Fishermen carrying fish from Lake Victoria. [Photo|Citizen tv]
Fishermen from Misori beach, in Rarieda constituency have decried heavy losses as they are unable to use the available fish cold storage rooms dudue to a one month power outage in the region.
According to area Beach Management Unit chairman Alfred Odhiambo, Misori beach has been without power supply since the transformer serving the area was removed by the Kenya Power Company in October.
Odhiambo said lack of power supply has not only affected fish preservation but also general operations at the vibrant beach both during the day and at night.
He stated that the cold storage facilities at the beach which run on electricity have not been operating forcing fishermen from the region to adopt alternative preservation methods which are both expensive and ineffective.
The BMU chair disclosed that the fishermen in the area are forced to buy ice blocks one hundred kilometers away from Kisumu town on a daily basis yet the ice blocks takes only a few hours before melting leaving the fish unpreserved.
Odhiambo said the difficult circumstances at the beaches have forced them to sell fish at throw away prices of less than Sh200 per kilo from Sh400 per kilo which is the normal price.
He said that fishermen have also been forced to hire additional security personnel to patrol the fish stores at night due to lack of lack of security lights at night, a cost which is a heavy burden on the fishermen.
The beach chairman has therefore appealed to the Kenya Power company and the county government of Siaya to come to their aid and restore the power supply which has also affected other business at the beach.