At Luanda Kotieno, fishermen stand guard to protect breeding sites

 

Fishermen arriving at Luanda Kotieno beach after a fishing expedition.

Located in South Uyoma Ward Rarieda, Siaya County, Luanda Kotieno is a popular beach on the shores of Lake Victoria.

This is where visitors and residents board the ferry to Mbita Island in Homabay. 

It is also here where a community of fishermen is making a fortune out of fishing. 

They speak to Smart Harvest about their journey to improve the catch and earn more income, the challenges and how they have managed to overcome them. 

After several years of suffering from the challenges of dwindling stock in the lake and illegal fishing gears among other emerging problems, fishermen in Luanda Kotieno decided to put up measures that will help increase their catch even as they wait for other support from both county and national government. 

One of them, who only gives one name, Oduor, says that at Luanda Kotieno beach they have been able to get improve the catch from the lake for quite some time now. 

He notes that for them, things are a little different as the Beach Management Unit (BMU) leadership has put in some strict rules barring the use of illegal nets in their area of fishing and protecting the fish breeding zones. 

“I can confidently report that since our new chairman of the beach took over leadership, we have seen a decrease in the use of illegal fishing nets which has in turn enable us to get a good catch anytime we go for a fishing expedition,” reveals Oduor.  Oduor who started fishing in 2016 says initially when he started fishing it was lucrative since they were able to get a good number of fish but along the way, they began having challenges which affected fish production including use of illegal gears by their counterparts among other issues like climate. 

“Although the stock in the lake has now reduced because of the climate change and other issues, we are glad that we are able to get something now after the stringent measures put in place by our BMU,” he explains. 

He, however, notes that there is still more that can be done to improve the fishing sector like providing life jackets to most of them and also ensuring that the illegal fishing gears are done away with in totality. 

“When I started fishing my counterparts and I would return with over 100 kilograms of fish after every fishing expedition but now we only manage 10 kilograms which is the highest while others get none at all,” he adds.  Dickens Ochieng, who is also a fisherman and the secretary of the Luanda Kotieno BMU, says that compared to other beaches in the area, the production of fish in their beach has improved because of the measures they have put in place to protect the lake.

He says their efforts to tame use of illegal fishing nets, protecting the fish breeding zone which has high surveillance day and night has paid off. 

“We have a surveillance team and monitoring surveillance control which is done on daily basis both day and night to protect the breeding area.

“We discourage illegal fishing practices using illegal gears and this is something that even our regional office has emphasised on and even given our BMU credit for working tirelessly on,” he says. 

“For example, because of our measures we have increased production. Nile perch which is the most targeted species in the beach we are able to get around 13 tonnes in a month while tilapia production has increased a lot and this month alone, we have managed a bumper increase, and this will show in our monthly data.” 

He, however, says they are still affected by challenges such as the dwindling stock in the lake and also insecurity which needs to be addressed by both county and national government to improve the sector.  Ochieng says the fish caging business which also began in 2015 at Luanda Kotieno beach has also increased to over 1200 cages. 

“We have outsiders who have also out up their cages here and we have seen this venture increase the number of fish compared to the past. We urge the county and national government not to forget Lake Victoria which has highly contributed to the economy of this country,” he says.  According to the data report shared by BMU office at Luanda Kotieno in the month of July this year they managed to catch up to 31,115 kilograms of tilapia and 17,624 kilograms of Nile perch.

In the month of August they managed to catch 34,580 kilos of tilapia and 11,708 kilos of Nile Perch, while in the month of September they caught up to 27,489 kilos of tilapia and 9118 kilos of Nile Perch. Michael Omondi, ward representative of South Uyoma where Luanda Kotieno is located, said that both the national and county government have done good work in supporting the efforts of the fishermen including a construction of a mini fish processing plant in Luanda Kotieno beach. 

MCA Omondi said that in the current county budget, there is an allocation for life jackets for all the beaches in the county to help with safety in the lake. 

He notes that the county government has also provided fishermen especially those who practice fish cage farming with fingerlings to improve the stock. 

“These jackets will be given to all fishermen in all the beaches so that they practice safe trade as they go about their business in the lake. We all know that they have been having safety challenges especially accidents.

“The Sh150 million fish processing plant is also complete, and the county government is working towards bringing an investor by end of this month.

“If you also look at the budget of the county the fisheries department has also received a huge allocation to support fishing activities,” the MCA said. 

Agriculture and Fisheries county executive Sylvester Kokoth says among the things they have done include legislative support by developing the Siaya County Fisheries and Aquaculture Act and is currently working on the regulations to inform suitable investments in fisheries. 

He says they provide continuous training and capacity building of BMU to enable them act as responsible managers of fisheries resource. 

“We have constructed, rehabilitated and secured most BMU’s to promote safe and sustainable food handling practices through improved infrastructure.

“We also provide fisheries inputs including fish cages, fish feeds, liners, predator nets, water quality testing equipment among other things to reduce pressure on the lake caused by overfishing wild fish,” Kokoth says.

He adds that in partnership with Kenya Shipyards, coast guards, Kenya Wildlife Services and Kenya Fisheries Services, they are in the process of establishing a multisectoral monitoring control and surveillance unit to protect fisheries and blue economy resources in Lakes Victoria and Kanyaboli.