Kenya has reaffirmed its commitment to sustainable tuna fisheries management.
Speaking in Mombasa during the official opening of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission Special Session, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs CS Salim Mvurya said Kenya has been at the forefront in championing the effective management of tuna and tuna-like fisheries.
Mvurya said the session is taking place out of the collaborative effort between the government and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Secretariat with support from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), among others.
“The membership of this plenary is important as far as the management of fisheries resources in the Indian Ocean is concerned,” the CS said.
He said to ensure effective management of the tuna and tuna-like resources in the Indian Ocean as envisaged in the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA) of 2001, Kenya joined the IOTC on September 29, 2004.
UNFSA was initiated as a response to a fisheries management crisis involving a class of transboundary fishery resources. These fish stocks are found both within the coastal State’s Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and the adjacent high seas.
Mvurya said although fisheries resources are renewable, too much fishing pressure can result in stock collapse with unprecedented consequences to the population depending on fish for livelihood.