Kenya looks to Seychelles to help develop new ocean fishing industry

The Kenyan government is hoping to gain a deeper understanding of the do-

mestic fisheries sector in order to help the newly launched Kenyan fisheries industry.

Yesterday, six officials from the Kenya Fishing Industries Corporation (KIFC), and the State Department for Fisheries, Aquaculture and The Blue Economy of the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives, started on a familiarisation tour of the Central Command Cold Store (CCCS), the biggest cold storage facility in Seychelles.

Kenya transitioning from freshwater fishing to sea fishing

Mikah Ongeri Nyaberi, Head of the delegation and CEO of the KIFC explained that the Kenyan government has recently turned its sights towards sea-fishing, with the realisation that fish stocks on which they relied in the past are fast depleting. “Kenya is an agricultural country. Fisheries, generally, we

Dr Nyaberi of the KIFC

used to rely on freshwater fish, and now we have realised that the stocks of freshwater fish are much less, so we are changing our alliance to sea fish, which is why we are now putting more effort in Seychelles,” “The fisheries industry is still coming up in Kenya, we have not relied on it much, and it does not generate much money for the government, but we realise it can make money, so we are now building it up” Mr Nyaberi stated Interestingly the visit comes right after the promises of special collaborations between President Wavel Ramkalawan and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who left Seychelles last night.

Operations Manager Gary Aglae welcomes the delegation

The KIFC is a state corporation established with the mandate of facilitating the exploitation of fishery resources in Kenya fishery waters and high seas, by promoting the establishment and efficiency of businesses engaged in the sector and related activities. Prior to 2015, Kenya lacked a fishing port, nor did it have a fish processing facility. As of the same year, authorities identified a location, a former processing plant, and transformed the facility into a fish plant, and ultimately, a port. In light of their lack of experience, the authorities are looking to their closest benchmarking point, the Seychelles, from whom they hope to amass as much information from the two-day familiarisation visits, to be able to bring back home the best practices for implementation in their own fishing sectors. “We want fisheries to anchor the economy. We know the potential of fisheries, and now the government is totally supporting it, so I know we will get somewhere” Mr Nyaberi added.

The delegation commence their visit of the CCCS

CCCS’s innovation and successes The delegation was welcomed to the CCCS facility by Chairman Peter Sinon, General Manager Laszlo Vamosi, and Operations Manager Gary Aglae. Following a meeting, they were led on a guided tour of the 12,600-ton facility, boasting twelve cold stores, ten of -20 degrees Celsius, and two of -40 degrees Celsius. As technicians and engineers, they were most interested in the day-to-day operating of the cold store, as well as the various health, safety and occupational safeguards in place. Mr Sinon welcomed the initiative of sharing with an African state the Seychelles’ know-how and successes in fisheries, especially now that the two countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in the Blue Economy sector. “We are more than happy to share information as to the infrastructure of the cold store, with regards to temperature, capacity, the agents which we work with and such. But of course, there are numerous parts of our operation that form part of our Intellectual Property (IP), that we cannot necessarily divulge” Mr Sinon stated. Elaborating on the performance of the facility since its official opening in December 2021, Mr Sinon stated that the facility has been operating at 50 to 70 percent capacity, with IOT as the main client.

Innovative Practices Numerous innovative practices are enforced at CCCS, towards ensuring the quality of the frozen fish, for both the local and external market. The company also prides itself for having an almost fully Seychellois team, relying on non-Seychellois for only specialist positions lacking on the domestic labour market. “The tuna fishing industry is one which was previously run mainly by foreigners but now Seychellois are venturing into it only recently. Since December, we are operating with an almost 100 percent Seychellois workforce, and we are doing well” Mr Sinon added. Following their visit to the CCCS, the delegation met with senior management of the Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT) factory of the Thai Union Group, where they also had the opportunity to tour the tuna-processing facility. The familiarisation visit is set to continue today, with a courtesy call to the Minister for Fisheries and Blue Economy, and further technical discussions with the CCCS.

by L. Pillay