Instead of paying Sh10,000 for legal fishing nets, fishermen have resorted to cheap illicit gear, mostly mosquito nets, now blamed for the declining fish stocks in Lake Victoria.
Concerned aquatic experts and policymakers in Homa Bay County say the fishermen are not only scooping out fingerlings from the lake, but fish eggs as well.
“Fishermen are now using unknown fishing gear such as mosquito nets scooping out immature fish hence heavily contributing to declining stocks,” says George Orimba, chairman of the Nayapuodi beach management unit.
He warns that if this is not checked, local people’s livelihoods and their food security hang in the balance.
Not so long ago, he noted, scores of women from the beaches used to flock markets and bus parks in the area with basketful of fish but currently, the crowds are getting thinner and baskets turning empty.
“Nowadays, the women and their baskets of fish are a rare sight, as are the large bags of fish waiting at bus stops with their owners to be transported to the neighboring markets,” he says.
Jason Ochieng, a middle aged fisherman concurs with Orimba that the catches from the lake are no longer bumper as they used to be. “These days, we go deep into the lake on fishing expeditions only to come back without a catch even during seasons that over the years were associated with large catches.”
A frail John Okello, 85, says he has been relying on fishing for a livelihood since the early 1950s. “In those days, we could catch loads and loads of fish just close to the shore. In fact, young boys would catch as much fish as possible using hooks, but not anymore,” he said. “These days, even if you paddle a canoe deep into the lake, there is no guarantee that you are going to come back with fish. The situation is getting worse by the day, and you can see for yourself that many boats have been grounded on the shores of Lela beach and Ngegu beach due to the futility of going out to fish,” he told KNA.
The same situation is playing out in other areas where fishermen used to rely on for good catches, including Remba, Takawiri and Karachuonyo.
Jacob Okumu, an official with a local community based organisation, says the decline of fish stocks suggests that fisheries departments in the three countries sharing Lake Victoria are allowing illegal and unregulated fishing to continue thriving unabated.
“Unfortunately, some of these fishermen have been using illegal fishing gear including mosquito nets thus trapping fingerlings and eggs. This paints a hopeless situation because there is no chance for the replacement of the harvested fish stocks,” said Okumu.
John Apiyo, a fisherman at Ngegu beach, said legal gears are way too expensive for an ordinary fisherman to buy. He says his colleagues use illegal gear as they play cat and mouse chase with officials from the department of fisheries.
The fisherman notes that a legal fishing gear goes for as much as Sh10,000 yet an illegal one, usually a mosquito net, can cost as little as Sh500.
Stakeholders in the fishing industry are in agreement that the dwindling fish stocks threaten the livelihoods of thousands of Homa Bay County residents directly employed as fishermen and those involved in fish processing, fish marketing, net making and boat building.
An official from the Agriculture and Fisheries department in Homa Bay County government, who preferred not to be named, said some Beach Management Units (BMU), which are expected to work closely with the government in curbing the menace, are often compromised by the unscrupulous fishermen.
The official says Nile perch and tilapia are the most illegally trapped species.
2015 AllAfrica