Fishing is an important economic activity that apart from providing food could contribute immensely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) records that fish and fishery products remain some of the most traded food commodities.
Exports of fish and fish products represent about 11 percent of the export value of agricultural products.
Vision 2030, Kenya’s economic blueprint, recognises fish farming and aquaculture as a source of food security, poverty reduction, and employment creation. The government’s Big 4 Agenda enlists food security as one of its pillars for achieving economic prosperity.
Fishing, therefore, is an important economic activity that apart from providing food could contribute immensely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) records that fish and fishery products remain some of the most traded food commodities.
Exports of fish and fish products represent about 11 percent of the export value of agricultural products. In 2018, 67 million tonnes, or 38 percent of total fisheries and aquaculture production, were traded internationally.
For the past 10 years, the fishing industry’s contribution to the GDP has stagnated at 0.54 percent, largely artisanal and subsistence.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the total value of fish landed increased from Sh23.6 billion in 2019 to Sh26.2 billion in 2020 due to an increase of Sh 1.9 billion in the value of freshwater fish landed coupled with increased price.
FAO notes that the average sustainable yield of Kenya’s marine and coastal waters Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is majorly for commercial fishing, is between 15,000 and 300,000 metric tonnes. The current production is 9,000 metric tonnes annually, indicating under-exploitation due to inadequate technology for deep-water fishing.
Apart from the coastal strip, inland fishing in Kenya is mostly from main lakes such as Lake Victoria, Naivasha, Turkana, Jipe, Tana River dam and Tana Delta.
The remainder is from dams, ponds and rivers. Lake Victoria which produces 100 times less than its capacity, contributes about 90.8 percent of the total inland fisheries production in Kenya.
Despite the neglect, the fisheries of Lake Victoria have transformed during in the last 15 years. The explosion in the growth and the strong demand for Nile perch in the global markets have helped transform the fisheries of Lake Victoria.
Although aquaculture farming has been gaining momentum, production from catch fisheries has been declining.
The main cultured species in Kenya’s freshwater systems are Nile perch and Tilapia, accounting for about 80 percent of production and African catfish, contributing about 14 percent of aquaculture production.
According to OECD, the application of technology aids data collection on fish stocks, better monitor, enforce and evaluate the impact of fisheries activities and improve the effectiveness of policies.
Technological advancements including the use of cold chains, automatic skipjack, forecasting of fish migration, fishing ground forecasting models, neon flying squid fishing could help spur growth in the industry.
The government must improve fish value chain by revamping production and processing to curb wastage, offer subsidies to farmers, improve transport, formulate friendly fiscal policies for sustainable economic growth.
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