Kenya’s ocean fishing sector now faces deeper scrutiny after the East African nation, alongside Brazil, Vietnam, and Tonga, unlocked a landmark agreement to promote oceanic sustainability by prohibiting harmful subsidies and strengthening sector management.
Brazil, Kenya, Tonga, and Vietnam formally ratified the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on September 15, 2025, which meant that the deal first agreed upon in 2022 came into effect after garnering requisite support of two-thirds of the members.
“The entry into force of this agreement stands as a reminder that many of the biggest challenges we face are more effectively addressed at the multilateral level. People and nations need a multilateralism that delivers, which is why today is so reassuring,” WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.
The WTO agreement means that governments are now prohibited from providing subsidies for overfished stocks and for fishing in international waters beyond their jurisdiction. Poorer states will be able to access a fund to help ease them into the deal.
Key implications of the deal on Fisheries Subsidies include a ban on overfished stocks, subsidies for unreported, and unregulated fishing, and fishing in unregulated high seas areas.
The agreement also introduces stronger accountability in the fisheries sector to limit subsidies.
“As signatories of the agreement, we must now lead by example by increasing surveillance on our ocean waters to limit overfishing. Players in our oceanic fishing sector should expect some enhanced scrutiny and accountability,” an official of the Kenya Fisheries Service said.
Kenya's marine fisheries are concentrated along the Indian Ocean coastline, encompassing artisanal, industrial, and recreational fisheries.
Most of the country's international seaborne trade is, however, carried out by foreign commercial or industrial vessels that mainly target shallow water shrimps, deep water shrimps, and lobsters.
Some foreign trawlers, mainly Chinese, Tanzanians, and Italians, have been accused of overfishing in Kenyan waters and damaging the marine ecosystem.
Records by the State Department for Blue Economy and Fisheries show that Kenya has been developing its industrial fleet and is currently having 12 longliners, two pot vessels, six purse seiners, and six trawlers in its Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ).
“The artisanal fishery accounts for most of the inland and marine water catches reported here, and consequently it is currently the most important fishery in the country, even though our EEZ, which is predominantly for commercial fishing, is underexploited with an estimated potential of between 150,000 and 300,000 tonnes,” the State Department said.
Official data shows that Kenya’s fish production from marine sources rose by 21.7 per cent to 48.6 tonnes in 2024, attributable to the introduction of open ocean fishing using a large net - the purse seine - to target dense schools of single-species fish such as tuna and mackerel.
“Overall, the total value of fish landed increased by 10.4 per cent from Sh 35.9 billion in 2023 to Sh 39.6 billion in 2024. The value of fish production from freshwater sources decreased by six per cent to Sh 24.4 billion in 2024, while the value of fish landed from marine industrial tripled to Sh 4.9 billion in 2024,” the Economic Survey 2025 said.
Records by the Kenya Fisheries Service show that marine industrial fishing has, in the past few years, increased for the deep-sea longlining, deep water trawling, and deep-water crab pottery but decreased for the shallow prawn trawl fishery.
For example, deep water trawl catches increased from 1,026 tonnes in 2021 to 1,158 tonnes in 2022, while deep water crab catches decreased from 137 tonnes to 104. Shallow water trawling catches decreased to 128 tonnes from 330, while longline catches increased to 508 tonnes from 432.6 tonnes.
Deep water trawling in Kenya traditionally takes place from November to March, while shallow water trawling commences from April to October.
The longline fishery mostly occurs beyond the 12 nautical miles, within the 200 nautical miles in Kenya’s EEZ and the high seas.
