Inland Fisheries

1.2.1.3. Lakes of the world 

Among the great variety of inland water bodies, perennial lakes comprise 1.7 million km², one million km² of which are large lakes (larger than 100 km²). The distribution and size of lakes vary considerably among continents. North America possesses the greatest freshwater large lake surface area, whereas large lakes are uncommon in South America. Although there is a large number of lakes in the temperate zone of Europe and Asia, lakes are less common in tropical Asia - however some, such as the Great Lake on the Tonle Sap in Cambodia and Lake Tempe in Sulawesi (Indonesia) are of the utmost importance to fisheries. Africa, especially East Africa, is endowed with numerous lakes that support very important fisheries, in turn providing a livelihood to millions of people and contributing significantly to food supply. In many of these lakes, fisheries are reaching a state of maturity and consequently management problems are rising. For 11 lakes, shared by 11 countries of Eastern Africa, fisheries employs close to half a million people, with perhaps three times as many engaged in secondary activities and related services, thus supporting about 4 percent of the population of the region as a whole.

Rank	Name and Location	Area	Length	Maximum Depth
		km	km	m
1	Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan-Russia - Kazakhstan –Turkmenistan – Iran	394,299	1,199	946
2	Superior, U.S.-Canada	82,414	616	406
3	Victoria, Tanzania-Uganda	69,485	322	82
7	Tanganyika, Tanzania-Congo (Deepest No. 2)	32,893	676	1,435
8	Baikal, Russia (Deepest No. 1)	31,500	636	1,741