During the period February to June 2020, heavy rainfall caused increases in levels and flooding in many lakes in East Africa. This coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. These calamities affected ecosystems and livelihoods, especially of fishers who depend on fisheries as their only source of livelihood. This study examined the effects of COVID-19 and flooding on the major inland capture fisheries in Kenya to illustrate the effect of such calamities on vulnerable communities to guide interventions. Socioeconomic data were collected across the fish value chains during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic and flooding in Kenya from May to early June 2020. The measures put in place to contain COVID-19 pandemic notably dusk to dawn curfew (66%) and lock-downs (28%) in major cities that act as main fish markets were cited as the main factors that influenced fishing and fishing trade. Negative consequences reported included livelihood losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. Reduced fishing time and trips as well as a decline in consumables such as boat fuel resulted in low fish catches. Although COVID-19 pandemic affected livelihoods, the fish stocks benefited from reduction in fishing effort. Similarly flooding led to livelihood and material losses but positively impacted on stocks through expansion of fish breeding and nursery areas. The respondents recommended that governments should have disaster preparedness programs in place to address such calamities. There is also need for more detailed research on calamities that are increasing in frequency to provide information and data to guide policy and interventions.

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Fisheries management uses important fish market information and information from Communication Technology (ICT) to improve fish trade by identifying inefficiencies, inequity and post‐harvest losses. The current study reports fisheries output using ICT at major landing sites and markets in Kenya and Uganda from the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) Enhanced Fish Market Information Service (EFMIS) database for 2009 – 2017. Catch assessment survey data validated the use of market data in drawing conclusions. Regional Frame Survey data provided information before EFMIS, enabling comparisons of fish trade costings. The average quantity of fish traded in Kenya depended on seasons of active lake fishing, which occurs in January – March and August – October, while Uganda had an irregular pattern associated with fish trade throughout the year. The quantity of fish traded weekly depended on the average price of fish. Lower sales margins during the EFMIS project showed the merits of information sharing using ICT platforms for efficient and equitable fish trade. Such evaluation of fish market information is useful in fish trade policy formulation and for fisheries management and ecological sustainability in rural and peri‐urban communities.

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The use of socioeconomic and cultural parameters in the assessment and biomonitoring of ecological health of aquatic ecosystems is still in its nascent stages. Yet, degradation of aquatic ecosystems has elicited concerns because of its bearing on social and economic development of communities consisting of marginalized and vulnerable groups, as well as the expenses and technical knowhow involved in biomonitoring approaches. In this study we developed a Citizen-based Index of Ecological Integrity (CIEI) for assessing and monitoring the ecological status of vulnerable African riverine ecosystems in Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya. The hypothesis is that the citizen-led socioeconomic and cultural metrics provides a more cost-effective broad view of ecosystems than other biomonitoring methods in the assessment of water resources in the developing countries. Selected rivers in the southern part of Lake Victoria (Rivers Kuja and Sondu-Mirui) recorded the highest CIEI than their northern counterparts (Rivers Yala and Nzoia) that had moderate to poor ecosystem integrities. The study demonstrates the usefulness of this approach to elucidate the source of impairment, the extent of impacts and provide a justifiable rationale to advice policy makers on developing guidelines for conservation and management of aquatic ecosystems. We recommend for adoption and promotion of the CIEI perspective in areas where such approaches appear defensible for the assessment of catchment-wide practices in areas with robust indigenous knowledge to provide a broad-view of the ecological health of the aquatic ecosystem.

