Sammendrag
Shared natural resources, such as fisheries, need joint management and conservation measures in the quest of sustainable utilization. Lake Victoria, one of the world’s largest freshwater fisheries, is shared by three countries - Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania - and managed jointly through the Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO), Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO). The fisheries face several challenges, including IUU fishing, overcapacity, climate change, management challenges regarding unharmonized policies, laws, and regulations, and limited funding to the sector to implement necessary management and conservation measures. This qualitative study seeks to understand the influence the LVFO has on outputs, outcomes, and impacts, with a special interest in the alignment of laws, regulations, and policies in the Member States, coupled with desired behavioral change at the national levels. The main point of interest is the influence the LVFO has on national enforcement levels, and how differences in enforcement levels in the three Member States can affect the relationship between them. The thesis uses different data collection methods to analyze the research question(s). Through the analysis of the case, the thesis shows that the influence the RFMO has on its members’ national levels of enforcement remains limited caused by a range of factors such as limited funding, national interests, and low implementing capacity at all levels. It is recommended that policies follow up- to-date science for appropriate fisheries management.