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[Display omitted] Reconstructing hydrological variability is critical for understanding Lake Victoria's ecosystem history, the evolution of its diverse endemic fish community, the dynamics of vegetation in the catchment, and the dispersal of aquatic and terrestrial fauna in the East African Rift system during Latest Pleistocene and Holocene times. Whereas consensus exists on widespread desiccation of Lake Victoria ∼18 – 17 ka, the re-filling history (16 – 13 ka) has remained highly controversial. Here, we present data from four new sediment cores along a depth transect. We use lithostratigraphic core correlation, sediment facies, XRF data, wetland vegetation analysis (Typha pollen), and 14C chronologies of unprecedented precision to document Latest Pleistocene lake-level variability. At our coring site in the central basin, local Typha wetlands existed >16.7 ka, alternating with periods of desiccation. Moisture increased slightly between ca. 16.7 – 14.5 ka and wetlands with permanent, shallow ponds established simultaneously in the center and the marginal, more elevated parts of the flat lake basin. After ca. 14.0 ka, lake levels increased; wetlands in the central basin were submerged and replaced by lacustrine environments and a >50 m deep lake established ca. 13.5 ka, likely with intermittent overflow most of the time. The lake reached modern or even above-modern levels around 10.8 ka. This lake-level history is consistent with regional terrestrial paleoenvironmental reconstructions, notably the expansion of Afromontane and rainforest. Our data suggest a complex picture of paleoclimatic conditions in Eastern Africa and teleconnections to the North-Atlantic and Indian Ocean domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 42 million people rely on Lake Victoria as their primary source of food, employment, and clean drinking water. The lake's fisheries have produced around one million tonnes in recent years, but the lake's growing population has resulted in a lower catch rate per capita. And the lake and its catchment have been negatively impacted by a wide variety of human activities, such as overfishing, oil spills, discharge of untreated waste, spread of invasive species, over-abstraction of water from the lake basin, and climate change, among other drivers of change. This paper presents existing research gaps, existing capacity, and presents a way forward for priority research on issues ranging from fish and fisheries, biodiversity, pollution, invasive species, aquaculture, human population growth and socio-economics, land use changes, habitat degradation, climate change and skills and knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to document: information that is currently available from previous research; the existing scientific capacity; and the resources required to guarantee that Lake Victoria becomes a heathy and biologically diverse resource for the millions of people who are dependent on it. It is clear from this synthesis that the biological, social, and economic benefits that can be derived from Lake Victoria can only be accomplished through the utilization of multi-disciplinary approaches in the research and monitoring of both basin-wide and lake-wide biophysical processes, as well as the modeling of all potential interactions between the ecology of the basin and the lake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The periodic, temporary closure has positive economic benefits to coastal fishing villages. • The timing of octopus temporal closure requires scientific evidence for an effective outcome. • Improving the management of octopus fisheries can deliver endless benefits throughout the octopus supply chain while rebuilding the stocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]