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Having diversity of historical accounts on similar case normally tends to jeopardize validity of the case being examined. Lake Victoria's fishery is one of the earliest fishing occupation which has faced contradictory accounts on its transformation from artisanal to commercial fishery. This papergives a historical account from the local perspective (fishing communities) on fishery transformation that has taken place in Lake Victoria. A total of 246 fishers from fishing dependents communities in three islands of Lake Victoria were involved. A Cross-Sectional Research Design was abided whereas both probability and non-probability sampling techniques aided selection of respondents both in fish capture and offshore fisheries activities. Data from personal interviews and focus group discussion were equated to proper variables for analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS 19.0). Findings from study revealed adiversity of accounts on the fishery transformation. Strikingly even respondents who were identified in this study to had lived and experienced transformed fisheries gave different accounts. The noted diversity of historical information regarding fish stocks statistics, depletion of fisheries resources, and introduction of exotic fish species justified how important are reliable information on fishery transformation. With different scholars reporting different information on similar case, apparently tend to jeopardise any initiative geared at revamping fishery potential. This call for concerted cooperation and coordination efforts of several organizations and agencies to harmonize statistics on Lake Victoria's fishery. This will aid to minimize inadequacy and unreliability of data regarding fisheries for now and in future.