Doctoral defense: Veronica Mpomwenda

Title of thesis:

Challenges and Responses of the Nile Perch fishery to evolving policies and resource Base on Lake Victoria, with emphasis on Uganda

Veronica Mpomwenda will publicly defend her PhD thesis entitled “Challenges and Responses of the Nile Perch Fishery to Evolving Policies and Resource Base on Lake Victoria, with Emphasis on Uganda” on Friday, 16 January 2026, at the University of Iceland, Hátíðasalur (Main Building).

The defence will commence at 1300 hrs and is open to the public.

The opponents are Professor Jeppe Kolding, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, and Professor Mafaniso Hara, Professor of Natural Resource Governance at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape.

The supervisors are Professor Daði Már Kristófersson and Professor. Jón Geir Pétursson, University of Iceland.

About the thesis (Public abstract)

Lake Victoria supports one of the most significant inland fisheries globally, with the Nile perch forming the backbone of regional food security, livelihoods, and export-oriented value chains. Over recent decades, the fishery has faced mounting ecological, economic, and governance pressures arising from changing policies, declining and fluctuating resource availability, and intensifying fishing effort.

This thesis examines how the Nile perch fishery has responded to evolving policy and resource conditions, with particular emphasis on Uganda and comparative analysis across the Lake Victoria riparian countries. Using fisheries economic and efficiency analysis based on long-term catch and effort data, the study assesses differences in vessel performance and fisher adaptation strategies over time. It further investigates how fishers perceive future management options and evaluates the governance implications of a shift from cooperative management approaches to increasingly coercive enforcement strategies in Uganda’s Nile perch fishery.

The research provides new empirical insights into how fishers and their fishing practices respond to intensified enforcement and changing institutional arrangements in the implementation of existing fisheries regulations. It identifies key constraints to sustainable and efficient exploitation while highlighting pathways for improved governance and performance. The findings are directly relevant to fisheries management in Lake Victoria and contribute to broader policy debates on the governance of transboundary inland fisheries in developing regions.

Doctoral Committee

• Prof. Daði Már Kristófersson – University of Iceland
• Prof. Jón Geir Pétursson – University of Iceland
• Dr. Tumi Tómasson – UNESCO-GRO Fisheries Training Programme (FTP)
• Dr. Anthony Taabu-Munyaho – Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO)