Fishermen, fishmongers say tonnes of fish are rotting in the market

The demand for fish from Lake Naivasha has dropped by more than 40 per cent in the last two months.

Fishermen and fishmongers say tonnes of fish are rotting in the market, attributing this to bad weather and the region's volatile politics.

A visit to the Karagita landing beach on the southern part of the lake paints a gloomy picture of the market.

According to fishmonger Mary Mwihaki, the demand had dropped to worrying levels, with orders from beyond the area also dropping significantly.

Ms Mwihaki said the ongoing rains coupled with the spreading water hyacinth in the lake were to blame for the change in fortunes that had seen fillet-making varieties vanishing from the market.

"Carps are good for extracting fillet, which has a good market value, but now we are hardly catching any," she said.

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The traders said the drop in demand had also been recorded in traditional markets such as Nairobi.

Jedidah Awino said some of her clients in Nairobi who were planning to leave the capital city owing to the current uncertainty around the October 17 repeat presidential election had either cancelled or reduced their orders.

"We are making huge losses. If we cannot sell fish, where are we going to get money?" she asked.

Fisherman Peter Kinyanjui said the current weather spelt doom for the sector as stakeholders called for concerted efforts to help curb the spread of water hyacinth.

"Some parts of the lake cannot be accessed due to the weed," said Peter Muthui from Friends of Lake Naivasha.