Geophysical characteristics

• Lake Albert is shared by Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
• It is the shallowest of the African Great lakes with an average depth of 25m and a maximum of 58m with very steep sloped along the DRC shoreline.
• River Semliki that flows from Edward enters the lake from the southern end and the Victoria Nile towards it northern end but its water have limited impact on the limnology of the lake.
• Most of the water into the lake is from river inflow (~90%) followed rainfall (~10%) and is lost through outflow (~74%) and evaporation (26%).

Demographic characteristics

• The basin population is high with 25-250 persons per km2. This is expected to increase with influx of people due to oil exploitation.
• Most of the people around the lake depend exclusively on fisheries.
• Sanitation is poor with limited access to clean drinking water.
• There are high incidences of water related diseases (bilharzia, HIV/AIDs).

Fishes and fisheries

• Fish from the lake is an important source of employment, regional exports, and fighting malnutrition especially among riparian communities.
• The lake has 56 fish species.
• Stocks of many of the large commercial species declined and some collapsed and the fishery has shifted to become dominated by two small pelagic species which by the beginning of the 20th century were contributing 80% of the catch.
• Fishery yield of ~180,000 tons per year of which 80% is of the small pelagic fishes and supports 40,000 fishers.
• Fisheries management complicated by large number and varying sizes of fishes requiring different types and sizes of gears.
• Cage aquaculture is being piloted as an alternative fishery livelihood.

The lake habitat

• lake is monomictic mixing completely once a year in August and stratifies in March.
• The lake has warmed up by at least 0.5oC which is influences mixing dynamics that affects lake productivity processes and the food web.
• The concentration of key production nutrients (total phosphorus and nitrates) has decreased below historical levels and is expected to affect productivity processes.
• Invasive aquatic weed (Water hyacinth and Salvenia molesta) have invaded the lake but are limited in distribution apparently due the bathymetry of the lake.

Basin factors

• There are sometimes border conflicts between the two countries (Uganda and the DRC) that share the lake.
• The deltas where rivers i.e. the Victoria Nile and Semliki enter the lake are surrounded by wetlands mainly of papyrus swamps and fringes of Vossia but some of these areas have been turned into farm land.
• There are five hydropower dams along the Victoria Nile and their operations need to be managed in a manner that does not affect the water balance as most (~80%) of the water input to Lake Albert is from the Nile.
• There are no major urban centers in the basin but this is expected to change with developments associated with oil exploitation.
• Oil has been discovered in the lake basin and exploitation is at an advanced state. This has potential negative threats which should be monitored and managed.
• There is a terrestrial national park (Murchison Falls National park) near the lake that provide tourism potential.

Governance

Interventions

• Promote alternative livelihoods for fisher communities.
• Improve sanitation and manage water related diseases such as bilharzia.
• Control fishing effort and develop species specific fishery management plans especially for the abundant stocks of small pelagic fishes.
• Monitors and manage impacts of oil exploration and exploitation.
• Monitor and manage impacts of dams.
• Pursue the development of mechanisms to generate, harmonize and share management information and data between DRC and Uganda