Aquaculture for all

Nairobi Policy to Spur on Fishing Sector

NAIROBI - The value of the fishing sector is projected to grow by between 10 and 20 per cent in the next five years if strategies proposed in a new policy and legal framework are realised.

According to Githua Kihara, writing for Business Daily, the value of the fishing sector is projected to grow by between 10 and 20 per cent in the next five years if strategies proposed in the new policy and legal framework are realised, the Minister for Fisheries Development, Dr Paul Otuoma, said in Mombasa after a retreat to finalise the draft policy to be presented to the Cabinet.

The policy, said the minister, specifically targets the expansion of aquaculture, value addition, exploitation of offshore fisheries in Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in international waters and capture of the data as well as marketing of fish products.

The sector has contributed significantly to the generation of revenue and foreign exchange. It earns about Sh8 billion along the landing sites, Sh11 billion gross earnings to traders along the domestic value chain and gross value of Sh 7.5 billion at the wholesale export market level, the minister said.

This translates to 0.5 per cent of GDP, which is far much below the five per cent potential if fishing was properly managed. “The new policy and legal framework currently being finalised by my ministry aims to address the anomaly and bring the true potential of the sector,” Dr Otuoma said adding that EEZ alone had the potential of producing about 150,000 tonnes of fish annually.

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