OCEAN LIFE Volume 3, Number 2, December 2019 E-ISSN: 2580-4529 Pages: 74-85 DOI: 10.13057/oceanlife/o030204 Fishing contributions to the household income in Mafia District, Tanzania ANTHONIA MPEMBA, FELISTER M. MOMBO ♥ Department of Forestry and Environmental Economics, Sokoine University of Agriculture. Morogoro, Tanzania. Tel.: +255-232604865,  email: fmombo@yahoo.com Manuscript received: 2 October 2019. Revision accepted: 4 December 2019. Abstract. Mpemba A, Mombo FM. 2019. Fishing contributions to the household income in Mafia District, Tanzania. Ocean Life 3: 74- 85. The fishing sector is responsible for providing critical income for many families within fishing communities. Fishing activities explain the levels of income which, in the end, indicate whether a given fishing household is benefiting. This study was undertaken to assess the contribution of fishing to household income in Mafia District, Tanzania. The data were collected from randomly sampled 120 household heads using several methods such as questionnaire survey, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), checklist and field observation. The collected data were analyzed using inferential statistics, descriptive statistics, and content analysis. A box plot was used to establish the significant relationship between household income contributions from fishing and other economic activities. In addition, content analysis was used in the analysis of qualitative data. The results revealed that several economic activities are conducted in the study area, where 41.47% of respondents indicated that fishing is the major economic activity in their households. The results showed that average household incomes from conducting fishing alone as the main economic activity was 51,250 TZS, fish-related activities were 15,000 TZS and other economic activities were 5,000 TZS per day. Since the study has revealed that fishing contributes to higher income in the household than other activities, therefore the study recommends that most of the households in the study area do not have access to credit for improving their activities, especially fishing the government should provide improved fishing gears for fishers with a low-interest rate. Keywords: Economic, fishing, household, Mafia District, Tanzania INTRODUCTION Fishing has been a major source of food for humans and a provider of employment and economic benefits to those engaging in it (FAO 2005; Hosseini et al. 2018). It has been estimated that fisheries and aquaculture assure the livelihoods of 10 to12 percent of the world's population (FAO 2014). World Bank (2012) found that in Africa, the total employment in the fisheries sector was 25.4 million people, with 7.8 million employed in fishing and 17.6 in post-harvest. MLFD (2010) reported that more than 4 million people in Tanzania are engaged in fishing and fishery-related activities, while more than 400,000 fisheries operators are directly employed in the sector. Tanzania is endowed with water resources, sharing three of the largest inland lakes in Africa, namely Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa. In addition, the country is reasonably rich in marine and inland fishery resources, making the fisheries sector important in the economy (Sobo 2012). Tanzania is among the main producers of fish for inland fisheries in Africa, mostly in Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika. The major commercial species in Lake Victoria are Nile perch (Lates niloticus Linnaeus, 1758); Rastrineobola argentea (Pellegrin, 1904), commonly known as "Dagaa" and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus Linnaeus, 1758); while the major commercial species in Lake Tanganyika are the Centropomidae (Lates stappersii Boulenger, 1914) (commonly known as "Migebuka") (FAO 2012). For marine fisheries commercial marine fisheries are mainly concentrated in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), targeting the tuna and tuna-like species. The major tuna and tuna-like species contributing to the catches include Yellowfin tuna, Skipjack tuna, Big eye tuna, Long tail tuna, and Kawakawa (Anon 2005). In addition, however, small-scale fishing is conducted by artisanal fishers who fish for fins, mollusks, and crustaceans within the inshore (FAO 2012). The total annual fish production in Tanzania was 347,157 metric tons in 2010 (MLFD 2010) and was reported as the main source of protein for nearly 9 million people along the coast. In turn, fishing provides a source of employment and livelihood to many people (MLFD 2010). Starting from a low 2.9% annual growth in 2000, the sector's growth rate increased to around 6% between 2002 and 2005 and has since steadily dropped to 1.5% in 2010. The decrease in growth between 2009 and 2010 has been attributed to illegal fishing and the destruction of nursery grounds. Currently, the sector accounts for about 10% of the national exports (Planning Commission President's Office 2012; MLFD 2014). Tanzania is rich in marine and inland fishery resources, making the fisheries sector important in the economy. Fisheries provide substantial employment, income, livelihoods, recreation, foreign earnings, and revenue to the country (Sobo 2012). Marine and inland fisheries are significant regarding food security and nutrition in a household. In addition, fish significantly contributes to