Mombasa seeks to boost income for small-scale fishermen in boats plan

Mombasa County is set to make two more boats this year at a cost of Sh40 million to support small-scale fishermen and boost their income.

Last November, the county handed over a new boat worth Sh20 million to 2,500 small-scale fishermen for them to venture into commercial fishing.

The 10-tonne boat was made locally in Liwatoni, Mombasa, after the county government in collaboration with KCB Foundation, contributed Sh30 million each for the project.

The project aims to improve fishing gear for the fishermen to access the deep sea to improve their catch and earn higher income.

Last Friday, the county and KCB Foundation project made a milestone after the boat, which went fishing for the first time in the deep sea, returned to the Old Port in Mombasa, with a huge catch of 1.7 metric tonnes of fish.

Yesterday, county Fisheries executive Anthony Njaramba said it was impressive that the boat that went fishing for one week with eight fishermen onboard, brought a big catch valued at Sh450,000.

He added that the fish included species such as shark, broadbill and tuna.

“It is very encouraging that after our fishermen went fishing in the deep sea for the first time, they came back with 1.7 tonnes of fish.

“It was an incredible catch since it’s a low fishing season. During the trial, the boat came back with 300kg of fish after it spent three days in the Indian Ocean,” he said.

Mr Njaramba said the county targets between three and five tonnes a month of fish catch using the boat.

In terms of earnings, the county projects that commercial fishing using the boat would rake in Sh1.2 million per month.

“From the first catch, we have confidence that commercial fishing can help turn around the lives of our fishermen and the county’s economy,” he said.

The Fisheries executive added that the county plans to build two more boats this year at a cost Sh40 million.

He said the second boat would be unveiled in June while the other one would be ready before the end of the year.

Since the County has 14 beach management units, he said, the County government intends to make a total of 14 boats so that each unit can have its own boat.

And as the catch increases, the County plans to put up a processing plant for value addition to create jobs and better returns from the venture.

The boat coxswain Salim Abdalla said they enjoyed fishing in the deep sea, adding that they covered about 50 nautical miles in their maiden trip.

“For the fishermen, fishing using a boat is was a dream come true to them as over the years they have been using dug-out canoes,” he said.

He added that the County government’s boat initiative would change fishermen lives, adding that many had been living in grinding poverty owing to poor fishing gear.

“Fishermen used to earn between Sh200 and Sh500 per day. But as a result of commercial fishing we expect to earn more from commercial activity,” he said.

Mombasa County has 6,000 fishermen, but so far only 2,500 have been registered as members of the 14 beach management units.

The County intends to register all the 6,000 fishermen so that they can benefit from the commercial fishing venture.

Mr Njaramba says the County government also plans to establish a boat making, a boat repair yard to support fishermen embrace commercial fishing to improve their living standards.

The County is also seeking support from the National government to address the long time challenge of foreign trawlers which illegally fish in the country’s territorial waters.

According to fisheries researchers, the government loses fish worth billions of shillings as a result of illegal trawler fishing.