EU’s Hygiene Standards Threat To Kenya’s Tuna Industryff
9 June 2004
Kenya
Kenya’s fishing industry faces an uncertain future as the European Union, its prime market, embarks on implementation of new hygiene standards for imported products, researchers say.
Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (Kirdi) says that frequent trade and marketing conflicts between Kenya and the EU remains the greatest threat to the Sh7.6 billion industry.
In a forecast report released late last year, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock said export earnings were set to hit the Sh8 billion mark after the EU agreed to offer the country preferential treatment. Kirdi, however, says that the failure by exporters to diversify to other markets has put the industry’s future on the balance.
Statistics indicate that Kenya produces slightly more than 200,000 metric tons of fish and fishery products per year. The sector involves more than 46,000 artisinal fishermen operating about 11,000 fishing boats in both inland lakes and marine waters.
Besides those involved in direct capture of fish, the industry provides employment to hundreds of thousands of people who process and package as well as transport the products.
Central Bureau of Statistics says over 50,000 metric tons of the total annual production goes to export based fisheries industries. Approximately 18,000 metric tons of fish is exported, with the Lake Victoria Nile perch fillet accounting for 80 per cent of the total exports.
“Despite the great potential in the fishing industry, the sector is faced with many daunting challenges that need to be addressed if its potential is to be tapped,†Dr. Patrick Muturi, a director at the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (Kirdi) told the Financial Standard last week. “At the extreme end, it has been forecast that the industry will become un-sustainable and face imminent collapse unless the said constraints are dealt with as a matter of urgency,†Muturi said.
Other than the non-sustainability of the EU market, Muturi said attention also needed to be paid to the rise in population among communities living around the natural lakes. He said that use of destructive fishing methods during the critical stages of the reproductive cycles of fish has also affected the total annual harvests. Muturi warned that the biggest threat to the industry is environmental degradation.
Currently, he said, the annual marine fish production landed from off-shore waters fluctuates between 5,000 and 7,000 tons, indicating that off-shore fisheries that include the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) with a potential of 200,000 tons in tuna and tuna-like species is yet to be exploited. Muturi said that this potential might lost unless the Government tightens its grip on the industry, with a special emphasis on environmental conservation.
“Over fishing and fishing of fingerlings are part of this problem. This issue has been exacerbated by pollution of the rivers and lakes through discharge of industrial and municipal effluents and wastes,†he said. He suggested that the private sector should be allowed to invest in the industry because part of the industry’s problem is the lack of infrastructure such as landing ports, accessible roads, cold storage and electricity.
The fish sector has in recently been affected by a series of set-backs that include declining fish stocks in the natural water bodies.
Conflict between various users of fisheries resources, cross-border fishing and trade conflict especially between Kenya and Uganda has also left a negative effect on the sector’s growth.
Kenya’s national fish harvests are derived from three major areas including inland lakes, dams and rivers, Marine Fisheries and aquaculture.
According to the deputy director of fisheries in the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Mr. Mathias Wafula, the sector’s troubles emanate from the fact that the department is yet to formulate a policy paper for the sub-sector. “At the moment, we are operating just on policy guidelines that are generally very short-term in nature,†Wafula said in an interview.
He said that the department has also found it rough trying to fund its activities even though the fishing industry contributes 5 per cent of the country’s GDP. “Even before we settle in any ministry, the department is told to be on the move. This is rather unsettling,†Wafula said. “The livestock and fisheries combined contribute 10 per cent of Kenya’s GDP but we receive just 1 per cent of the national budget,†he said.
Currently, the policy mandate for the Fisheries Department is contained in presidential circulars and is legally backed by the Fisheries Act.
