Overview of Kenya’s marine fisheries

Worldwide, marine fisheries are important for food and nutrition security, economic growth and proving livelihoods. The Kenyan Government recognizes the fisheries and the aquatic environment as an important sector that spurs the country’s economic development blue print, Vision 2030 that emphasized sustainable exploitation of aquatic resources to support economic development, food security and employment. Kenya’s marine fisheries contributed 28% of the national production with small-scale fisheries contributing 80% while the industrial fisheries contribute 20% of the total marine catches. Despite this contribution, a consolidated overview of the marine fisheries in limited. This work therefore, reviewed historical and current data on Kenya’s Marine fisheries to inform investors, policy makers and managers. The artisanal fisheries catches show large temporal variations with the most species experiencing overfishing. This requires strong monitoring and regulation of the small scale fisheries for their sustainability. Catches of the longline industrial fisheries have declined since 2019, with an average catch rate of 1,065 kg·day-1 and 3,043 kg·1,000 hooks-1, this corresponds to an estimated annual catch of over 319 Mt, assuming 300 active fishing days per year. Catches from the trawl fisheries have remained higher in all the years with a continuous increasing trend, while catches from the deep water crab fishery are low but increasing over time reflecting a high potential in the fishery’s performance. The marine fisheries are subjected to limited effective management plans, inadequate studies on Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities and response of the fisheries to climate change that are necessary in the management and sustainable utilization of the fisheries resources. This overview provides a snapshot of the marine fisheries based on limited available data, we recommend that future work on the biology, distribution patterns, and stock status of the species exploited in the industrial fisheries.