In 1984, when Rashid Maneno, 56, started fishing soon after completing primary school, there was just one fish storage facility on location, he says. The shore was almost 150 meters away and the entire sea front was covered with mangroves.
“You didn’t have to venture far into the sea to catch fish. In the 80s, it was a short boat ride. There was plenty of fish. You returned to shore quickly, the boat halfway submerged with an overload of catch,” Mr. Maneno reminisces. “All around there were clean, virgin beaches with lots of fish and seafood.”
Over the years, however, a population surge, evident from around the year 2000, gradually pushed up demand for sea food. Coupled with the introduction and use of advanced fishing gear, Mr. Maneno says, he has helplessly witnessed pressure pile on fish stocks. To gain access to wider fishing fields, people have resorted to harvesting the mangroves.
Diesel fumes and spillage from small, generator powered boats operating in the area have compounded the pollution problem. Their sharp night lights and vibrating rotors disturb the natural marine environment and scatter the fish, says Mr. Maneno.
A shallower sea is prone to stronger, near-surface currents, according to Mr. Maneno. This, he says, poses a grave danger to fishermen out at sea with their boats.
“The changing sea environment has forced fish to move further away and swim deeper,” notes Maneno.
He also says he has observed some mangrove trees wilt, dry up, decay and fall into the sea. It’s unclear to him what may be harming the trees.
Failing rains, he says, have forced many more people in nearby villages to abandon farming in recent years and turn to fishing as a means of survival.
The fishermen are also turning to more unconventional methods to catch fish and harvest a variety of seafoods. According to Mr. Maneno, they throw bags of sand, assorted vegetation, shells of scrap vehicles, and trash into the ocean. The vegetation helps create false shading, which attracts fish, while the trash and sand raises the floor of the sea.