Illegal fishing nets worth about 1.2 million destroyed in Kisumu.

 Nyakach Sub-County Fisheries Officer Kevin Wamira lights up illegal fishing nets confiscated from various beaches within Kisumu County.The nets worth an estimated 1.2 million-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo

By Dickson Odhiambo.

September 6, 2018.

Illegal fishing nets worth about 1.2 million destroyed in Kisumu.

THE Kenya Fisheries Department has destroyed illegal fishing gears worth an estimated shs 1.2million.

In an operation that was led by Nyakach Sub-County Fisheries officer Kevin Wamira and witness by a Magistrate in Kisumu, the illegal fishing gears were mostly fishing nets confiscated from fishermen within Nyando and Nyakach areas.

Nyakach Sub-county Fishereis Officer Kevin Wamira said the nets are known as Omena Seine which are not recommended for fishing.

He says some of the beaches affected are Kichinjio and Dunga in Kisumu as well as some beaches in Nyando and Nyakach areas.

Addressing the press during the operation where the gears were set ablaze near the Fisheries offices next to the old airport, Wamira said his officers were on normal patrol within the various beaches of the Lake Victoria and netted the gears.

He says a total of 16 illegal nets were confiscated, adding that each net costs between shs 80,000 to 100,000.

He says they will continue to patrol the lake to ensure that fishermen use the right gears during their fishing expeditions.

He says the illegal gears undermines the conservation efforts by the fisheries department, adding that burning of such items sends a strong message to illegal fishers to stop using them.

He urges fishers to acquire only the right fishing gears, adding that they will not relent and will continue with the patrols to continue netting such illegal gears.

He adds that they do patrols three time per quarter within a year to ensure that the fishers use only the right gears.

Wamira adds that during the patrols within the Lake, they did not make any arrest.

“Let us protect our Lake and conserve the livelihood at all cost by ensuring that the right fishing gears are the only ones used for fishing,” he says.

He adds that the nets were taken from fishers who were using them on breeding ground of fish hence destroying such sites.

ENDS: