Fishermen in Kisumu are now mulling the possibility of selling directly to small scale fish mongers as water hyacinth raises the costs of netting the catch, whose stocks are dropping.
The trawlers say middlemen who sell to fish processors have failed to raise their prices even as dropping stocks and the stubborn weed make it difficult to catch fish.
This move comes after the county government bought for the Dunga beach-based fishermen a Sh500, 000 freezer to help reduce post-harvest losses in December last year.
"We risk our own lives to go fishing in such conditions, sometimes fishermen get marooned by hyacinth offshore for days and their efforts are not rewarded," said Dunga beach management unit vice chairperson Maurice Ochieng'.
"The middlemen who purchase on behalf of the processors colluded and set their own price which never changes even if prices change in the market."
These people, he said, also influence market prices by buying off most of the fish landed at the shores, thus pushing up prices in the retail market.
"We have been the losers in this trade yet we play the biggest role. But now it is time to change tack, we want to feed the market ourselves, we want to be a part of a free market where cost of production is passed to the consumer," he said.
He said that the cold storage facility would enable them to keep fish fresh as they negotiate for better prices with fish mongers.
Ochieng' added that the move to sell fish directly to retailers was likely to result in lowered retail prices. He explained that over the years the increased number of fishermen going on the lake has kept supply steady even as studies revealed that fish stocks in the open lake were falling.
Pech Foods and East African Sea Food Limited are the main processors in Kisumu.