Kenya is constructing fishing ports in three towns off its coast to attract investment in the under-exploited industry and encourage the registration of locally flagged vessels.
Of the 57 deep-sea fishing licences issued in East Africa’s biggest economy this year, only one went to a vessel flying the Kenyan flag, according to the assistant director of fisheries, Mwaka Barabara.
Further, while the potential catch from its Indian Ocean waters is about 150,000 metric tonnes annually, Kenya is landing between 9,000 and 15,000 tonnes only.
“What we have is mainly artisanal and semi-industrial fishing on our coast,” Ms Barabara said in an interview in Mombasa. Artisanal fishing is concentrated within five nautical miles (9.3 kilometres) from the shore, she said.
The industry, which employs about 33,215 people directly, lacks facilities such as designated fishing ports, storage and processing plants, as well as deep-sea vessels, she added.
The Government is constructing fishing ports in Lamu, Kilifi and Mombasa, according to Fisheries Principal Secretary Ntiba Micheni.
MARITIME SURVEILLANCE
Fishing off the country’s 1,420-kilometre coast line is worth Sh2 billion ($20 million) and accounts for only 6 per cent of the 167,000 tonnes of fish landed.
More than 70 per cent of the national catch is from inland lakes and rivers, and the rest from rearing fish in ponds.
The Government wants Kenyans to apply for fishing permits, Mr Micheni said in an interview. Industrial fishing in the country’s deep-sea territory is currently the preserve of foreign vessels.
Of the 49 ships with dragnets and seven long liners licensed this year, only one was Kenyan, according to Barabara. Most applications are from Taiwan, Spain, Italy and South Korea.
Kenya plans to increase its fleet to 60 boats by 2017, Micheni said in July. Two months later, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the Government would beef up maritime surveillance to stop other nations from exhausting its resources.
While the Government has reviewed its maritime law to require all vessels fishing within Kenyan territory to land a portion of their catch on its shores, the law is yet to be implemented, Barabara said.
“It hasn’t been enforced, but it is a matter of time,” she said. — Bloomberg
