[3] In addition, there are important fisheries for the Nile tilapia, Niger barb, Albert lates, electric catfish and giraffe catfish that are caught by standard fishing methods,[6] and the small Brycinus nurse and Engraulicypris bredoi that mainly are caught by light fishing.

[8][9] As a consequence, most of Lake Albert's fish are widespread riverine species also found in the main Nile sections.

Of the six haplochromines in Lake Albert, four are endemic (Haplochromis albertianus, H. avium, H. bullatus and H. mahagiensis) and two are also found in the Nile (H. loati and Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor).

[8] Lake Albert is still known as Mwitanzige by the Banyoro and Batooro, and Nam Ovoyo Bonyo by the Alur as well as other peoples who have inhabited the region for centuries before the colonial age.

This is due to a local legend that tells how a plague of locusts had destroyed the crops of the people who were living on the eastern shore of the lake, but when they tried to cross to the other side they never got there.

In 1864, the explorers Samuel Baker and Flóra von Sass found the lake[10] and renamed it after the recently deceased Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria.

The John I. Thornycroft & Company shipyard at Woolston, Hampshire built the cargo and passenger ship SS Robert Coryndon for this purpose in 1930.

[12] Winston Churchill described the ship as "the best library afloat" and Ernest Hemingway called her "magnificence on water".

[14] In March 2014, a boat carrying Congolese refugees capsized in Lake Albert, killing more than 250 people.

[15] On 26 December 2016, a boat carrying 45 members and fans of a local village football team capsized in Lake Albert killing at least 30 people.