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
Egypt’s House of Representatives has approved articles of a new bill supporters say is critical to improving regulations on the protection and development of the country's fisheries.
The approval of Article 40 of the new bill paves the way for a ban on all foreign fishing boats from operating in Egyptian territorial or economic waters. However, the ban will only be implemented if it does not affect Egypt’s existing laws granting
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A new report has found that countries in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region have identified and set aside 143 marine and coastal locations as protected areas in an effort to build climate-resilient fishery systems and boost fish stocks.
The protected areas cover 553,163 square kilometers, or nearly 7 percent of the total exclusive economic zone within the WIO region. Of that total, 63 percent of the area encapsulated by protected zones have
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Somalia, plagued with persistent incidents of piracy and rampant illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, is aiming to tighten its fishing licensing regime in order to end loopholes that result in illegal activity.
Amid claims of deep-rooted corruption within Somalia’s fishing industry, the country's Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR), under the leadership of Minister Abdillahi Bidhan Warsame, plans to
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Uncertainty hangs over a June 2021 agreement by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) to limit the total Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna catch to 401,000 metric tons (MT) after six members of the commission announced intentions to object to the resolution.
In a statement, the Global Tuna Alliance (GTA) said the move by Indonesia and Oman to formally object to the agreement reached during the 25th session of the IOTC, in addition to the subsequent
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Oceana Group, Africa’s largest fishing company, has appointed Peter Gerard de Beyer as its new independent director with effect from 15 July.
Photo courtesy of Oceana
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Monitoring of illegal trawl fishing activities in Ghana has increasingly become a risky assignment for fisheries observers recruited by the country’s fisheries commission due to increasing incidents of bribery, threats, and abuse at sea, especially on the Chinese-owned, but Ghana-flagged industrial trawlers.
An investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) reveals observers are working in unsafe environments that make it
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Cameroon, a net frozen fish importer, appears determined to woo more investments in its fish farming so as to reduce the country’s surging seafood imports.
The central African country, with a fisheries sector that accounts for up to 1.8 percent of the country’s estimated USD 35 billion (EUR 29.6 billion) economy, is leveraging on the prevailing political goodwill and conducive investment climate to expand its aquaculture sector
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Nigeria Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Director Ime Umoh has identified the high cost of inputs, use of unimproved breeds in aquaculture, and need for improved access to finance as the main obstacles hampering expansion of the country’s aquaculture sub-sector.
Umoh, who spoke last week at the International Dialogue on the Transformation and Future of Aquatic Food Systems in Nigeria on behalf of Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and
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Namibia’s High Court has declined to invalidate a mining license awarded to Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP) for a proposed marine phosphate-mining project within the Benguela current marine ecosystem on the outer shelf to the south west of Walvis Bay.
Namibian fishing industry organizations, including the Confederation of Namibia Fishing Associations, Namibia Hake Association, and Midwater Trawling Association, had petitioned the High
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Ghana’s Fisheries Commission has issued notice to companies engaged in the country’s trawl fishing sub-sector – including operators of industrial vessels – to reapply for fishing licenses to continue fishing operations as the West African government attempts to address the challenges of dwindling stocks, illegal unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and uncontrolled access.
Ghana Fisheries Commission Executive
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