Mobile Phones Use For Combating Of Illegal Fishing In Musoma Municipal

ABSTRACT

The study on ―How mobile phones are used for combating illegal fishing activities‖ aimed at assessing the contributions of mobile phones on fishing activities, roles of the government on the management of mobile phones used by fish dealers and analyzing the challenges faced by the government and the community on monitoring and managing mobile phones in combating illegal fishing activities in Makoko and Migobero wards in Musoma Municipality. The study involved two wards and the study sample comprised of 110 respondents who included Municipal Director, Municipal Mayor, Regional Fisheries Officers, Municipal Fishery officer, Village/Street Fisherman, Fishmonger/Traders, Fishery industries, Mobile phone net-work Company‘s officer, Municipal Director, Councilors, Ward executive officers, street executive officers, street chairperson and fishers. The method used for data collection included Survey through questionnaire tools, interview through structured interview, documentary review and observation. Finding revealed that there is poor application of ICTs especially GIS, GPS and mobile phones on combating illegal fishing activities in Musoma Municipal. This may be attributed by lack of knowledge on GIS, GPS and mobile phones application as the majority of the respondents in the study area have little knowledge and education on application of GIS, GPS and mobile phones. As a result, fish stock persists decreasing in the Lake Victoria which affects livelihoods of the fishing community as well as the government revenue. The study concluded that combating illegal fishing activities in Lake Victoria is inevitable from family level, community level and national level up to international level since the lake is a transboundary resource. Also government need to install the Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring System to know the signals transmitted through a communications system and the permanent illegal users of mobile phones. On top of that the government need to provide education to the community members as well as introduction of effective GIS and GPS application systems which can help in monitoring fishing boats and activities.