Kenyan fishermen continue to stare at empty nets as imported fish flood market

At the break of dawn, with their nets in hand and their boats sailing in calm waters, fishermen embark on their daily journey to Lake Victoria.

This is a scene that has been repeated for generations. Among the communities residing along the lake, fishing has long served as their economic lifeline, offering employment opportunities and sustaining their way of life. 

However, in recent times, as Nick Didi, a fish trader and Cage fish farmer in Dunga Beach Kisumu observed, this time-honoured way of life faces significant hurdles, the influx of low cost Chinese imports is posing considerable challenges to the industry's resilience. Didi rises before dawn every day to begin his demanding daily business routine. 

For years, as many other fishermen in town, he has been a vital part of the local economy, contributing to the livelihoods of many.

He says, the fish market, once a hive of activity, now echoes with complaints and frustration as the influx of Chinese fish imports wreaks havoc on the local fish industry. 

The boats that used to return with abundant catches now often return half-empty, leaving Didi and other fishermen with a dwindling supply to offer to his customers.

It is a growing concern among fish farmers and traders from lakeside towns. 

The increasing presence of Chinese fish merchants in the Kenyan market, which has resulted in unfair competition and threatening our livelihoods.

Kenya's bottom-up economy model, being championed by the government, aims to empower local businesses and individuals, but the ongoing influx of Chinese fish imports, as those interviewed say, is already undermining the government's vision. 

The livelihoods of countless Kenyan fish farmers and traders are at stake, as they struggle to compete with the cheaper, imported Chinese fish, which has been flooding the local market for years now. 

Clifford Owino, who has been in the fish trading business in Homa Bay town for over a decade, has witnessed first-hand the impact of these imports.

"It's becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet," he says, shaking his head in frustration.

"I used to have a steady stream of loyal customers, but now they can get fish from the Chinese stalls at a lower price. It's affecting my business, my family, and my community." 

His story is a stark illustration of the challenges that many like him face. The imported Chinese fish, often priced lower due to different production and distribution processes, have left Kenyan fish farmers and traders struggling to compete.

As a result, many are seeing their daily routines disrupted, their incomes dwindling, and their future uncertain. 

Data from the State Department of Fisheries shows that Kenya shipped in 14.8 million kilogrammes of the fish from China in 2022, valued at Sh2 billion, up from Sh1.5 billion in 2021.

This has increased China’s market share from 70 per cent in 2020 to 83 per cent, as the Asian nation squeezed out South Korea, Thailand, Tanzania and Uganda from top source markets in the fight for the Kenyan consumer.

China, which is already Kenya’s biggest source of imports for household goods and electronics, is now racing to bag a larger share of food exports into the in Kenya and other African countries including rice and manufactured edible products. 

Data also shows that in total Kenya imported fish worth Sh2.47 billion in 2022 from the 19 sampled countries, a 10 per cent jump from Sh2.2 billion in 2020, to bridge the growing deficit due to dwindling stocks from major domestic sources such as Lake Victoria. 

This is seen by industry players as killing the businesses of local fish traders pushing them to poverty.

Other Industry numbers show the value of fish imports has been rising steadily in the past five years, except in 2020, when it fell marginally on the back of Covid-19, as the Chinese take advantage of their cheaper supplies to gain a foothold in the Kenyan market. 

In an interview, Margaret Makori, a fish trader at Gikomba Market in Nairobi said the China fish imports have affected local businesses because they cannot compete favorably with the cheaper Chinese imports.

“A local fish that would cost Sh270 here cannot compete with that of the same size from China that will sell at Sh160,” she said.

At Jubilee, the biggest fish market in Kisumu, most of dry and fresh tilapia sold to customers is from China, which are significantly cheaper than the lake fish. The imported fish is also sold in huge volumes at the Kisumu’s retail fish markets. 

While the tilapia from Lake Victoria comes in huge baskets, the ones from China are brought in cartons.

Men in faded overalls remove the scales, dissect and wash the fish before taking them inside the market for display on the numerous concrete slabs there.

Recent statistics from the Fisheries Department indicate that there are now about 50,000 fishermen in Kenya, about 90% of them in Lake Victoria.

While the number of fishermen on Lake Victoria has increased by about 30% since 1995, the number of fishermen in marine fisheries and in other inland Kenyan lakes actually decreased or remained constant during the same period.

Commercial fish companies and a number of other local farmers, are expressing their concerns regarding the growing volume of fish imports from China into Kenya, as they perceive it as a potential threat to the local economy. 

They are now advocating for government intervention to curtail the rate and frequency of these imports.

This proactive approach, they say, is aimed at safeguarding the interests of local fish traders, who might face economic challenges in light of the substantial quantities of fish arriving from China. 

In the past, a number of companies have acknowledged importing tilapia fillets from an export licensed processing plant in China for sale in Kenya after social media uproar, their justification for this action was because there was limited tilapia in Kenya, which they did not give evidence.   

Last month while launching Kabonyo Fisheries and Aquaculture Service and Training Centre in Nyando, Kisumu County president William Ruto promised to halt fish importation from China.

"In the budget that we have passed this year, we have agreed that the country should not import fish from China, we want to harvest our own fish to push the country forward," he said.