Lobster fishermen in Lamu have appealed for modern gear to enable them stay alive even as they dive deeper into the ocean for the delicacy.
Lamu produces more than 2 tonnes of lobster every month, with a kilo fetching Sh7,000 in the international market and Sh10,000 locally.
Lobster fishing alone rakes in Sh170 million annual revenue for Lamu county.
There are about 1,200 lobster divers in Lamu.
The key hubs being Kizingitini Island which is home to at least 800 lobster divers, Kiunga with 200 divers, and Lamu Island with 150, according to records from the fisheries office.
Lamu’s major live lobster markets are in China, Korea and Japan.
Spain, Finland, Germany, and a larger part of Europe forms the market for frozen lobster.
Despite the huge contribution that lobster fishing makes to the county’s economy, divers are plagued with a myriad of challenges among them the lack of safety gear to prevent them from drowning.
This has resulted in the deaths of several fishermen over the years and caused many to abandon the trade.
Lobster fishing requires high diving skills as the fisher has to dive deeper to set the traps and retrieve the lobster by hand.
Renowned Lamu lobster fisherman Mohamed Somo says many of the colleagues do not have the needed equipment for the job hence limiting their output.
He said many of them dive into the dangerous water without a simple oxygen tank to help them breathe well under water.
“Most of us just dive naked but we know its very risky. The gear is costly and most of us can’t afford,” Somo said.
Any safe dive requires the fisherman to arm themselves with a lobster gauge, bag, special diving gloves, dive flags and buoys, lobster living light, lobster diving fins and a spearfishing wetsuit.
Somo says the items are costly and as such they are out of reach for many.
The lobster fishermen have urged the county government to invest heavily in the sector considering the annual returns injected back into the county’s economy every year.
“A few who have one or two of the gear had it donated to them by tourists and well-wishers. We wish the county government would invest in this sector like it has in others,” Somo said.
On December 16 last year, divers in Lamu recovered the badly decomposed body of lobster fisherman Mohamed Athman who drowned at sea on one of his diving trips in Mtangawanda in Lamu East.
On Valentines day last year, divers recovered the body of yet another lobster fisherman Mbwana Badi at Kwa Buku beach in Faza island after days of searching.
He is believed to have been overpowered by the rough tides being experienced in the Indian Ocean and drowned.
Of the over 6,000 fishermen in the Lamu Archipelago, at least 1,000 are lobster divers.
