Fish scouts, fish marketing and licensing during the colonial period in Lake Victoria, Kenya

Abstract

The paper looks at the political economy of fishing in colonial and post-colonial periods in Kenya. Also examined was the imposition of new fishing gear and methods during the colonial era and how they replaced and affected the indigenous ones. As a corollary, there was unprecedented overfishing and increased mechanization of fisheries due to the rise of capitalism and commercialisation. Using the social history concept, the study examines the role of the bicycle traders and Indian middlemen in taking the fish to the markets and the challenges that fishers faced in marketing their products. It is fundamental that the colonial state encourages the development of roads to the beaches such as Dunga, Lwanda Kotieno and Uhanya in Lake Victoria, so as to assist the fishermen. After independence in 1963, the government of Kenya through cooperatives and Beach Management Units (BMU), the post-colonial state has done much more to assist the fish traders and artisanal fishers to maximize the utility of fish resources in Nyanza Province in Kenya withing the East African region.