Climate change and human activity impact livelihoods, food security in coast region

As the world braces for the potential effects of El Niño, critical biodiversity hotspots are facing a new wave of pressure, putting food security and livelihoods at risk.

Warming oceans and shifting currents are placing additional strain on marine fish stocks already depleted by illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.

Citizen TV explores the double impact of climate change and human activity and how it is reshaping the livelihoods of coastal communities, the availability of seafood, and the future of the world’s fisheries.

At first light, the waves of the Indian Ocean carried fishermen back to shore, their boats once loaded with tonnes of fish.

On the beach, vendors would gather to receive the catch, quickly offloading and taking it to market — a daily routine that kept the local economy moving.

For Abdulrizak Salim, these waters have always been home. He grew up fishing and eventually built a fleet of more than ten boats, but over the past two decades, life along this coast has changed dramatically.

The catches have grown smaller, the waits longer, and the waters that once sustained these communities are yielding less and less fish.

“Unaweza ukaondosha vyombo ukaweka mafuta na pengine chombo kimoja kuondosha hivi kama Ksh.7,000 ama Ksh.10,000 na zisirudi. Kwa mfano ukiwa na vyombo kama 10 that is Ksh.100,000,” Salim noted.

“Kwa wiki moja ama kwa siku 10 that is Ksh.1 million. Sasa badala ya kusonga mbele unarudi nyuma. Inabidi nikae hivi nitafute mbinu nyingine samaki wamepungua kiasi kikubwa sana.”

The scale of the challenge is reflected in the latest data.

The 2026 State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says 37% of assessed marine fish stocks are overfished.

In the Western Indian Ocean, more than half of key commercial species, including red and white snapper, are already fully exploited, a warning that is putting sustainable fisheries management firmly at the centre of the conversation.

“When we say that a fishery is over fished it means imagine that you have money in your bank and the bank is giving you interest. Over fishing means that you are removing from your bank account more than the interest,” said Prof. Manuel Barange, the director of fisheries and aquaculture at FAO.

“The interest in this case is what nature provides. It's the growth of the populations, it's the new entries and so on. If we keep on biting into the capital then we over fish and that resource eventually will produce less and less.”

While climate change is a slow driver of the decline, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing poses a more immediate threat to marine stocks and the wider ecosystem.

Kenya’s State Department for Blue Economy estimates that 40% or four out of every ten fish caught in the country come from illegal fishing, costing Kenya up to Ksh. 45 billion in lost revenue.

The law requires industrial fishing vessels to carry tracking devices that transmit their locations to the Kenya fisheries service.

Bottom-trawlers must also stay beyond the five-nautical-mile zone, leaving near-shore waters to artisanal fishermen. But the reality on the water is starkly different.

Kenya Fisheries Service Assistant Director Robert Wanyama says: “The compliance levels are still low. I would say, for example, compliance amongst the industrial fishing vessels would be around 60%. And it's a big blow. You will find that maybe the foreign fishing vessels while in our waters they will switch off their ais so that we are not able to see them.”

Prof. Christina Hicks from the Environment Centre at Lancaster University says that there are a series of illegal foreign fishing activities across Africa, that contribute to the pressure on our fish stocks.

“Added to that, we have the problem of climate change. We are entering an El Nino year, so we're going to feel really significant impacts of climate change. So that adds increasing pressure on an already stressed system so the urgency of action on these two topics is critical now,” she said.

The dark vessels move silently across the waters. Their heavy nets drag along the seabed scraping ancient corals, flattening marine habitats and stirring up clouds of sediment that choke the ecosystem.

And much of what is caught is never meant for the market. A 2022 study by the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, the nature conservancy and the Lancaster Environment Centre found that 75% or three out of every four fish caught in bottom trawls are bycatch.

Here, juvenile fish, dolphins and endangered sea turtles are scooped up and later discarded.

David Mulwa was employed as a casual worker in one of the major industrial fleets that operated along the Malindi - Ungwana bay.

“Trawling hawa hawatarget samaki hawa wengine. Trawler atakosa samaki lakini wenye anatafuta ni lobster. Lobster inauzwa at a different price. Ni dollars. Pengine kilo moja dola 100 na kitu. Kwa hivyo wao kukosa samaki na lobster apatikane hawana shida,” Mulwa said.

“Na ndio unaona kila siku lazima wavue hapo. Wanataka wakipata lobster mmoja ama wawili wao maisha yao iko sawa. Lakini mimi mwenye nataka hawa samaki wa kawaida ndio napata shida.”

Kadzo Katsutsu, a resident at Malindi says: “sasa hapo ndio tunaumiza vichwa zaidi. Maana anahitaji anatakikana shule na shule yuko secondary kule anastahili akienda aende na kila kitu. Wale hawataki kufahamu kwamba mzazi huko biashara yake imedidimia. Sasa hapo tunaumia kwa ukweli tunaumia.”

On June 16, nations adopted the Mombasa Declaration at the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, pledging to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

The signatories committed to modernize vessel registries, publish fishing authorizations, and share data to track global vessel ownership and activities.

“Sustainable fisheries are profitable fisheries. Everyone has a role to play and it's one of the things that the coalition for fisheries transparency advocates for is inclusive decision making, ensuring that all of these stakeholders have a voice at the table and that's how fisheries decision-making is made,” said Maisie Pigeon the Director for coalition for fisheries transparency.

Prof. Barange said FAO is developing and delivering to the country systems to manage the fisheries with limited investment.

“For example, controlling the number of boats that are allowed to fish, controlling how many days of the month they can fish or not. But it is in the end the decision of the government to exploit the resources in the way that they see fit for their objectives that they see fit,” Prof. Barange said.

For now, the waves crash on. From the artisanal fishing boats to the exotic plate of seafood thousands of kilometres away, the price of the changing tide is evident.

The signed commitments, however, show how far transparency goes in ensuring sustainable fisheries and creating sustainable livelihoods.