Kenya's first survey ship embarks on 25-day voyage

Kenya’s reserach fishing vessel RV Mtafiti at the Kilindi waters of Mombasa. Kenya’s first oceanographic survey ship, RV Mtafiti, has embarked on a 25-day voyage along the South Coast. (PHOTO: MAARUFU MOHAMED/ STANDARD)

Kenya’s first oceanographic survey ship, RV Mtafiti, has embarked on a 25-day voyage along the South Coast.

The voyage that began yesterday will end on December 13 and the vessel will be manned by officers from the Kenya Navy, the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) announced in a statement.  The research vessel is on a mission to collect information on fisheries and establish how the sea bed can be exploited for economic gain. It also seeks to estimate the biomass and determine the distribution patterns of fish in Kenya’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The survey will provide data on how the sea bed is structured. ‘’This cruise is titled: ‘RV Mtafiti Territorial Seas and North Kenya Banks Fisheries Hydro-Acoustics Survey and is fully funded by the Kenyan government and the scope covers territorial waters and the EEZ,’’ KMFRI said in the statement.

The vessel will travel across the entire coastline from Shimoni towards the Tanzania border in the south and on shallow water with the eco-sounder. It will travel to Kiunga in the north, close to the Somalia border.