Kenya’s new coastguard was launched on Monday, November 19, 2018, with President Uhuru Kenyatta saying the service would help curb illegal fishing, drug trafficking, people smuggling and arms smuggling along the country’s coastline.
The move was presented as a response to a costly maritime gap. Kenyatta said Kenya loses about 10 billion shillings, or $97 million, every year to foreign boats fishing without permission. He also said the government would improve ports and require fishing vessels to land 30 percent of their catch in Kenya, a policy he said could create more than 10,000 jobs in five years.
“Never again will a foreign vessel steal our fish,” he said.
Maritime experts said the launch could strengthen enforcement, but they also warned that the new service was starting with very limited capacity. David Obura, coordinator for Cordio East Africa, said the coastguard’s role was “quite pivotal,” adding that security on the water was difficult to manage without clear control.
Obura noted that the navy had been handling maritime security before the coastguard was introduced, but said it was overstretched. He also said the navy had only two vessels, while Kenyatta had unveiled one ship for the new coastguard. “It is not enough and, from what I saw, it’s a relatively big vessel and will be quite slow,” he said. “A big challenge will be the cost of running the vessels.”
Andrew Mwangura, a Kenyan maritime expert, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that only half a dozen African countries have their own coastguard. He said, “We’ve been sea blind,” and added, “We’ve been relying on the navy too much. The navy are limited in what they can do. They cannot arrest someone and take them to court.”
Fishing communities along the coast said foreign vessels have long damaged their livelihoods. Mohamed Somo, chairman of the Lamu Beach Management Unit, said, “Fishing by foreign vessels has been a big problem to us fishermen.” He added, “They come near the shores and cut our fishing nets and once they are done, our fish stocks are depleted.”
The concerns come against a wider backdrop of pressure on Africa’s marine resources. Experts say industrial trawlers are depleting fish stocks across the continent, while the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimates that Africa loses $42 billion a year to illegal fishing and logging.
About 2 million Kenyans depend on fishing, but dwindling nearshore stocks and a slump in tourism linked to insecurity have deepened poverty along the coast, according to the World Bank. Before 2012, pirate attacks launched from Somalia were a major security problem, but ships later tightened security and stayed farther from the Kenyan coast.
Until the coastguard launch, Kenya’s navy had been responsible for maritime security. The new service is now expected to take on that role more directly, even as questions remain over whether one vessel is enough to police a long and economically important coastline.
