Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts of Beach Seining In Kenya - an Information Review and Field Study - Final Report.

In Kenya beach seines were prohibited through Fisheries Department legislation in 2001. Despite this ban, and the authorities’ attempts to enforce it, the beach seine fishery is still commonly used both at the Coast and in Lake Victoria; at the Coast the use of beach seines is increasing. Attempts to replace the beach seines with other gear have proved to be not as effective as hoped. In order to gain a better understanding of beach seining in the country, the root causes for its continued use and the difficulties in enforcing the ban, the newly established Ministry of Fisheries Development has requested FAO to include Kenya in the Global Study on Beach Seining currently being conducted by the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of Rome Headquarters. From January to May 2008, the NGO Coastal Oceans Research and Development – Indian Ocean (CORDIO) East Africa has carried out the study with the financial support of the FAO Sub Regional Office for Eastern Africa based in Addis Ababa. In line with the term of reference of the study, a field survey has been undertaken in five landing sites (four in Coast Province and two in Nyanza Province) using participatory rural appraisal techniques and with the direct involvement of the local staff of the Fisheries Department. The follwing summarises the key findings and recommendations. Fishers from both Lake Victoria and the Coast were well aware of the negative impacts caused by beach seining operations. The most notable examples cited by both groups of fishers was the destruction of fish breeding ground habitats and the capture of juveniles. These were caused by the bottom dragging deployment method used to haul the nets, and the fine mesh, respectively. The most important positive impact of beach seining in both locations was income generation and employment leading also to food security from the consumption of part of the catches. In fact the catch sharing arrangements ensured that most of the fishing community benefit from the beach seine fishery. In addition, in both locations, the role of youth and women, the first especially during beach seining operations, the second more in marketing and processing of the catches was found to be very important. Within the scope of the present study it was not possible to measure the total number of households involved in beach seining, but for the Coast the total number of fishers was estimated to be anywhere between 11,000 and 18,000 out of a total 65,000 artisanal fishers. At Lake Victoria there are estimated to be 4,676 beach seine fishers in Suba District where the field study was done. This District accounts for around 51% of beach seine fishers in the Lake, therefore a total of around 9,400 beach seine fishers may be operating in Lake Victoria (Kenyan waters). Dependency on this gear extends further if the following figures are used: 186,336 people are enumerated to depend on fishing and fishery related activities for their livelihood in Suba District. Using the rough calculation of 30% are beach seine related, this gives an overall figure of 112,000 for the whole Lake. Thus in total, in Kenya, probably around 20,000 fishers are using beach seines, and at least a further 200,000 people may be dependent on this gear for their food and livelihoods. The use of the beach seine has persisted in both locations, despite the ban and despite the level of enforcement being higher in Lake Victoria than at the Coast. Beach seine use has increased over the last two years at the Coast. The major difference among the two case studies is that the majority of fishers at the Coast were driven to the beach seine fishery due to a lack of alternatives, while fishers in Lake Victoria are attracted to the beach seine gear due to the rich Nile perch fishery associated with the gear and the ready market that is readily available for the landed fish. The following management recommendations are proposed as temporary measures for the immediate term to address the difficulties in enforcement. They are put forward for discussion and consultation, particularly with the policy and management agency (FiD) and also the fishers themselves. We propose an iterative approach whereby options are put forward by different stakeholders and are then discussed and consensus reached on the most appropriate way forward.

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