Shem Oirere

Shem Oirere

Contributing Editor

Shem Oirere is a Kenyan journalist who previously worked for daily newspapers as a general news correspondent, business reporter and sub-editor before turning to full-time freelancing. For the more than 20 years, he has covered various sectors of Africa’s economy including agriculture, food processing, and maritime industries. A graduate of the University of South Africa, he has traveled within and outside Africa covering various industry events that have a bearing on the continent’s economy on behalf of different international consumer and trade publications. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.


Author Archive

Published on
December 8, 2023

In response to a regression of aquaculture production levels over the past seven years, Nigeria is teaming up with development partners to implement a catfish farming project aiming to reverse the downward trend.

Aquaculture production in the West African nation hit an all-time high of about 316,000 metric tons (MT) in 2015 but gradually declined to 290,000 MT in 2019 before spiraling to 261,700 MT in 2020, according to the Food and Agriculture

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Published on
December 6, 2023

Cape Town, South Africa-based Saldanha Protein Group has launched a major maintenance program to enhance the performance of its fishmeal and fish canning operations ahead of the country’s fishing season in Q1 2024..

Saldanha Protein Group General Manager Marthin Potgieter told SeafoodSource that the ongoing maintenance program at its St. Helena Bay-based factory on the country’s west coast entails replacing one of the fishmeal

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Published on
November 30, 2023

Cape Town, South Africa-based fish-processing company Oceana Group posted a 29 percent year-over-year increase in revenue for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2023, driven by an increase in global prices on nearly all of its products – particularly fish oil.

Oceana Chairman Mustaq Brey and CEO Neville Brink said in a joint statement issued on 27 November that a weaker South African rand that aided in export value, and a surge in revenue

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Published on
November 29, 2023
Kisumu, Kenya-based AquaRech recently received a USD 1.7 million (EUR 1.5 million) investment from Aqua-Spark to allow it to continue to develop a digital platform specifical designed for small-scale African aquaculture practitioners. The startup, founded in 2019, is innovating a mobile app that is helping fish farmers on Lake Victoria – the second-largest body of freshwater in the world – gain access to high-quality, affordable fish feed… Read More
Published on
November 27, 2023

The high capital expenditure and energy consumption of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) is hampering uptake of the fish-farming technology in many emerging markets.

BioMar Group Global Marketing Director Katherine Bryar told SeafoodSource that RAS technology remains expensive venture that also requires advanced knowledge of complex systems for it to be viable. The significant upfront costs and cutting-edge nature of much of

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Published on
November 23, 2023

Cape Town, South Africa-based fish-processing company Oceana Group has recorced a positive performance within its canned fish sector, as well as its fishmeal and fish oil business, thus far in 2023. Suleiman Salie, the group’s managing director of its canned fish brand Lucky Star, talked to SeafoodSource on the organization’s recent performance and how the group navigates the stringent regulations its export markets place on all

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Published on
November 16, 2023

Certifications are essential credentials for improving fisheries, reducing instances of illegal fishing, increasing the effective use of fish waste, and achieving food security, according to Libby Woodhatch, the executive chair of London, U.K.-based marine ingredient certification body MarinTrust.

During this year’s edition of IFFO – The Marine Ingredients Organization’s annual conference in Cape Town, South Africa, which took

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Published on
November 3, 2023

The growing fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa has mainly supported export market growth, leaving domestic seafood markets with dwindling amounts of fish available for human consumption, environmental degradation, and decreased income for fishers and factory workers in Mauritania and Senegal, according to a new human rights impact assessment.

Senegal and Mauritania account for 1.12 percent and 0.22 percent of global fishmeal and fish

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Published on
November 1, 2023

Saudi Arabia is on a mission to increase its aquaculture output dramatically by 2030, and as part of this drive the country’s largest aquaculture firm, the National Aquaculture Group (NAQUA), plans to increase its seafood output by more than 400 percent over the next seven years.

Despite the country’s access to rich fishing grounds along the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf coastlines, Saudi Arabia’s domestic seafood market has a

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Published on
October 30, 2023

Though there have been continued attempts to expand African aquaculture efforts, the continent’s global contribution to total production remains just 1 percent, with financing remaining a major challenge in expanding the sector. 

Lahsen Ababouch, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) senior advisor on fisheries and aquaculture, talked to SeafoodSource during this year’s Marine Ingredients Organization (IFFO) annual

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