Why fishermen in Lamu are only catching small fish

Lamu's Local deep sea fishermen display their various types of catch at the Lamu Island Jetty in lamu County on Saturday, 017th December,2016. This was during the 2016 Lamu County Deep Sea Fishing competition organized by the County Government of Lamu to encourage deep sea fishing that will boost economy of the locals. [PHOTO BY MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

Ali Shee is at the helm of a fisherman’s dhow boat that contains about 15 fishermen. He left Pate Island at sunrise and is now back at the fish landing site, with a boat full of fish.

This would be a good thing, except that they are all tiny and will not fetch much. Bigger fish fetch more money and in an ideal scenario, the small fish would be put back into the sea so that they can grow bigger and reproduce, but Ali cannot afford that luxury.