FISHING GEARS CHARACTERISTICS AND FISHING EFFORT IN ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF FERGUSON’S GULF IN LAKE TURKANA, KENYA

Lake Turkana fisheries is characterized by widespread use of artisanal gears. Despite the use of artisanal fishing gears in Ferguson’s gulf, the characteristics and fishing effort is not known yet there is reported decline in fish yield. We investigated fishing gears characteristics and fishing effort by sampling 162 fishing gears. This study used descriptive longitudinal research design. Differences in fishing gears characteristics and fishing effort was determined by one way ANOVA and post hoc mean separation by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) significant at α= 0.05. The mean number of nets in beach seine gears (11.39±5.82) was significantly higher than purse seine (7.29±5.55) and gill net gears (4.11±2.83); ANOVA, α= 0.05, F(2,159) = 29.642, p=0.0001. Higher mean mesh sizes were recorded in gill net gears (3.37±0.65 inches); ANOVA, α= 0.05, F(2, 159) = 12.273, p = 0.0001.  Purse seine gears recorded the highest mean number of hauls per day (22.8±1.64) while gill net gears recorded the lowest mean number of hauls (1.39±0.49); ANOVA, α= 0.05 F(2, 159) = 4139.39, p=0.0001). The longest mean time between hauls in minutes was recorded in gill net gears (934.44±635.04); ANOVA, α= 0.05 F(2, 159) = 111.594, p=0.0001. The differences in fishing effort and characteristics implied lack of uniformity and varied selectivity. The highest mean number of nets and shortest time between hauls recorded in purse seine gears implied high fishing effort. Knowledge of characteristics of fishing gear and fishing effort is critical for management of Lake Turkana fisheries.