Water hyacinth is choking Lake Naivasha and livelihoods are at stake, fishermen and tour operators warned yesterday.
They called for swift action to remedy the problem. Many residents depend on the lake for a living.
They said the invasive weed destroys fishing nets and hampers water transport, bringing huge losses to the fishing and tour sectors. They proposed that it be “removed manually”, saying efforts to contain it biologically had failed.
Lake Naivasha Boat Owners’ Association chairman David Kilo blamed the problem on a lot of attention given to Lake Victoria. He said the weed is a nuisance and has become unmanageable.
“Currently, sections of South Lake are inaccessible due to the weed. It’s spreading at an alarming rate and causing anxiety among operators around the lake,” Kilo said.
Local and international tourists have been flocking to the lake. The boats owners expect to make a killing but are ruining the deterrent effect the hyacinth has on their work. They cannot navigate across many parts of the lake.
“For a long time, focus has been on Lake Victoria in terms of fighting the weed. Lake Naivasha has been left to choke under water hyacinth,” Kilo said.
Last month, Fisheries PS Micheni Ntiba expressed his concern over the weed and called for concerted efforts to address the problem. He admitted that the introduction of the beetles had failed and the only solution lay in using mechanical methods.
“This weed could end up killing this lake, which supports hundreds of families. There is need for manual harvesting and continued restocking,” he said.
Nakuru county plans to introduce an annual three-month fishing ban in the lake as a way of increasing fish production, which is currently low.
Fisherman Jared Ouko said the weed destroys their nets, sweeps away their catch, and “has been a thorn in our flesh”. The beetle project introduced by scientists a couple of years ago to contain the weed did not bear fruit, he said. “This weed is causing many people sleepless nights. It spreads very fast from one section of the lake to the other, hampering navigation,” Ouko said.