Kenya joined the global community to mark World Oceans Day on June 8, 2023. The national celebrations were held at the Jomo Kenya Public Beach in Bamburi, Mombasa County.
Kenya Marine Fisheries and Socio-Economic (KEMFSED) Project was among the main sponsors of the annual event that creates awareness about the need for conserving and sustainably utilizing marine resources.
Speaking at the event, Kenya Fisheries Director General Mr. Daniel Mungai, who was the chief guest, called for collective action by stakeholders to promote sustainable harnessing of marine resources for Kenya to benefit from the immense potential economic potential of its ocean space.
“The estimated annual economic value of goods and services in the Western Indian Ocean is more than Sh2.2 trillion, with Kenya’s share slightly more than Sh440 billion (20 percent),” said Mr Mungai.
He added: “For us to realize more benefits from our ocean, we need to come together to conserve our wonderful marine resources for future generations by pulling our conversation efforts in one direction.”
He underscored the importance of the co-management approach as a way to bring all stakeholders together “to dialogue, share, discuss, understand and agree and adopt the best options and solutions in order to sustain the ocean resources.”
Mr. Mungai said Kenya had adopted the ecosystem approach in the development of fisheries management plans to ensure effective management of our fisheries resources. This includes strengthening beach management units.
Other measures include improving monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) to protect fisheries resources by tackling illegal, unreported unregulated fishing, among other issues.
KEMFSED Project National Coordinator Patrick Kiara said the project’s top agenda was to eradicate overfishing in the inshore waters by, enabling fisher communities to access complementary livelihood options and address the lack of fishing skills and equipment which hinder the fishers to venture into the deep sea.
Said Mr. Kiara: The project also aims to reduce illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by strengthening governance tools and institutions; increase production from mariculture; increase national per capita fish consumption and reduce the high post-harvest losses exacerbated by inadequate fisheries-related cold chain infrastructure.
He announced that the project would soon award grants worth Ksh1.3 billion to 407 common interest groups for community projects across the five counties of Kilifi, Mombasa, Kwale, Tana River, and Lamu. This follows the first round of grants in which over 140 groups received Ksh320 million.
DG speech: Read the Full Speech by Kenya Fisheries Service Director General
NPC speech: Read the Full Speech by KEMFSED National Project Coordinator