Leaders call for coast guard to curb illegal fishing, drug trade

 

Treasury principal secretary Kamau Thuge when he appeared before the Senate Financial Committee hearing issues surrounding taxes imposed by county governments, among others, at the KICC in Nairobi on Tuesday. Photo/Billy Mutai 

 

By MATHIAS RINGA,

Coast leaders have called for the setting up of a coast guard to help contain illegal fishing and smuggling of drugs into the country through the Indian Ocean.

The move follows President Kenyatta announcement on Monday that the country was losing fish worth Sh10 billion annually to illegal fishing by foreigners.

Kilifi governor Amason Kingi said there was need for the government, in collaboration with the five counties which border the Indian Ocean, to form a coast guard to root out illegal activities.

“In a bid to address this menace, which might wipe out our fisheries, it is important for the national government to collaborate with coastal counties in forming a coast guard unit,” he added. He warned that some marine fish species were threatened with extinction owing to foreign trawlers which catch smaller fish and discard them.

Low

Thousands of fishermen in Malindi, Watamu and Mambrui experience low harvests due to the devastating effects of illegal trawler fishing, he said.

Mr Kingi said that they had reported the illegal activities to the Kenya Navy in vain as the officers claimed that monitoring of fisheries was not in their jurisdiction. He said that setting up a coast guard will also help contain an influx of hard drugs through the sea.

“In order for the counties to combat drug trafficking, we require a special unit to maintain surveillance in the ocean,” he said.

“Our sea borders are porous and that is why drug barons are taking advantage of the lapse to traffic drugs across the coastline,” he said.

Speaking at Mombasa port on Monday, Mr Kingi called on his counterparts at the coast to support the move.

Mombasa deputy governor Hazel Katana backed the move saying that it would help address drug trafficking through the sea.

“Drug dealers find it easier to ferry their contraband cargo through the sea as security is minimal,” she said.

Ms Katana said that coastal counties were bearing the brunt of the hard drug menace due to lack of sea patrols and monitoring of illegal activities in the ocean.

Funds




But on Monday President Kenyatta assured Coast leaders that the government had set aside funds to buy a patrol vessel to combat illegal fishing and drug trafficking.

He said that construction of the vessel was under way, adding that it would be commissioned soon.