Gold rush: How illegal gallbladder trade threatens Lake Victoria fishers

Two years ago, Joyce Akinyi made a hard decision; the decision to halt Nile Perch fishing, and concentrate on dagaa (omena/mukene).

This decision came despite her having roared the lake for close to 15 years, making a kill from her massive Nile Perch catches during the period.

Her decision to quit Nile Perch fishing has turned out to have been instigated by the curse of fish maws which have become the most sought fish product, opening the space for smuggling and dirty business tricks.

In this trick, boat owners like Akinyi walk home in tears, as unscrupulous fishermen who work in their boats smile all the way out of the waters.

When this writer caught up with Ms Akinyi at Uhanya Beach in Bondo, Siaya County, she was supervising the docking of her fishing boats from the lake.

The 50-year-old fisherwoman has 20 fishing boats docking at the beach every day, and today, all of them are targeting dagaa.

“I stopped Nile Perch fishing. I don’t even want to be reminded of the experience,” she said as the interview began.

After a long silence, she retorts; “I had to do it for the sake of my peace of mind.”

Theft of maws

Boat owners, like Akinyi who do not venture into the lake, hire fishermen who operate the boats. Each boat is manned by between three and five fishermen.

So, there is this one day, Akinyi recalls, she got to the beach early morning as usual to receive her boats.

As the norm, when the boat arrives, the boat owner, together with the fishermen inspects the catch, and sell to traders at the beach, before settling daily expenses such as payment for the fishermen, taxes, among others.

Akinyi recalls how, after sales in one boat, she only managed to gather Sh12,000. Despite the ever dropping catch recorded that period, Akinyi says this was a record low.

“For a boat to get into the lake for a day’s fishing expedition, you put in between Sh30,000 to Sh40,000,” she said, noting that the money goes into buying fuel to power the boat, lighting equipment, paying the boat workers, among others.

Despite suspecting that something was wrong following this trend, Akinyi kept the faith, hoping that the next day would be better.

However, few hours later on the same day, Ms Akinyi got the shock of her life. A friend tipped her that one of her fishermen was spotted depositing Sh20,000 at a nearby mobile money shop, and was heard making a call to the supposed receiver of the funds, mentioning that it was a ‘good day’ in the lake.

After investigations, Akinyi discovered that the money was proceeds from sale of fish maws from Nile Perch catch supposedly from her boat.

“When I confronted them (fishermen), they admitted they had sold maws in the lake and threw away the fish. There is nothing much I could do, so I discontinued their services, but also stopped further venturing on Nile Perch fishing,” she said.

Lack of legal remedy 

About 70 kilometres away in Kisumu’s Dunga Beach is a similar story.

Paul Obala, a fisherman of over 20 years who operates three boats now, had to quit Nile Perch fishing.

In Obala’s case, one of his fishermen approached him to report to him after two of his colleagues betrayed him and carted away with proceeds from sale of fish maws.

“Had it not been for the disagreement between them (fishermen), I would have still been in the dark. So when he disclosed to me this information, he revealed how they had been doing the same for a long time,” said Obala.

Upon investigations, one of the accused fishermen was busted entertaining revellers at a nearby drinking joint, buying them several bottles of beer while boasting of his fortunes.

Obala says his only option was to dismiss the culprits, stop Nile Perch fishing, and concentrate on dagaa.

The situation was no different at Misori Beach in West Uyoma, Rarieda Sub County, where Beach Management Unit (BMU) Chairman George Rae confirmed the expulsion of five fishermen in February this year for engaging in the illegal sale of fish maws.

“We got reports that the fishermen removed maws from their catch, and sold to a middleman before disposing off the fish carcases in the lake. They all admitted to the mistake and we sent them away, and warned them never to be seen here again,” said Rae.

The decision to send them away, Rae said, was following a blanket warning to all fishermen at the beach after another of such incident in 2023, where some fishermen caught a Nile Perch weighing 89 kilos, removed the maw, sold and then cut the fish into small pieces to conceal their action.

“Some boat owners tried to beat this by planting their confidants among the fishermen working in their boats, but the confidants who including their relatives found themselves being compromised,” he said.

Advent of illegal maws trade

Maurice Misodhi, Dunga BMU Deputy Chair also confirmed having handled a couple of cases in which fishermen were suspected of engaging in the trade.

According to Misodhi, the vice was first discovered about five years ago following increased demand for fish maws.

“Previously we thought the gallbladder was just part of the wastes like fish intestines, and those buying the fish for consumption threw them away,” said Misodhi.

The situation, he says, however, changed when some businessmen began sourcing for the maws alone.

“Some Chinese nationals were coming to the beach to buy fish, then they take away the maws and leave the carcass there,” he noted.

Upon close monitoring, the fishermen discovered how valuable this ‘waste’ was.

In this unscrupulous trade, some fish maw smugglers track fishermen with the aim of buying fish maws.

To conceal their actions, fishermen open up the bowels of Nile Perch fish, remove the maws for sale, and throw away the remaining carcases.

This move is spruced by what the maws fetch.

“This is a new phenomenon which requires concerted efforts by all sector players,” Misodhi said.

