community (EAC) whose mandate is to coordinate the management and development of fisheries and aquaculture resources in the EAC region.
The LVFO was established by a Convention in 1994 and registered as a regional fisheries management organization under the UN Charter of the Food and Agriculture Organization (CAP 102).
The idea of having an institution to coordinate the management of fisheries resources in the EAC region was conceived way back in 1928 and centered on the riparian states of Lake Victoria (Kenya, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania). This idea gave rise to the establishment of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Service and later the East African Fresh Water Fisheries Research Organization from 1947 until 1977 when the old East African Community collapsed. The FAO sub-Committee of Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture then took over the coordination of the Lake Victoria fisheries, leading to the formation of the LVFO in 1994.
The Convention establishing the LVFO was reviewed in 2016, and expanded the scope and mandate of the organization to include Burundi and Rwanda to the original three countries; extended its focus beyond Lake Victoria into covering all water bodies in the EAC region; and gave aquaculture more prominence as a priority area of focus in addition to capture fisheries.
The Convention for the establishment of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization was signed on 30th June 1994 and entered into force on 24th May 1996. It was amended on 12th November, 1998 and on 29th January, 2016.
To read more about this Convention, please CLICK HERE to download.
