From Migingo in Migori through Remba in Homa Bay to Usenge and Uhanya in Siaya, Kenya, fish landing beaches are deserted as the Lake Victoria fisheries sector feels the aftershocks of the coronavirus pandemic.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew has sent shock waves in the market with the price of fish dropping in some beaches and skyrocketing in other areas as confusion reigns in the sub-sector that feeds more than five million people living around the Kenyan side of the lake basin.
The fishermen who were waiting to cash in on the reduced fish imports from China due to the Covid-19 pandemic have been hard hit by the tough conditions imposed by the Government to tame spread of the virus which has killed one person and infected 59 other people in the country.
Were stuck.
While The Standard established that some fishermen in some beaches were stuck with loads of Nile Perch and tilapia because of lack of market occasions due to traveling restrictions, others trading on Omena (dagaa) have hiked the prices because of high demand.
At Kisumu’s Jubilee Fresh Fish Market, the price of tilapia has fallen by between 20 and 50 per cent due to shortage of customers even after importers of frozen tilapia from China reduced the shipment by as much as 50 per cent. This reduction in fish imports would have been a blessing for local fishermen, but this is not the case.
Also worst hit is the Nile Perch export market after buyers stopped reaching out to fishermen because of the ban on international flights. A trader in Kisumu, Eunice Gaya, yesterday told The Standard that, a 2kg tilapia that used to retail at Sh1,500 was going for Sh1,200.
Before the coronavirus crisis, I used to order supplies of 250 kilos of tilapia. Today, I can only buy 80 kilos because there are no customers, Ms Gaya said.
The curfew has hit the Omena fishermen hard because a huge percentage of natural fishing activities take place at night. At Nyenye Misori beach in Bondo, the little available Omena, commonly known as the poor man’s dish, was going for Sh1,400 per quarter of a sack, up from Sh800.
At Usenge, one of the biggest beaches along the Lake Victoria shores, fishermen have taken a break and boats are lying idle.
Statistics from the Kenya Maritime Authority indicates that there are at least 40,000 vessels within the Kenyan waters of the lake, with at least 90 per cent being used in fishing.
About 70 per cent of the local production come from Lake Victoria, and the fishermen are expressing fears that the country’s fishing industry may collapse due to the curfew.
As fishermen we have been complying with the measures aimed at reducing the spread of the virus, said Bob Otieno, the chairman of Dunga Beach Management Unit in Kisumu.
According to Mr Otieno, much of the dagaa (omena) and Nile Perch fishing takes place at night using artificial light.
In every boat, we have almost three people, so the issue of crowding is not there. We also wash our hands regularly, and we have the beach managements which control movement and operations within the beaches, he said.
The beach produces between one tonne to 1.5 tonnes of fish on a daily basis, and Otieno says shutting down the sector would be a big blow to the consumers too.