[Source: Business Daily, by Winnie Atieno]
The government is set to recover and develop all grabbed public fish landing sites across Kenya’s water bodies. The process has already commenced on Lake Victoria in Nyanza and the Indian Ocean in coast.
Fisheries, Aquaculture and Blue Economy Principal Secretary Prof Micheni Ntiba said more than Sh300 million has been set aside for surveying, erecting beacons and recovering the landing sites in the first phase of the initiative.
“We are at the final stage of recovering the landing sites. After President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a presidential directive in November 2018 on the grabbed fish landing sites, we have been conducting mapping and sorting out disputes. It is a huge task,” Prof Ntiba said.
The PS said the funds set aside by the Ministry of Lands are being used for surveying, putting up final beacons and implementing other developments.
“Landing sites are important. They are like border posts and we need to protect them as such,” added the PS.
“We can’t develop all landing sites at the same time. We are developing six landing sites in Lake Victoria and six in the Indian Ocean. But next year we will continue with more repossession and infrastructural developments in the landing sites,” Prof Ntiba insisted.
The President had directed that all the maritime assets be returned to the government by April 2019.
In Mombasa alone, 25 fish landing sites have been grabbed by tycoons, according to a report by the county government.
Mombasa has more than 20,000 fishermen while there are 39 fish landing sites in the entire county of which 25 are said to be in private hands.
Likoni sub county tops in the number of fishing landing sites but most of them have either been grabbed or encroached on, hindering fishermen from accessing the ocean.
[Full article: Business Daily, by Winnie Atieno]
