Kenyan fishermen from the Coast region have been banned from engaging in any fishing activities near the neighbouring Somalia border.
The fishermen have been ordered to stop fishing near the Somalia border due to security reasons.
In a Monday interview with Daily Nation, Lamu County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri said fishermen had been banned from engaging in any fishing activities in Ras Kiamboni or at any place that is close to the Somalia border.
Fishermen are also prohibited from going beyond Kiunga Town.
Kanyiri urged those in the fishing sector to avoid the said areas for their own security. He said there are many other fish harvesting grounds in the Indian Ocean which fishermen should utilize as they wait for further communication from the security agencies, that will reveal when they should resume fishing at the prohibited places.
“There are some areas that our fishermen will probably want to go fishing but those are no-go areas. The area next to Somalia border, that’s Ras Kamboni and any other area past Kiunga Town. We shall not allow our fishermen to conduct activities there for security reasons for now but as we continue to review the situation, we’ll be happy to communicate to the fishermen as and when they can resume fishing in those places. But in the meantime, the ocean is quite vast and I believe there are good fish harvesting grounds in other areas within our Indian Ocean that our good fishermen can use,” said Kanyiri as quoted by Daily Nation.
This comes few weeks after the Somalia Government ruled out any possible negotiations with Kenya over the ownership of maritime oil fields along the Indian Ocean.
There are also speculation that Kenya Defense Forces are planning to leave Somalia after years of fighting Al Shabaab militants.