The Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries want all fish farmers to be registered in order to know who their bona-fide fish farmers are.
The Principle Secretary State Department of Fisheries Micheni Ntiba said they need to register them to know who is who and in order for them to benefits from various projects meant for them.
He was speaking in Kisumu during the opening of a Stakeholder Validation Workshop on Review of National Oceans and Fisheries Policy report on Friday.
He said if they are not registered and a meeting is called in Nairobi to meet with all fish farmers from the region, then the entire population can come claiming they are fishermen.
“If we say there is a compensation for fish farmers then so many people will come carrying fishing nets and other equipments claiming to be fish farmers hence through registration this can be prevented,” he said.
Ntiba said the government is alive to the fact that there is increased demand for fish worldwide hence this has resulted in increases pressure for fish from the natural resources.
He said through registration they will know which fishermen engage in illegality or using all manners of fishing gears and method that cause harm to the fish.
“The risk of collapse is therefore a reality since this has happened in many world fisheries including our very own lake Naivasha,” he said.
Adding that it’s for this reason that consistence in resource monitoring is very important to fisheries management.