A spot check by this writer along the beaches of Kenyan waters of Lake Victoria revealed that the faceless businessmen pay up to Sh60,000 for a kilo of fish maws.

This is quite enticing to fishermen since a kilo of Nile Perch goes for between Sh400 to Sh600 at the landing beaches.

James Chen is a Chinese national operating a fish maws processing firm in Kisumu.

Mr Chen, through his Hazina Ya Ziwa EPZ company, the biggest fish maws exporter in Kenya, exports the product to China. In 2013, the company exported 120 tonnes of dry fish maws to China.

He ventured into the business in the year 2004 is small scale in Lake Turkana, before moving to Lake Victoria.

“We are in a legitimate business. When we came in, people were disposing of the maws. But we began by capacity building the fishermen through forums at the beaches and fliers with detailed information about the maws, because fish maw is a traditional food in China,” he said.

At first, Mr Chen had to go to the beaches to pick the maws, but with time, he capacity build traders on how to extract the product from fish, preserve it and deliver to their store in Kisumu.

“Now we have over 200 agents who buy the maws from the beaches and deliver to our stores in Kisumu and Mbita,” he said, noting that the traders are registered, and must deliver at least five kilos of the maws, and must have certificate of transportation of fish and fish products from the Directorate of Fish Quality, Safety and Trade.

According to Chen, the demand for the maws increased following interest from traders in Uganda and Tanzania, as well as the establishment of two other maws processing factories in Kenya.

He admitted to have received reports of illegal traders using unscrupulous meant to acquire maws from fishermen.

“I have to say the reports have gone down, especially after measures were put in place by the various stakeholders,” he said.

Chen says China imposes seven per cent import duty on fish maws from Kenya, since Keny, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 95 billion dollars, is considered a lower middle-income country by the United Nations. Kenya on the other hand levies 0.5 percent export duty on maws.

In the contrary, Uganda and Tanzania are considered lower-income countries, hence their products do not attract this taxation in China.

This means Uganda and Tanzania maws have competitive advantage over Kenya maws in Chinese market. 

However, exporting to China fetches better income for Kenyan maw traders because the product goes to the consumers directly, in comparison to exporting it to Uganda and Tanzania traders who would act as middlemen as they also still take it to the Chinese market. 

Because of import duty-free policy for Uganda and Tanzania in China, Uganda and Tanzanians pay higher for maws at the lake.

This, Mr Chen claims, has seen traders from Uganda and Tanzania buy the maws from Kenya, and export to China through their countries, hence maximising profits, adding that they pay fishermen Sh5,000 per kilo of fish maws.

“This imbalance between Kenya and the two countries makes our product less competitive in the Chinese market, hence we have to pay fishermen lower rates in order to stay afloat,” he said.

And to supplement their income, Mr Chen says they have ventured into exports of dagaa, fish skins, and other agricultural products.

“Today, we are processing close to 70 per cent of the maws we used to process five years ago,” he said.

It is this imbalance, that Chen believes led to the sprouting of illegal traders, and middlemen took over, conniving with fishermen to sell them the maws without the knowledge of boat owners. 

However, data reported by the Kenya government on UN Comtrade, the United Nations trade database, offers a contradictory view. 

This data shows a seven-fold increase by 2023 in the country’s export of maws from the average it exported between 2015-2017 when the country started reporting its maw exports.

While Kenya used to export more of its maws to Uganda for processing, these dropped off after Uganda set an eight percent tax on maw exports in 2021.

But as Uganda has struggled to secure an MoU directly with China - the major final destination of the maws - and has instead exported the majority of its maws to Hong Kong, Kenya has managed to establish a direct link with China, which could potentially allow for increased profits. Kenya started exporting directly to China in 2022, and last year, China accounted for the bulk of its exports. 

Beating maws smugglers

Uhanya Beach is home to over 500 fishermen operating above 700 fishing boats. The beach supports at least 6, 000 people, trading on fish and related products, or working in the boats and the supporting economy.

Gregory Omondi, the area Beach Management Unit (BMU) Chair notes that he has had to handle cases of suspected theft of fish maws.

He however notes that the beach leadership uses guidelines with relations to landing of fish, and not fish products.

“When the fish land, we record and sell. We do not have any guidelines on fish maws, so if there are cases of theft of the maws and the carcases disposed of in water, we are affected by reduced landing capacity,” he said.

Once the fish lands, the owners can choose to sell them as a whole, or remove the maws and sell separately.

To curb the vice of theft of maws inside the lake, Omondi said the various BMUs across the Kenyan Lake Victoria beaches have come up with various policies.

Among the policies is a joint patrol in the lake to promote surveillance, as well as having fishermen only dock in beaches where they are registered to land.

“Through our network, we are also sharing information with regards to suspected unscrupulous traders seeking to influence fishermen to sell them maws,” said Omondi.

Fish maws, also known as swim bladders enable the fish to float in the water column, by adding or removing air, hence allowing the fish to adjust its buoyancy to stop it from sinking, or floating.

Apart from being a delicacy in some parts of the world, the maw is used industrially to manufacture of surgical sutures.

