(MOMBASA, KENYA) – Kenya is losing an estimated KES 45 billion (about $343 million / £270 million / €315 million) every year to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, government officials revealed during a stakeholders’ forum on marine fisheries conservation held at Shanzu, Mombasa.
The forum brought together government agencies, research institutions, Beach Management Units and non-state actors to chart a way forward on data driven, policy anchored management of the country’s marine resources.
Speaking during the meeting, Kenya Fisheries Service Director-General Daisy Muriuki said her agency’s core mandate was to conserve, manage and develop the country’s fisheries and aquaculture resources and ensure that no player in the sector was working at cross purposes.
“There is no duplication of mandates among the different players. Non-state actors are complementing government efforts,” Ms Muriuki said.
She singled out data management and research as areas needing deeper collaboration, urging that research findings be shared directly with fishing communities so they can appreciate the role reliable data plays in managing the resources they depend on. Ms Muriuki also pushed for all fisheries data to be consolidated under the Kenya Fisheries Service, the body legally mandated to manage such information.
The Director-General said the government was ramping up monitoring, control and surveillance through tools such as the Vessel Monitoring System to track fishing activity within Kenyan waters. She added that authorities were also exploring camera based surveillance technology to cut down the high cost of patrolling Kenya’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
Kenya Fisheries Service Director Jared Agano said fisheries management plans remained among the most important policy tools for guiding sustainable exploitation of marine resources. He noted that, working with the State Department for Blue Economy and Fisheries, the agency had already developed management plans for priority fisheries, including marine aquarium and lobster fisheries.
“The priority now is to ensure these plans are effectively implemented to deliver tangible benefits to fishing communities while protecting the resources from depletion,” Mr Agano said.
He explained that the Kenya Fisheries Service works closely with Beach Management Units to collect fish landing data, which is compiled annually and published in fisheries statistical bulletins for use in planning. However, he admitted that unreported catches linked to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing continue to complicate efforts to obtain complete data, adding that existing regulations and co-management guidelines were being used to build community capacity in data collection.
Blue Ventures East Africa Regional Director Nelly Otieno called for stronger collaboration between government agencies, conservation organisations, non-governmental organisations and fishing communities, stressing that conservation efforts must increasingly centre on empowering communities who bear the brunt of marine resource degradation.
Kipini Beach Management Unit chairman and Tana River County BMU Network chairman Omar Ahmed Abdalla said fishing communities were grappling with mounting challenges, including climate change effects and the degradation of their fishing grounds.
“Changes in the marine ecosystem, blocked waterways and the degradation of rivers have contributed to the decline of fisheries in some areas,” Mr Abdalla said, calling for sustained partnerships between communities, government agencies, county governments and development organisations to secure the future of the coastal fisheries sector.