The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries (SSF Guidelines) places responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in small-scale fisheries as central for the realization of human rights, food security, poverty eradication, sustainable livelihoods, social stability, housing security, economic growth, and rural and social development. As such, this report aims to determine how responsible governance of tenure can be implemented in accordance with the SSF Guidelines in Lake Victoria, Tanzania. In this study, qualitative and quantitative research methods, including focus group discussion (FGDs), survey questionnaires were conducted in five (5) fishing villages around Lake Victoria, Tanzania. The respondents were mainly drawn from the elderly people who have knowledge on tenure systems in Lake Victoria. The findings highlight that there have been some norms or rules used by the riparian communities to regulate fishing. These rules of tenure defined how property rights to the lake’s resources were exercised.
