In Kenya, male fishermen on Lake Victoria are selling sex to other men to survive after fish catches collapsed. The shift has stunned local communities who once saw fishing as a stable livelihood.
A desperate trade born from empty nets
For generations, men in the lakeside villages of Homa Bay and Siaya counties made their living pulling tilapia and Nile perch from Lake Victoria. But overfishing, pollution, and changing water conditions have driven fish deeper or killed them off entirely. Boats return to shore with holds barely a quarter full. Incomes have dried up. Some fishermen now walk to truck stops and trading centers where they offer sex to male travelers for as little as 200 Kenyan shillings, about $1.50.
Stigma and silence in close-knit villages
The fishermen keep their new work secret from wives and neighbors. Many are married with children. When they return home, they say they spent the day looking for work or waiting for a catch that never came. Local health workers say the men rarely use condoms, fearing that carrying them would expose their secret. HIV rates in the region are already among the highest in Kenya. Clinics report that fishermen are now showing up with sexually transmitted infections they cannot explain to their partners.
Why the community is shaken
Fishing was the economic backbone of these villages. Women processed and sold the catch. Children helped mend nets. Now families struggle to afford school fees and meals. Some wives have noticed their husbands coming home with small amounts of cash but no fish. A few have followed them and discovered the truth. Arguments and separations are rising. Local elders say the shame is unbearable, but hunger is worse.
This is not a story about moral failure. It is about what happens when a food system breaks and people must choose between dignity and survival. The fishermen of Lake Victoria are adapting to an ecosystem in crisis, one transaction at a time.
