Mixed fortunes for fisher folk

Over the past years, the Lake Victoria fisher folk have enjoyed fishing in one of the world’s second largest fresh water lakes, due to the abundance of diverse fish species.

The discovery of lucrative economic activity, which continues to dominate the Lake Victoria region, can be traced back to the 1950s, when many people, mainly the Luo community, ventured into the activity as their main source of income.

The trend picked up well and continued to expand following the opening up of new emerging markets for Kenyan fish products. The markets include Europe, Israel and Dubai among other countries.

But not until concern about the safety of fish from Kenya first arose in November 1997, that both Spain and Italy banned fish imports from Kenya, citing poor quality of production.

Although some member states of the European Union (EU) continued to import fish from Kenya on bilateral agreements, the country’s fish exports to the EU declined 34 per cent and foreign exchange earnings from fish dropped by 13 per cent between 1996 and 1997.

About 30 per cent of the fish was being exported to countries in Europe and other non-European countries.

Following the reports of a cholera outbreak in Kenya and neighbouring countries in January 1998, the EU again banned imports of chilled fish products from Lake Victoria, citing poor hygienic standards.

PREVIOUS YEARS

According to Senior Scientist and Kenya Marine Fisheries and Research Institute (KMFRI) programme coordinator of fisheries Jacob Ojuok, the ban caused a 66 per cent drop in the fish exports to the EU and a 32 per cent drop in foreign exchange earnings.

Apparently, a third ban in April 1999 followed a report that pesticides had been used in Lake Victoria to kill fish. This resulted in a further 68 per cent decline in fish exports.

Before the export bans, however, says Mr Ojuok, the European Union accounted for about 62 per cent of all fish exported from Kenya.

Nonetheless, one of the new markets that emerged during the ban, Israel, became the most prominent single importer of Kenya’s fish, a position it has upheld.

Mr Ojuok says the EU is still the preferred market for fishery exports from Kenya because of its relative proximity and accessibility, which allows for greater profit margins.

‘‘The ball is in our court to meet safety and quality standards in the European Union to enable the sector to remain in the global limelight,” says Mr Ojuok.

He adds that the decision by the EU in December 2003 to upgrade Kenya from category II to I of the countries exporting food to its markets further improved the fishing industry.

The KMFRI coordinator says this prompted the stakeholders to take stringent measures. For example, the fish destined to both local and export markets are handled in the most appropriate manner to minimise post fishing losses and relieving stress on the captured fish.

Currently, Lake Victoria accounts for over 90 per cent of the tonnes of fish caught, while marine fishing accounts for only four per cent of the total output.

The current estimation of Nile perch delicacies, Mr Ojuok says, is approximately 800,000 tonnes, while the entire lake has a global estimation of 2.4 million tonnes of all fish species, including Nile perch, Nile tilapia, catfish, mud fish, Dagaa among others.

Kenya claims six per cent of Lake Victoria’s total surface area, with 43 per cent being owned by Uganda and 51 per by cent Tanzania.

SLOW DEATH

Despite having the smallest share of the lake, Mr Ojuok says Kenya’s economy relies heavily on the fish export from the water mass, which contributes about Sh6 billion shillings ($50million) every year to the country’s economy. This translates to about 0.5 per cent of GDP.

However, the lakeside town has once and again in the recent years had its fair share of woes, which include the slow death of the lake due to drastic changes of fishing activities, and the release of industrial and chemical effluents.

According to KMFRI senior research scientist, the numbers of the Nile perch, which is the country’s chief fisheries foreign exchange, have been dwindling over the recent years due to overfishing in Lake Victoria, coupled with use of illegal gears and poisonous chemicals to harvest immature fish.

Mr Robert Wanyama, a fisheries expert in the ministry of fisheries, adds that the emergence of invasive plant species like water hyacinth and hippo grass have had the effect of dwindling fish stocks.

‘‘The ministry, in partnership with lake victoria management environmental programme (LVEMP) and other related stake holders, have been on the forefront in eradicating water hyacinth menace. We hope to completely tackle it to the near end,” says Mr Wanyama.

For instance, the Nile perch, which is on high demand and attracts up to $230 million, has been overfished, with their number dropping to below 190,000 from over 230,000. This has happened between 2010 and 2011.

Mr Wanyama notes that fisheries injects a mere 0.5 per cent to the country’s the gross domestic product compared to Uganda, where it accounts for 12 per cent and is rated second foreign exchange earner after coffee.

But with the new strategies (innovations and policies) that the ministry of fisheries and KMFRI have been undertaking in a bid to save the lake resources, the future of fisheries sector is deemed bright.

Among the innovative ideas put in place include the introduction of Beach management units (BMUs) around the lake shores, to monitor the substandard gears and poisonous chemicals used in the lake by fishermen.

The recent launch of patrol and surveillance boats strengthen the monitoring of illegal fishing activity in the lake.

Secondly, the implementation of Economic stimulus projects by the government countrywide has reduced pressure from the lake as many fishing communities are now embracing cage fishing, pond and fish farming..

Also, a new technology aimed at expanding digital based fish marketing strategy has also been put in place.

Dr Ojwang Oweke, a researcher at KMFRI, says the Electronic Fish Marketing system (EFMIS-Kenya) has increased fish supply to both local and international markets because the bigger fish also attract higher demand and returns.

‘‘We have set up a data base for our fisher folk countrywide to enable them to sell the fish at a favourable price. A fish monger can access the price of fish from all over the country and other neighbouring countries by just sending the name of the country or place to the code 22565,” says Dr Oweke.

Given the myriad problems that have been experienced at Migingo Island border, the government of Kenya is currently in talks with Uganda once again in a bid to solve the on-going wrangles between Kenyans and Ugandans occupying the little island.

The head of the Kenyan delegation to the Ninth Uganda –Kenya joint border commissioner’s meeting last week, James Ole Serian, said they had jointly embarked on the review of the border to end the stalemate.

‘‘We believe that the long-time territorial spat over the island in Lake Victoria will soon be resolved in a diplomatic manner,” said Mr Serian, who is also the Western regional coordinator.

During the Kenya-Uganda Ministerial meeting held in Nairobi in 2011, it was resolved that the survey team would produce a report and come up with practical modalities to conclude the survey and demarcate the boundary.