Tilapia getting smaller, can’t see food in Lake
HEALTH & SCIENCE
Fish monger at Nairobi City market arranges fish on February 17, 2016.[Denish Ochieng, Standard]
James Omondi stares at Lake Victoria in disbelief. About 20 years ago he could catch 400 kilos of Tilapia earning Sh250,000 but today his puny catch only earns Sh10,000.
Sometimes Omondi goes without any catch and “the waters are no longer the same. We still have lots of plastic bottles as you sail.”
Fellow fisherman Robert Ogolla earned Sh100,000 per catch when he joined the trade in 2010 but now only pockets Sh5,000 and reckons “there is strange growth on the waters that hampers the catch” and he is considering quitting.