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Counties in joint move to curb illegal fishing on Lake Victoria

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A fish monger in Kisumu town. Fishing in breeding zones and using illegal gear are depleting stocks in Lake Victoria. PHOTO | FILE

Five counties have drafted a Bill to collectively monitor fishing activities on Lake Victoria in a bid to curb illegal fishing and raise revenue collection.

Fishermen from Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay, Busia and Migori counties — which border the lake — will be required to register their boats with a beach management unit (BMU) and acquire licences from county authorities before going on the lake.

The move seeks to arrest losses in revenue due to undocumented harvests and destroyed fish habitats valued at millions of shillings annually by the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute (Kemfri) reports. The Kemfri biennial Fisheries Frame Survey (2012) showed that out of 20,800 gill nets recorded, over 5,400 were undersized and illegal.

It revealed a heavy presence of illegal fishing throughout the year and attributed it to poorly coordinated management and insufficient funding.

In a Bill drafted by Lake Victoria Riparian Counties Fisheries Committee, the counties are also seeking to avoid boundary and revenue wars by proposing uniform pricing across beaches and markets in the counties.

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The licences will allow fishermen to freely move from one county to another. Fishing on the lake has largely been devolved and counties collect revenue from licensing and registration of fishing activities and gear.

Dr Stephen Orot, the chairman of the committee, warned that the draft Bill was still at a primary stage and changes were bound to be made as it heads back to stakeholders for validation. Licence fees have not been conclusively determined.

Beach management units, fish processors and exporters, fishermen, fish farmers and mongers will this week validate the draft as it heads to the county assemblies later this month.

Unify counties

Dr Orot said the Bill will unify the counties in the fight against rising illegal fishing gear and methods which have resulted in dwindling fish populations on the lake.

He said the move was informed by the need to have a common script from which policies would be enforced, given the common problems facing the counties. The Bill, he said, is expected to become law by the end of December.

“We want a law that will unify the five counties in the exploitation of this resource (the lake), that is why we are keen on involving all those in the fisheries value chain before sending the draft for passage into law,” he said.

The Bill comes at a time when reports by Kemfri have warned of danger of overfishing in the lake.

In its 2012 report, Kemfri stated that challenges such as fishing in breeding zones, harvesting juvenile fish, and using illegal gear and methods were due to lack of knowledge on policies.

The consequence of this chaotic fishing pattern has seen fish prices perpetually rise.

“A two-kilogramme tilapia now costs as high as Sh500 up from Sh200...,” said Kisumu BMU chairman John Ouya.