How cage fish farming is turning Dunga Beach into an aquaculture economy

For generations, Dunga Beach on the shores of Lake Victoria was defined by one activity: fishing. Families depended on the lake for food, income and survival.

Today, however, the community is undergoing a remarkable economic transformation as cage fish farming begins to replace the uncertainty of dwindling wild catches with organised aquaculture production.

The change is visible across the waters of Dunga, where rows of numbered fish cages now float in areas that were once dominated by traditional fishing boats and nets.

Victor Ochieng Didi, a cage fish farmer and investor at Dunga Beach, says the shift was driven by necessity.

“The community around here in Dunga entirely depended on fishing. The wild catch went down, and you could not even go fishing,” he says.

According to Victor, Lake Victoria once supported more than 20 fish species, but many of them have become increasingly scarce.

“If you randomly place your net in Lake Victoria now, I’m sure, 100 per cent, that that net might end up catching nothing,” he says.

The decline in fish stocks forced many residents to rethink their livelihoods and look for more reliable ways of earning a living from the lake.

Victor began cage fish farming about one and a half years ago as an investor, but he has since become directly involved in the business. He says the growth has been dramatic.

“When this business started here in Dunga Beach, there were like 10 cages here in the lake, but now we have almost 250 cages,” he explains.

The rapid expansion has attracted both young people and investors, signalling growing confidence in aquaculture as a viable economic activity.

Although fingerlings remain expensive, Victor notes that partnerships involving the Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) and Aquarech have helped lower costs for some farmers.

One of the clearest signs of transformation is employment creation. Victor says his fish farm alone employs nine young people.

“The impacts of fish cage farming are evident,” he says. “Youth have been employed there.”

The new jobs extend beyond the cages themselves. Workers are needed for feeding, monitoring fish growth, harvesting, transporting fish and maintaining equipment, creating an emerging value chain around aquaculture.

The effects are also being felt onshore. Pamela Omolo, a fish trader at Dunga Beach, says fish scarcity previously limited her business.

“The challenge we had previously was that fish was scarce. Now, through this cage farming initiative, I see our businesses lifting up,” she says.

Her business has expanded significantly.

“Initially, I didn’t have employees; I only had one employee. Right now, I have five because work has increased,” Pamela says.

She adds that customers no longer complain about shortages because fish is now more consistently available.

Beyond creating jobs, cage farming has helped stabilise fish prices. Victor says this has made fish more accessible to ordinary consumers.

“Because of cage fish farming, the prices have been stable. It has been so easy for even other people now to access or eat fish,” he says.

Demand has grown so much that traders from Nairobi now travel to Dunga Beach to buy fish directly from farmers and boats.