Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Homa-Bay Town.
FISHING business activities has resumed in earnest after the current and strong winds swept away the water surface of Lake Victoria leaving it clean.
The stakeholders and those involved in fish mongering business as well as thousands of fishermen operating in the rake were on Wednesday this week seen preparing their boats and other fishing gear in readiness to re-deploy them on the lake.
The menace of the water hyacinth weeds did not only hampered the fishing activities, but also blockaded the water surface and even ships steamers and all vessels plying the region, especially those ferrying cargoes and shop-good between the eastern shore of Kisumu pier to neighboring countries like Uganda, Rwanda and Northern Tanzania had come to virtual the last seven months.
The worse hit areas were along the shorelines of the Nyanza Gulf {formerly Kivirondo Gulf covering Bondo, Rarieda, Seme, Kisumu, Nyando, Nyakach, Rachuonyo North and Homa-Bay.
The weed had blocked the lake water making the navigation of steamers and even fishing boats impossible. On two occasions, the government was urgently summoned to avail police helicopter to come to the rescue of fishermen whose boats were stranded in the lake for several days without food or water for drinks.
This happened near Soklo Island ,which is just located a few kilometers outside Homa-Bay town and in Karabondi area in Karachuonyo east.
The invasion of water hyacinth weeds in the last seven months had hampered the fishing activities and has sent the price of fish skyrocketing. Close to 50,000 fishermen are operating inside the Kenyan side of the second largest water mass, which is shared between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
A good number of fishermen had abandoned their trade and quit the trade in search of green pasture elsewhere. The fishing industry is the mainstay of the economy of the region, coming only second to sugar cane farming.
Experts say that there are close to 4000 fishing boats operating in Nyanza Province and the industry is supporting close to 3 million people, especially those living close to the shorelines of the lake.
The Kenyan fishing communities stretches from River Sio and Rwambwa areas Busia, Busia district and covered the widest area which included the two Nyakach, Nyando, Seme in Kisumu County , Raried and Asembo, Yimbo, Mageta Islands, Oyamo Island, in Uyoma peninsula in Siaya County and,,Gwassi, Mbita, Rachuonyo, Rangwe, in Homa-Bay County,and also small portion of Nyatie in Migori County.
Statistics recently made available by the fisheries department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment moderately indicated that Kenya is raking in Kshs 13 billion annually in foreign exchange as the results of its export of the highly prized Nile Perch filets to the Middle East, Japan, Israel, EU and the US.
Residents of Nyanza Provnce, however, have appealed to the government to find the lasting solution to the menace of water hyacinth weeds.
It could be either removed by mechanized means or manually by hired youths the same way the Ugandan government has done.
A recent report released by the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute revealed that the number of fishermen and fish landing sites in Nyanza Province has decreased and reduced drastically in a span of two years.
The report released in Kisumu two weeks ago indicated that fishing landing sites decreased from 324 in 2010 to 311 last year due to the menace caused by the water hyacinth on Lake Victoria.
It also send a warning signal about the dwindling stock of fish in the lake due to over-fishing, the use of illegal fishing methods
The problem is blamed squarely on lack of protection of fisheries resources and corruption by those assigned the duty of protecting it by the relevant Ministry.
Ends