President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced measures aimed at boosting the Fisheries Sector.
This is as part of ongoing sustained Government efforts to reposition the Blue Economy as a key driver of the nation's economy.
The measures follow a meeting convened on Tuesday at State House, Mombasa by Uhuru and attended by National Treasury CS Ukur Yattani, Agriculture CS Peter Munya and Transport CS James Macharia.
He has said the ongoing re-development of the Liwatoni Fish Landing Site into a modern Fishing Port will be complete by March 2021.
"With the completion of the Liwatoni Fishing Port in March 2021, all fishing vessels operating in Kenyan waters will be required to land their catch at Kenyan Ports. Fishing vessels found to be in contravention of this requirement will have their licenses revoked," he said.
Uhuru has also directed the National Treasury to release funds for the construction of an ultra-modern Tuna fish factory at the Liwatoni Fishing Port as a value-added measure.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has undertaken to have trained 1,000 Kenyan fishermen who will be absorbed by vessels operating in Kenyan waters by June 2021.
The Head of State has also encouraged investors interested in the country's expanding Blue Economy to take advantage of the reforms in the sector by investing in Kenya.
The meeting was also attended by Principal Secretary for Fisheries, Aquaculture and the Blue Economy Prof Micheni Ntiba.
Last month, CS Munya said that the government has set aside Sh12 billion for blue economy projects.
Munya said the funds will be used to reclaim grabbed landing sites and upgrade those in bad condition.
Munya said they have repossessed many landing sites but there are still others like the one in Mayungu that is to be repossessed even though it is being claimed by a private developer.
He said Sh5 billion will be spent on upgrading fishery facilities and repossess the landing sites. Currently, the government is collecting data on all grabbed landing sites and those that need to be upgraded.
