Fish production up 114 percent in Mbinga Town Council
What you need to know:
- Livestock and Fisheries Minister Abdallah Ulega said by April this year, a total of 197,763 people were directly engaged in fishing activities.
Mbinga. Mbinga Town Council has recorded a 114.3 percent increase in fish production in the 2022/23 fiscal year, thanks to improved fishing methods and an increase in fish farming.
Mbinga Town Council’s fisheries officer Musa Mwasenga told The Citizen yesterday that fish production increased from 0.7 tonnes in the 2021/22 Financial Year to 1.5 tonnes in the 2022/23 Fiscal Year.
“Ongoing education on good fish farming practices has led to the significant increase in fish production as recorded in the 2022/23 financial year,” underscored Mr Mwasenga.
“We have been using radio stations and seminars to provide education to Mbinga residents on how to improve fishing methods and thus productivity,” he added.
He said at least 448 residents from Mbinga Town Council engage in aquaculture, noting that of the figure, 243 are individual farmers, while 205 others practise fish farming in groups.
Furthermore, Mr Mwasenga expounded that a number of fishing dams have jumped to 594 in 2022/23 which is up from 529 recorded in 2021/22.
“In Mbinga Town Council, we depend solely on dams when it comes to fishing production,” he concluded.
Tabling the 2023/24 budget in Parliament, Livestock and Fisheries Minister Abdallah Ulega said by April this year, a total of 197,763 people were directly engaged in fishing activities.
He said they used 58,448 fishing vessels for harvesting 426,555.46 tonnes of fish worth Sh2.86 trillion.
“Of the total amount, 381,113.22 tonnes of fish which is equivalent to 89 percent came from fresh waters, while the remaining 45,442.24 tonnes equals to 10.7 percent were fished from salt water,” he said.
