By Antony Gitonga
The fish harvest from Lake Naivasha has gone up despite rapid spread of water hyacinth in the troubled water body.
Latest statistics also indicate the quantity of common carp species catches has overtaken that of tilapia. Naivasha District Fisheries Officer Mathew Ngila said over 90 percent of the catch comprise the common carp species.
The senior officer said in the last three months, fishermen netted over 20,000kg of fish from the lake.
“The catch from the lake was worth over Sh3m and was netted between December last year and February, and the production is increasing every month,” he said.
Mr Ngila said in February, fishermen netted 8,151kgs compared to January where the production was 6,240kgs, an increase of around 20 percent.
He attributed the increase to the size of the net the fishermen were using.
Thick weed
“The species is big and fishermen are also using wide gauge nets which see them miss out on the tilapia,” he said.
He admitted that catches in the lake could be higher were it not for hyacinth, which had destroyed tens of nets.
Ngila said some sections of the lake were impassable due to the thick weed, spreading at a high rate.
“Apart from a few cases of poaching, the biggest challenge facing fishing is the water hyacinth which has covered a big section of the lake,” he said.
Joel Okello, a fisherman, confirmed the losses, noting they were losing nets worth thousands of shillings to the weed.
He said that production in the lake would have been higher had not been for the weed, which makes navigation hard. “Once the weed is washed towards one side of the lake, no fisherman can access that area and we are forced to wait until it moves to a different direction,” he said.