Freshwater catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and marine catfish (Galeichthys feliceps) were smoked using Acacia raddiana (Moriela), Prosopis julifora ("Mathenge"), Azadirachta indica (Neem) and Cocos nucifera (Coconut husks) in view to assess and compare the organoleptic scores-taste, appearance and overall acceptability of the smoked fish. Insect and mould attack was also monitored during storage. The scores for taste for marine catfish were better than that for freshwater catfish irrespective of the plant materials used. Taste for freshwater catfish and marine catfish smoked with Acacia was significantly different (p<0.05). Appearance and overall acceptability for freshwater catfish smoked with Acacia, Prosopis (Mathenge), Neem, and Coconut husks was better than marine catfish though not significantly different (p<0.05). The scores for taste, appearance and overall acceptability for marine catfish smoked with Acacia, Prosopis, Neem and Coconut husks were not significantly different (p<0.05). Acacia had better taste, appearance and overall acceptability scores. For freshwater catfish smoked with Acacia, Prosopis, Neem and Coconut husks, scores for taste, appearance and overall acceptability were not significantly different (p<0.05). Insects were first detected in the marine catfish smoked by Acacia and Prosopis on day 35, 48 and 56 recording score 1, 2 and 3 respectively. For Coconut husk and Neem smoked marine catfish, insects appeared on day 48 and 56 with scores of 1 and 2 respectively. In the freshwater catfish smoked by Prosopis, insects were first noticed on day 35 and 48 with scores of 2 and 3. For those smoked with Acacia and Coconut husks the first insect attack was on day 48 with a score of 1 and scores of 2 and 3 respectively on day 56. The first insect attack on Neem smoked catfish was day 56. Mould was first detected in the marine catfish smoked with Prosopis and Coconut husks on day 35 and on Acacia and Neem on day 48 of storage. In the freshwater catfish, mould was first detected in the fish smoked by Acacia, Prosopis and Coconut husks on day 14 of storage and on fish smoked with Neem on day 56. The Neem tree delays insect and mould attack in smoked fish during storage. The percentage moisture recorded on day 0, 14, 21, 28, 35, 48 till 56 correspond to days when mould was noticed on the fish during storage and it increased with storage time. The 4 trees can be used in marine and freshwater catfish smoking for human consumption.

The present study demonstrates the application of a multi‐metric Phytoplankton Index of Biotic Integrity (PIBI) approach for ranking of major river catchments in the Kenyan part of Lake Victoria on the basis of their pollution status. The index utilizes water quality and zooplankton data, phytoplankton diversity, abundance and attributes, as well as literature information. The rivers were sampled from 2016 to 2018 during the wet season (March) and dry season (July). The separation power of the Mann–Whitney U test (p < .05) qualified eight discriminant metrics for phytoplankton samples into a scoring system of 1, 3 and 5, based on high, fair and slight deviation from the best site, respectively, in development of the final PIBI. The Kuja and Sondu‐Miriu rivers had the highest PIBI, signifying least pollution influence on the lake. In contrast, the Yala and Nzoia rivers exhibited the lowest PIBI, representing the catchments with a higher pollution influence on the lake. The fair to poor integrity classes for the major river catchments in the region signified a deteriorating lakescape. The present study presents the preliminary results of using phytoplankton metrics for development of the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) approach in the region as a decision‐making support tool for the effective management and sustainable use of water resources in the lake basin.

The influence of lipid content and pretreatment methods (blanching and brining) on proteins conformation in fish (Capelin, Mallotus v illosus ) during drying and smoking were assessed. Soluble protein fractions were examined through changes in salt‐soluble proteins, sulfhydryl groups, and disulfide bonds contents. The salt level and moisture content were also evaluated. Conformational changes in muscle protein were significant ( p < 0.05) after blanching and during initial drying when moisture content and dryness rates were high. Salt‐soluble proteins and total sulfhydryl groups contents reduced, whereas available sulfhydryl group and disulfide bonds contents intensified. The conformational changes were explained by muscle protein denaturation and aggregation ascribed to high temperature and dehydration during processing. The study reports fish protein denaturation to have reduced protein solubility as well as the nutritional value (loss of thermolabile compounds) and yield after smoking. More so, protein aggregation that was significantly ( p < 0.05) higher in dried blanched fish could have reduced the dried fish sensory quality. Blanching pretreatment is thus not suitable for commercial capelin drying. Lipids were found to have protective effect against fish protein conformation.