The maw makes two per cent of the weight of the fish.

George Okeyo, the Director of Migingo Fish Supplies Limited, a fish processing firm in Kisumu says the government is to blame for the mess in the sector which has provided fodder for illegal maws traders.

“The government has the power to crack down on this illegal business, but it is not doing it,” said Okeyo.

He proposes that the government should ban non-fish processors from trading on the maws.

“For traceability and streamlining of the trade, only registered fish processors should handle the maws,” says Okeyo.

According to Mr Okeyo, the company has recorded reduced processing capacity.

“As we speak, we are processing about 20 tonnes of fish per week, which is below our 200 tonnes capacity,” said Okeyo.

He notes that only five percent of the Nile Perch received at the factory for processing come with maws.

“Since our focus is fish filet, we do not turn away the fish coming with their maws removed,” he noted.

Okeyo’s concerns are supported by a 2020 policy brief by Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization on ‘Increasing the contribution of fish maws to national development and livelihoods of LVFO member states’ which points out that a significant amount of maws is extracted in un-gazetted places.

The report notes that the policy and regulatory frameworks to support extraction, trading and processing of maws in the region are very weak and not streamlined to keep pace with the rapidly growing and evolving maw trade.

To enhance the contribution of Nile perch maws trade to national development, the report proposes three policy interventions, which include; the interventions include; complying with international trade requirements, regional harmonization of regulations and standards, improving policy and regulatory interventions at the national government.

The report notes that maws from Lake Victoria have attracted investors mainly from China who have set up factories to process and export maws to Hong Kong.

It indicates that the investors work with local traders and agents to procure fresh swim bladders extracted by artisanal fish handlers operating at landing sites, markets and other fish handling areas. They also purchase some of the swim bladders fish processing factories which receive most of the landed fish.

But Mr Chen says the entry of fish maw traders has brought with it more benefits to the fishermen.

He says fish processors have had field day setting fish prices which favour them while disadvantaging fishermen.

“Today, a fisherman can remove the maws and sell to the maw processors, then sell the flesh t consumers, in case the fish processors decide to set law prices,” he said.

According to Nyenye Beach Management Unit Chair Daniel Odero, the weak fisheries laws in Kenya could be giving room for illegal cross-border trade of the maws, since several Ugandans and Tanzanians fish and dock in Kenyan beaches.

“It is not easy for Kenyan fishermen to access Uganda or Tanzania waters, as they get arrested and their gears confiscated. But lack of patrol by Kenyan security in the lake has seen fishermen from the two countries easily cross to our side, and I believe they cannot resist the temptations from the huge cash dangled by illegal maw traders,” he said. 

A technical report on economic valuation of the Nile perch products and by-products in Lakes Victoria published by Kenya Marine and Fisheries Institute (KMFRI) in June 2024 indicated that Nile perch industry in Kenya operates through 193 landing sites predominantly landing Nile perch, with an average beach price per kilo for small-sized fish being $2.26, medium-sized fish $3.47, and large-sized fish $4.50.

Streamlining fish maws trade

Samson Kidera, Western and Nyanza Regional Fisheries Coordinator admitted that policy gaps has made it difficult to respond effectively to the claims of illegal fish maw trade.

He noted that the islands in the lake have acted as conducive environment for the black market which is currently categorised as an economic crime in Kenya.

“Illegal fish maw trade is one of the issues we have numerous times encountered during our fisheries multisectoral engagements,” he said.

Taxation of the fishing sector is currently guided by the Fisheries Act Cap 386 and Fisheries (General) Regulations which impose taxes on fishing gears, licensing of fishermen, fish processing, fish movement, importation and export, shell handling, sports fishing, among other fishing related activities.

Other related taxes are the general income taxes, and trade licenses applicable to other businesses at the national and local governments.

The regulations do not have specific mention on fish maws, and how it should be traded. 

Despite no clear records on arrest of perpetrators, Mr Kidera said a multisectoral response bringing together the State Department of Fisheries, the Kenya Coast Guard, the Beach Management Units, the police and the Kenya Forest Services to escalate monitoring, control and surveillance to deal with the vice.

“We are currently working on regulations which treat fish maws as a product on its own. The document will provide guidelines on fish maw trade, and movement and taxation,” he said.

According to Fisheries Statistical Bulletin June 2022, an annual report by the State Department for Fisheries and Blue Economy, dagaa dominated the catch with 42 per cent of the total fish captured from Lake Victoria, then followed by nile perch at 25 per cent, Tilapia at 13 per cent, followed by others.

The report indicated that Lake Victoria’s Fishery accounted for 86,394 metric tons in 2022, which was an eight per cent decrease in catch compared to 94,349 metric tons recorded in the year 2021.

It attributed the decrease to increasing overfishing and illegal fishing practices driven by population growth and economic factors, which has put immense pressure on fish stocks.

The report however does not capture fish maws among the fish products from Lake Victoria.

Additional reporting by Annika McGinnis.

This story was produced in collaboration with InfoNile, an arm of Water Journalists Africa in the Nile basin and supported by the Pulitzer Center