Coast fishermen net catch of the year

By PHILIP MWAKIO

Mombasa County

Mombasa's rare fish catch has been landed at a fish-landing site at an Old Town jetty.

Veteran fisherman, Masudi Rashid Monday morning landed what is billed the heaviest fish catch this year: A more than 400kg rare sunfish caught 30 nautical miles from the Kenyan coast along the Pemba channel waters.

The fish is the heaviest bony fish in the world and has an average adult weight of 1000kgs.

Fishermen turn the sunfish at the Old Town, Mombasa, Monday. The 400kg fish, was caught in the deep sea. [PHOTOS: Omondi Onyango/STANDARD]

Masudi said after a night long fishing expedition, they encountered the rare fish as it made an attempt at their 26 horse powered engine boat christened Pardesi.

"We battled with it and since we were using long line fishing, we managed to capture it and tied with strong ropes," he said.

Climate change

Sunfish are known to be docile and pose no threat to human divers but larger ones can leap out of water onto a boat.

"When our fishermen start landing rare fish, it is a clear sign of climatic changes taking place under water," Hassan Mohamed Hassan, National Museums education officer, said.

At the Mabandani fish landing jetty, hundreds of Old Town residents and fisher folks descended onto the beach after getting word that Captain Masudi and his three-man crew had caught the largest life fish. "I will eat it with those who want to eat," Masudi said when asked what he intended to do with the rare catch.

Records show the sunfish is a delicacy in some parts of the world including Japan, Korean Peninsula and Taiwan. The European Union ban sale of fish and fish products derived from the Molidae family of sunfish.

Act of bravery

Masudi and his crew had a rather good harvest because apart from the sunfish, the group also landed four sharks, several swordfish and sailfish. "We could not take it onboard and instead towed it all way to Mombasa," he said.

Old Town Beach Management Unit chairman Garwan Maad termed the catch as an act of bravery.

Mr Maad challenged the Government to provide incentives to fishermen to enable them acquire bigger and faster vessels, which could take them into deeper waters to fish.

Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate. Sunfish fry resemble miniature pufferfish, with large pectoral fins, a tail fin and body spines uncharacteristic of adult sunfish.

Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, orcas and sharks will consume them.

Sunfish are frequently, though accidentally, caught in gillnets, and are also vulnerable to harm or death from encounters with floating trash, such as plastic bags.