- Lake has over 200 licensed fishermen
- Number of illegal fishermen on the rise
Image: George Murage
Stakeholders around Lake Naivasha have raised concern over the rise in the number of deaths in the water body caused by drowning and hippo attacks.
According to Lake Naivasha and Oloidien boat owners’ association, at least five deaths are reported every month with foot-fishermen being the most affected.
This came as stakeholders around the troubled water body expressed their concern over an influx in the number of minors fishing on the shores of the lake whose level has risen sharply.
Since the year began, over 20 people have died while on illegal fishing exercise while scores of others have been left nursing injuries inflicted by hippos.
According to the association's chairperson Grace Nyambura, the lake was turning out to be a deathtrap with many cases of drowning going unreported.
She said the majority of those who had drowned or were attacked by hippos, were foot-fishermen who use empty water-jerricans as makeshift boats to access the lake.
“We are deeply perturbed by the rise in cases of deaths around the lake with tens of minors joining in the illegal fishing exercise,” she said.
She said the practice was rife across the lake with tens of the minors dropping from school to join the illegal but lucrative fish trade.
“We have noticed a trend where minors have now joined in the illegal fishing and we are asking the government to intervene,” she said.
Friends of Lake Naivasha chairman Francis Muthui said the rise in water levels had seen the number of minors involved in illegal fishing rise.
He said the most affected were estates around the lake with tens of minors openly engaging in fishing which was more lucrative.
“In the last couple of months we have seen an upsurge in the number of minors fishing either on the shores of the lake or using makeshift boats to access the lake,” he said.
Muthui decried the high number of drowning cases in the lake, adding that there was need for sensitisation among communities around the water body.
He attributed the rise in the numbers to an influx of illegal fishermen who were using the makeshift boats to fish mainly along the shores of the lake.
“We have seen minors using the makeshift boats drown whenever it flips and it's time that the necessary government agencies intervened,” he said.