The fishery resource in Lake Koka is very important for food and nutrition security, and livelihoods of many riparian communities. Proper resource utilization is very essential to sustain the benefits of this natural capital for the present and future generations. So far little is known about the state of the fishery in Lake Koka. Therefore, the study aims at combining stock assessment of fishery target species of the Lake Koka with an economic analysis to find out if current exploitation levels are biologically and economically sustainable or need adjustment. Biomass dynamic models (equilibrium and non-equilibrium), bioeconomic model and the Thompson and Bell model were applied to estimate reference points related to Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY), Maximum Economic Yield (MEY) and their corresponding efforts (fMSY & fMEY). While the reference points estimated using the length-based Thompson and Bell predictive model were not significantly different from the non-equilibrium model, the former model provided a more flexible estimate than the other models. As none of the models tested suggested overfishing of the target resources, I conclude that the general state of the Lake Koka fishery is healthy, but see scope for improvement in terms of socioeconomic benefits if the current minimum length of capture were increased toward the length of capture at MEY.
