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Foreigners continue to plunder marine resources with virtually no benefit to the country, the Kenya Association of Sea Anglers has said. Dr Simonit Hemphill, the association’s chairman, says commercial firms have been licensed "for a pittance" to fish in Kenya’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), some 200 nautical miles from the shore.
This area is the richest in tuna in the Indian Ocean. Hemphill says the Department of Fisheries (DoF) has entered into "access agreements" with deepwater fishing nations to fish in the EEZ.
"Under these agreements the vessels are under no obligation to land or trans-ship their catch to Mombasa. The bulk of the catch is taken straight to the vessel’s home port or to the tuna cannery in the Seychelles," he says.
But contacted by telephone last week, the acting Director of Fisheries, Mr Francis Wafula, declined to comment.
"We cannot say anything until we have seen Kasa’s allegations and it is only then that we shall decide whether to respond," said Wafula.
Department has not crafted a policy
There is only one tuna loining plant in Mombasa, the Wananchi Marine Products, which can handle one ship at a time.
Hemphill says instead of giving away our resources for "free" we should draw maximum benefits of which employment opportunities is one.
Kasa claims the department has not crafted a policy on licensing of commercial long lining and purse seining in the EEZ. The criterion for issuing licenses is willingness of the fishing companies to buy a license.
By the beginning of this year DoF had licensed 47 long liners and 33 purse seiners.
The Kasa chairman says illegal and unregulated vessels, whose number is not known, are also stealing our resources.
"The Government is yet to develop strategies for monitoring and surveillance of coastal waters to seize ships that are fishing illegally," he says.
He claims that patrol boats that were acquired by DoF last year are lying in Lamu, Malindi and Shimoni. Many of them are in a state of disrepair.
"Is this Government serious about looking after natural resources?" he poses.
Excessive external pressure
Hemphill says industrial purse seiners are mostly from the European Union countries or EU vessels sailing under some "flag of convenience" like Belize, Panama or Liberia to avoid EU regulations.
"The bulk of them are Spanish as well as French while the long liners are mostly from the Far East," he says.
A long line can be up to 50 miles long with 2,000 baited hooks. A purse seine is a huge net of between 1,500m and 5,000m, and 60m deep. It can encircle a school of fish.
He says the commercial fishing fleets use sounders that can locate a school of fish up to three miles away.
Whereas the purse seiners are required to pay $20,000 per annum in license fees, the long liners only pay $5,000 for a month, $7,000 for three months or $12,000 for a year.
"In theory, according to the Fisheries Act, they must also pay royalties, which is set as a percentage of the catch landed. But very little if any are ever recovered," he says.
"Uncontrolled commercial fishing has depleted many important stocks. The target species are tuna, broadbill swordfish and shark," he says.
He says this excessive external pressure threatens domestic fishing.
Resources raped and pillaged
Hemphill says there appears to be a theory in Kenya that the ocean is "a boundless resource that must be tapped with absolutely no regard for the future".
But unless serious measures are taken by Kenya and other Western Indian Ocean nations, these resources will continue to be ‘raped and pillaged’ to extinction. The Kasa chairman says the frequency of schools of young tuna has reduced dramatically in the last 20 years.
"One should not read too much in the exceptionally high catches (of tuna) in 2003 nor the high purse seine catches in the Seychelles in 2005," he says.
The high catches of tunas recorded in the Western Indian Ocean by the commercial fleets are believed to be as a result of improved catchability (fish remaining vulnerable to the gears for longer than usual due to increased food supply and more larvae surviving to adulthood).
"Scientists do not take into account improved catchability when estimating the amount that can be taken on a regular basis without reducing fish stocks," he says.
This would include improvement in fisher experience, vessel type, lines, nets, new winches and technology. All that makes the vessels efficient.
Kasa is calling for the drawing of a fishery policy to halt the extinction of the country’s marine resources.
"If such a policy exists then it should be revised by an independent body of experts and EEZ must be properly defined to protect vulnerable and domestic fisheries," he says.
He says the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute should be enabled to carry out research on marine resources for effective management. Source:
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