Fishing industry: Sleeping giant in Coast

They wake up early to go deep into the ocean, toil to bring fish ashore for traders, but sadly, what they make is not enough to lead a decent life. That describes the life of fishermen at the Coast.

But the irony is that the fishing industry at the Coast is a multi-billion shilling industry, but its potential is yet to be tapped. A number of factors have conspired to ensure the sector remains low performing.

At its full potential, the fisheries industry at the Coast is worth Sh40 billion per year. Currently it is worth only Sh5.6 billion annually, or a miserable 14 per cent of its full potential. Surprisingly, the marine fish abundance is estimated at between 150,000 and 300,000 metric tonnes per year. However, the current marine production is about only 25,000 metric tonnes per year worth about Sh5.6 billion annually. 

Coast fishermen display their catch of a Ray fish. PHOTO BY MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD

But why this depressing performance?

Mr Hamid Omar, the chairman of Wavuvi Association of Kenya (WAK) which has about 67,000 members countrywide shares insights. Omar agrees that the industry has huge potential that is yet to be tapped. “If local fishermen are properly funded, we can do value addition, acquire relevant export licenses and improve the lives of the struggling fishermen,” says the Wavuvi chairman.

To boost the fisheries industry, Omar says the government needs to equip fishermen with modern, powerful boats and other equipment such as ring-nets, oxygen cylinders, cold storage facilities and access to market outlets. Omar says they are not only grappling with lack of technology but also basic issues that affect their performance.

He says Beach Management Units (BMUs) which are fish landing sites, have no toilets or bathrooms and yet these are like the work stations for fishermen. Currently there are about 179 Beach Management Units supporting more than 80,000 fishermen between Vanga and Lamu. They are distributed as follows Mombasa County 15, Kwale County 20, Kilifi County 17, Tana River County 2 and Lamu County 125 landing sites.

Omar also cites lack of serious local investors in the industry, leading to a sad situation where fishermen in Shimoni (Kwale County) catch more than 10 tonnes of octopus per month which are sold to a foreigner at Sh300 per kg. In turn, the foreign investor processes the octopus in Mombasa from where he exports the sea food to Europe where he fetches an impressive US$50 (about Sh5,700) per kg.

Types of fish in the ocean

He says local fishermen are proud catchers of all popular types of sea food found in the Indian Ocean including crabs, prawns, calamary, octopus, oysters, lobsters, king fish, rabbit fish, blue marlin, rock cord, sharks, etc. The fishermen also catch little known tiny fish exported live to Europe for use in aquariums. The tiny fish are sold in European cities at about Sh100,000 each, says Mr Omar.

On his part, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) Director General James Njiru attributes this dismal performance to a number of challenges. First he says is a notable decline in fish catches leading to low production. Limited capacity of Kenyan investors in fishing technology and sea going capabilities and skills, is also an issue, says the expert. Heavy capital investment for fishing and other land based processing and value addition facilities is also key. He mentions, low value addition for fish and fish products.

Climate change and fishing

He says the impact of climate change on fishing is an important factor. Climate change he says, is impacting marine ecosystems and fishing industries negatively in multiple and complex ways. Because of climate change, large-scale warming hitting up to 5 degrees centigrade by the end of the century, will lead to the reduction of surface and near surface nutrients and decline of fish production. In addition, KMFRI says there is continuing ocean acidification and deoxygenation, all of which are damaging for marine ecosystems.

Marine heat waves which have already caused devastating impacts on marine ecosystems in some regions are also a challenge, says KMFRI. Worse still, KMFR says Kenya’s marine environment is under pressure from a rapidly growing coastal population, estimated in year 2000 at about 3 million but which by 2019 had reached almost 4 million.

Overfishing, habitat destruction, and weak governance, also impact the long-term viability and sustainability of the coastal fisheries.

As a way forward, KMFRI is now putting in measures to ensure there is regular updates to industry stakeholders on both long-term projections of the key climate change stressors and near-term impacts, which would allow business operational decisions to be made.

Access to markets 

Fishmongers Miriam Kitsao(left) and Christine Charo(right) at the Kilifi Old Ferry beach. [Maureen Ongala,Standard]

Another area of concern that affects fish production at the Coast is limited access to premium markets for fish and fish products. 

The Kenya Fisheries Service (KeFS) conducted a survey in 2016 which revealed that the country’s marine fisheries support more than 13,000 fishers catching more than 24,000 metric tonnes of fish annually.

These fishermen use about 3,000 vessels To understand Coast’s fishing sector’s dynamics, KeFS’ Director General Daniel Mungai points out that the industry is divided into three main categories.

Small-scale fisheries operating at the nearshores, aquarium and sport fishery and long liners and trawlera (boats for commercial fishing) operating in the large-scale fisheries at the offshore waters.

Prof Njiru points out that fisheries is a key sector, providing income and animal protein to the Coastal communities while the industry sustains jobs for more than one million individuals as communities, processors, traders and other service providers. “The sector supports 0.4 - 0.5 per cent of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product,” Prof Njiru says.

Industry leaders agree that more needs to be done to boost fish production. The KMFRI director says last year industrial shallow water trawl fishery landed 93 metric tonnes of prawns worth about Sh59 million.

The industrial trawl vessels have a potential to increase the catches by targeting deep water stocks including high value crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, prawns) as well as other fish during the shallow water fishery season from May to September.

KMFRI and KeFS recently conducted surveys using Research Vessel RV Mtafiti which showed high concentrations of deep water stocks in the north Kenya banks and deep water canyons off Lamu.

The surveys revealed daily catch rates of over 350 kg per vessel mainly composed of deep water snappers, groupers, sparids and sharks. But what are Kenya’s limits in the Indian Ocean for fishing activities and how much of this legitimate space is utilised by Kenyan fishermen or companies?

“The marine fisheries are divided into the coastal inshore fishery localised within the 12 nautical miles covering an area of 9,700 km square, the offshore Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) fishery of 200 nautical miles covering an area of 142,000 km square, and a continental shelf of 100,320 km square.

The inshore fisheries are exploited by the local small-scale fishers using non-mechanised vessels within the territorial waters and recreational fishers while the Exclusive Economic Zone and the high seas are being exploited by Kenyan tuna long-liners. At the moment we do not have foreign fishing vessels licensed to operate in Kenya,” says Dr Mungai.

Dr Mungai says Kenya, as a member of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, has invested in conducting patrols and installing a system to monitor illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities in her zone. KMFRI is working on generating DNA barcodes of all fish species in her waters to aid in identification and tracking movements of fish within local and international markets.

Despite these challenges, KeFS and KMFRI - the two parastatals managing fisheries in Coast - say the  Government has extensively invested in bolstering the fishing industry through various collaborative initiatives.

They include, the Go Blue programme which is a partnership between the European Union and Kenya that aims to create jobs, improve incomes, and promote sustainable resource utilisation among coastal counties.