Kenya's Fishing Industry.

Abstract

In this chapter, Kenya's fishing industry is described. The chapter commences with an overview of the entire fishery sector in the country and follows this with a detailed analysis of the fisheries of Lake Victoria, the subject of this study. In presenting an overview of the country's entire fishing industry, we seek to show that despite the sector's small contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP), it is a significant source of livelihood and employment for many Kenyans. The dominance of Lake Victoria fisheries in the industry is emphasised as a justification for the choice of these fisheries as the subject of the research. To motivate the subsequent analysis, the factors responsible for biodiversity loss in the Kenyan fisheries of Lake Victoria are discussed in detail. The chapter, in addition, presents a comprehensive analysis of fish marketing and pricing and their socio-econo-environmental effects. Since fish is a nutritionally rich food, we assess its position, relative to other foodstuffs, in the country's national food policy. Existing literature and data, together with the micro-data obtained from the survey described in Chapter 2, are used.