Fishing sector gets boost with Sh4bn to conserve Nile perch

Kenya is set to boost its fish exports to the European Union following plans to conserve the Nile perch in Lake Victoria.

The government has set aside Sh4.5 billion for conservation of the endangered Nile perch.

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Fisheries, Micheni Ntiba, said the decline in Nile Perch is mainly as a result of illegal fishing methods that has seen young fish stocks destroyed.

“Catching of immature Nile perch should be seriously discouraged so as to allow the species to grow to the required size,” Mr Ntiba.

The government plans to hire coast guards that would be deployed along the main fish landing beaches to control illegal fishing.

Kenya and other East Africa countries mainly rely on Lake Victoria to support their Nile Perch industries even though the business has in the recent years come under pressure from dwindling supplies and weak prices in the international market.

Low supply has led to closure of fish processing plants in the region and led to drop in exports to markets like Europe.

For instance, in 2008, shipments to the main EU declined by 10,000 tonnes and a further fall was witnessed in 2009 with the situation expected to worsen.

Exporters and fish farmers’ woes have been worsened by the fall in prices of Nile perch in key international markets due the influx of the cheap Pangasius in the market.

“The outlook is bleak, as it will take the resource quite some time to recover. Despite the lack in supply, prices of Nile perch are going down. This is mainly caused by the strong competition of pangasius fillets in the market,” Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in an outlook late last year.

Livestock permanent secretary Kenneth Lusaka said pressure by communities seeking to draw their livelihood from the lake’s resources was fuelling the problem and urged for diversification into other occupations such as commercial livestock keeping.

He said that the government plans to put up two slaughter houses in the Lake Victoria region so as to help the local farmers market their beef products for commercial purposes.

Experts recommend value addition through certification schemes, to make them more competitive.

Nile perch dealers on Lake Victoria have already taken up aggressive certification through various schemes such as Naturland, a German eco-certifier.

The certification covers about eight landing sites in the region with about 1,000 fishermen, in Bukoba, Tanzania. in the scheme.

Under the arrangement products from the area will be both frozen and chilled fillets and initially in German-speaking countries.

In an effort to curb illegal fishing in the international scene, Kenya and 90 other nations in 2009 struck a deal and endorsed a final text of a new treaty aimed at locking their sea ports to vessels engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The pact known as “Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing” was brokered by FAO.