This review contributes to an historical record of research agencies in Southern, Central
and Eastern Africa 1947-72, with a brief addendum on Lake Victoria to accommodate current
interest. On-site, as opposed to expeditionary, research into African fish and fisheries
development began in those areas where fisheries already existed. Funds were made available
in an effort to provide food supplies to offset shortages caused by World War II. The East
African Freshwater Fisheries Research Organisation (EAFFRO) serving Kenya, Tanganyika
(now Tanzania) and Uganda, and based at Jinja, Uganda, was started with British Colonial
Development and Welfare (CDW) funds in 1947. When further CDW funds became available,
creation of the Joint Fisheries Research Organisation (JFRO) to serve Northern Rhodesia
(now Zambia) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) was proposed in 1950, to be based at Samfya. This
was approved in late 1950. The author (soon to become its officer in charge) was recruited
into it in September 1951. The third Central African country, Southern Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe), lacked large fisheries and declined to participate. The review covers early
attempts at fish farming, the JFRO Survey of Northern Lake Nyasa (now Malawi), the
pre-impoundment research on the pristine Middle Zambezi (the first elucidation of this
river's ecology), and the ensuing research on the new Kariba Dam as it filled. Research
and discoveries on Lake Tanganyika and other Central African waters are described, as is
a celebrated controversy regarding the role of the tigerfish Hydrocynus vittatus as a
predator, and an account of ill-considered fish introductions in East African fresh
waters. The author's experience as director of EAFFRO and as manager of the FAO Victoria
Fisheries Research Project is described.