Nakuru County to build fish processor with eye on higher revenues

Nakuru County will build a fish processor, complete with a preservation unit, in Naivasha at a cost of Sh8.1 million.

Speaking in the town on Thursday during the commissioning of four patrol boats, Governor Kinuthia Mbugua said the proposed project will go towards value addition.

Land acquisition and project design work are almost complete, he said.

“The lake has six different species of fish which are of great commercial importance, the two dominant species are tilapia and common carp,” said the governor.

About 692 metric tons of fish valued at Sh68.4 million were harvested from the lake last year. Between January and September 2015, 823.6 metric tons, worth Sh97,123,995, were harvested.

Mr Mbugua said the county government, through the Directorate of Fisheries, had licensed 100 fishing boats.

“We have more than 400 fishermen operating in the fresh water lake,” he said.

He said that the county government was supporting fish farming to deal with overfishing on the lake and meet high demand for the product.
Mr Mbugua said the county had 1,690 fish farmers and 1,850 ponds.

The governor assured fishermen that he would address the issue of fish landing beaches which are under threat from private developers.

He said that studies were underway on the water hyacinth menace on the lake, which hampers fishing, and that they were looking for a lasting solution to the problem.