For years, fishermen venturing into the waters of Lake Victoria often hit the news for all the wrong reasons. We were targeted by police and soldiers from neighbouring countries for trespassing into their waters.
Anyone who has ever been in the deep waters of Lake Victoria or any other large water body will agree with me that it is practically impossible for anyone in the waters to know where the border starts and ends. It all depends on the mood of the security agents manning the water body.
Many fishermen have been incarcerated in Uganda and Tanzania after being accused of crossing their borders illegally. But when pushed to prove by how far and how long they crossed, we always got no response.
This sad scenario made fishing in Lake Victoria one extremely dangerous venture. The economic ramification has been huge.
First, due to fear, thousands of fishermen have opted to fish in a small area not very deep in the Lake. This has led to overcrowding and overfishing.
Second, due to fear of being arrested, many experienced fishermen opted for cage fish farming. This has also become an overcrowded venture.
Third, the consumers of fish have been paying a very heavy price for this state of affairs. One, by consuming imported fish that has many questions unanswered about its quality and preservation.
Two, by being forced to pay extra due to the scarcity of fish in the market, our prices are nearly double what fish consumers pay in Uganda and Tanzania.
All these are caused by one thing—the inability of Kenyan fishermen to use the water resources of Lake Victoria.
We were greatly overjoyed when Interior PS Raymond Omollo launched the collaboration between Kenya and Canada. PS Omollo announced that he had enlisted the support of Canada in his quest for technology-driven border surveillance and maritime security.
This was one of the outcomes of high-level consultative meetings between the Interior PS and senior officials from the High Commission of Canada in Kenya, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Such practical steps and alliances with countries like Canada that have extensive experience in Maritime technology are what has been lacking in Kenya.
We hope that we shall have proper markings in the lake waters that clearly indicate where our borderline is. I believe that this will open up huge areas for our fishermen, and even double the amount of fish caught in Lake Victoria.
Chairman, Siaya Fishermen Forum