Source: All Africa
Earnings from foreign fishing vessels have been dropping over the years because of piracy off the East African coast. Vessels are shifting to safer waters in southern Africa, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
In the last four years, the vessels have reduced from more than 80 to 35 this year, said the chief fisheries officer at the Marine and Coastal Fisheries directorate, Mwaka Barbara.
“This is a significant drop in the past few years and it is mainly attributed to pirate attacks in the East African waters,†Ms. Mwaka said.
“Foreign fishing lines pay an annual fee of Sh4.5 million after the fee was revised last year from Sh2 million,†she said.
The managing director of East African Deep Fishing Ltd, Mr Jose Gonzalez, whose fishing vessel MV Sakoba was hijacked last year, said, in an earlier interview, that operating in the East African Indian Ocean had become a huge challenge for the fishermen due to pirates.
Most of the fishermen do not process catches locally but exports to the European Union - mainly Portugal, Italy and Spain - making it easy to relocate in case of a change of environment.
In the past three years, pirate attacks have grown with vessels off the Somalia coast being the main target. For the first six months this year, there were 266 attacks compared with 196 a year earlier, according to the London-based International Maritime Bureau.
The chairman of the Kenya Association of Sea Anglers (Kasa) Simon Hemphil, an association bringing together operators of sport fishing boats, said earnings in the sector has been affected by the rising insecurity.
“Operators now have to keep a line of communication with the rescue centre in Mombasa and cannot venture far to avoid losing the contact,†Mr. Hemphil said. This is an inconvenience that many would rather avoid.
Although there are more than 25 naval ships patrolling the Somalia waters, policing the region has become a huge challenge to the warships. Kenya does not have capacity to monitor the fishing vessels.
Unless Kenya invests in deep-sea fishing vessels, it risks losing the opportunity to catch more than 150,000 metric tons of marine fish.
Some of the big processors in Mombasa rely on the fish from foreign vessels. Some fish species such as Tuna, which are found in deep seas, also find their way into the local market through the foreign vessels.
Poor policing has also seen Kenya territorial waters exploited in illegal fishing by vessels not registered in Kenya.