• Small scale fisheries in Kenya employs between 2.5 to three million Kenyans, and is a firm contributor to the national economy
• Statistics from the United Nations indicate that small-scale fishing represents 78 percent of the catches in Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and Tanzania.
Image: CHETI PRAXIDES
The government is in the process of setting up infrastructure for fish handling and value addition.
Rodrick Kundu, Director Fisheries and Aquaculture in the State Department for Fisheries, Aquaculture & Blue Economy in Kenya said this will help promote the efficiency of the small-scale fisheries sector in the country.
Kundu said further to this, the government is also training youth in the regions that rely on fisheries as an economic backbone, equipping them with skills to engage in the trade profitably and sustainably.
He spoke on Thursday during a meeting in Nairobi, which brought together key stakeholders and partners promoting the fisheries sector in the Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region.
Stakeholders from seven countries attended the meeting to engage on the definition and characterization of smallscale fisheries, as well as a framework for managing the sector in the region.
Kundu said Kenya is also developing regulations that will allow small-scale fishermen to access fisheries resources and embark on joint ventures beyond the Kenyan Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
According to the Ministry of Fisheries, the country’s fishing industry contributes about 0.5 percent of the national GDP and about two percent of the national export earnings.
The small scale fisheries in Kenya employs between 2.5 to three million Kenyans.
This income and livelihoods are mainly supported by the freshwater Lakes Victoria, Turkana, Naivasha, Baringo, Rivers Tana, Athi-Sabaki, Nzoia, Yala, and man-made dams, as well as the coastal and the open sea ecosystems.
Kundu however said the sector, both in Kenya and across the region faces management challenges that hinder it from performing at an optimum.
“One of the critical challenges is the lack of a clear definition of what small-scale fisheries is. The simplistic definition of the small-scale fisheries mostly in developing countries is aggravating economic inequalities which are hurting the poorest of the poor in the local and national economies,” he said.
“Today, the way small-scale fisheries are managed in the region is inadequate and does not meet the criteria of sustainable fisheries,” said Kundu.
The United Nations General Assembly has declared the year 2022 as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture to recognize the significance of this sub-sector as regards livelihoods, well-being and cultural diversity.
Dr. Sunil Sweenarain, Fisheries economist & Team Leader, Ecofish said the current definition does not fit the purpose of the current challenges, adding that it was defined at a time when the focus was on conservation and management of fisheries resource.
Ecofish, is an organization that promotes sustainable fisheries practices in the Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Region.
“The socio-economic dimension was not fully covered. Things have changed and now several concepts have emerged. We have the concept of sustainability and we have the concept of Blue Economy. The current definition is aggravating a lot of inequalities,” said Sweenarain.
Statistics from the United Nations indicate that small-scale fishing represents 78 percent of the catches in Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and Tanzania.
Around 42 percent of the total catch from small-scale fisheries is for personal consumption, and the sale of fish accounts for about 32 percent of fishing households’ income in the region. Fisheries and aquaculture directly contribute USD 24 billion to the African economy.