Combating overfishing

In the western part of Kenya which enjoys the better part of Lake Victoria, fishing has been the main economic activity for decades and that remains so to date. In fact, individuals in that region are known with fish as their staple food. They enjoy exporting this product to other counties within Kenya. This has greatly improved the livelihood of those with low education skills as well as unemployed graduates by reducing the dependency ratio.

However, with the highly increasing population in Kenya, presence of water hyacinth in lakes as well as increased pollution of lakes, the amount of fish gotten from the Lake can no longer sustain the demand. This called for increase in prices which led traders into importing fish from neighboring countries which is either not meeting the demands.

In an attempt to satisfy the demand, fishermen for a long time have engaged in unlawful activities which only caused more harm. Such include; the use of nets which the Kenya Fisheries banned. These nets catch even the smallest fish commonly referred as ‘omena’ which should be left to grow and give birth.

Another of such acts is fishing in restricted areas. Usually, fishermen are not allowed to fish next to the shore of the lake but they seem not to obey this. Some lay down their nets right at the shore which has contributed to the low fish production for the Country taking into consideration the fact that some fish normally breed in the shallow parts of the lakes.

Luckily, these might soon come to an end as fishermen and organizations have come up with different strategies to meet the fish demands. Apart from the common and widely known setting up of fishponds found in nearly every region, fishermen have introduced cage farming inside the lake.

  I recently visited Dunga Beach in Kisumu where this method is mainly practiced. Here, they mainly set up cages in the deepest parts of the lake and appropriately feed fingerlings to ensure proper growth and  they also assign some security personnel for such cages at night. With Tilapia the only type of fish that can be kept in the cages, their number has greatly increased in the market.