Fishermen in Lake Victoria have now turned to fish farming on the lake to preserve the Tilapia species whose stocks have recorded a drastic decline.
The fishermen are keeping the popular fish species in cages in the lake to have them grow in natural environment while protecting them from wandering off where they are aggressively harvested.
Kisumu Beach Management Unit chairman Joel Otieno said the farmers were turning to cage farming to protect their livelihoods
“Tilapia is in demand but the supply has gone down because they have been over fished in the open lake, so we have now devised ways of producing more,” he said.
Cage farming entails the use of steel cages which are lined with small-meshed nets in which fingerlings are farmed with free flow of lake water. The cages are kept at certain depths by suspending with floaters.
The fish are fed on artificial food.
The Fisheries Department in Kisumu say fish prices are on the steady rise as demand for both local and international fish species outstrips supply.
This is due to increased fish consumption across the country following the introduction of fish farming by the government in 2008 has put strain on the demand of the commodity.
Coupled with demand by the export market, the country has witnessed the delicacy quickly disappear from the common man’ table, forcing them to resort to indigenous species and remains of processed popular species.
Experts now warn that the country may be forced into a crisis if stringent measures such as reintroducing fishing bans are not put in place to enable even the remaining species fish to grow.