During the period February to June 2020, heavy rainfall caused increases in levels and flooding in many lakes in East Africa. This coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. These calamities affected ecosystems and livelihoods, especially of fishers who depend on fisheries as their only source of livelihood. This study examined the effects of COVID-19 and flooding on the major inland capture fisheries in Kenya to illustrate the effect of such calamities on vulnerable communities to guide interventions. Socioeconomic data were collected across the fish value chains during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic and flooding in Kenya from May to early June 2020. The measures put in place to contain COVID-19 pandemic notably dusk to dawn curfew (66%) and lock-downs (28%) in major cities that act as main fish markets were cited as the main factors that influenced fishing and fishing trade. Negative consequences reported included livelihood losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. Reduced fishing time and trips as well as a decline in consumables such as boat fuel resulted in low fish catches. Although COVID-19 pandemic affected livelihoods, the fish stocks benefited from reduction in fishing effort. Similarly flooding led to livelihood and material losses but positively impacted on stocks through expansion of fish breeding and nursery areas. The respondents recommended that governments should have disaster preparedness programs in place to address such calamities. There is also need for more detailed research on calamities that are increasing in frequency to provide information and data to guide policy and interventions.

中文翻译：

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灾难的后果及其管理：以 COVID-19 大流行和肯尼亚内陆捕捞渔业遭受洪水为例


2020年2月至6月期间，强降雨导致东非许多湖泊水位上升和洪水泛滥。这与 COVID-19 大流行同时发生。这些灾难影响了生态系统和生计，特别是对依赖渔业作为唯一生计来源的渔民而言。本研究考察了 COVID-19 和洪水对肯尼亚主要内陆捕捞渔业的影响，以说明此类灾难对脆弱社区的影响，从而指导干预措施。 2020 年 5 月至 6 月初肯尼亚 COVID-19 大流行和洪水高峰期间收集了整个鱼类价值链的社会经济数据。为遏制 COVID-19 大流行而采取的措施，特别是黄昏至黎明宵禁 (66%) 和封锁- 作为主要鱼市的主要城市的下降（28%）被认为是影响渔业和渔业贸易的主要因素。报告的负面后果包括 COVID-19 大流行造成的生计损失。捕鱼时间和航行次数的减少以及船用燃料等消耗品的减少导致渔获量下降。尽管 COVID-19 大流行影响了生计，但鱼类种群受益于捕捞努力的减少。同样，洪水导致生计和物质损失，但通过扩大鱼类繁殖和育苗区，对种群产生了积极影响。受访者建议政府应制定备灾计划来应对此类灾难。还需要对频率不断增加的灾难进行更详细的研究，以提供信息和数据来指导政策和干预措施。