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 26, 2025
Tanzania’s new president, Samia Suluhu, has appointed Bashiru Kakurwa as the nation’s new fisheries minister.
The appointment came among a slew of moves made soon after Suluhu was sworn into office, having been declared winner of the nation’s 29 October disputed election after securing nearly 98 percent of the votes.
Kakurwa, a former political science professor at the University of Dar es Salaam who has also served as the chief secretary… Read More
Published on
December 18, 2025
The West African nations of Mauritania and Senegal have signed a bridge fishing agreement as their respective governments continue working on securing a long-term deal.
Negotiations on the longer-term deal, seeking to replace the most recent agreement between the two countries that expired in July, have hit several snags, including sustainability concerns regarding Mauritanian marine fisheries and a new push by Senegal to increase permits… Read More
Published on
December 17, 2025
Iran exported USD 451 million (EUR 384 million) worth of seafood products from April to October this year, which was up about 30 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO).
By volume during the period, the Middle Eastern nation shipped 243,000 metric tons (MT) of seafood abroad.
IFO Head Hamzeh Rostampour attributed the spike in exports to government commitments made toward addressing… Read More
Published on
December 12, 2025
South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) has announced new measures to restore collapsing wild abalone populations.
After reports indicated that abalone biomass in South African waters has been reduced to less than 2 percent of pristine biomass levels in some areas, South Africa Fisheries Minister Dion George said his department has proposed for the listing of dry wild abalone in the Appendix II category of… Read More
Published on
December 10, 2025
Saudi Fisheries Company (SFC) has terminated a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with fellow Saudi Arabia-based seafood firm Aqua Bridge Farms Company, within which the two firms were set to commence formal negotiations for a binding business partnership.
SFC has struggled financially for several years running, and courting Aqua Bridge was one of several measures the firm had hoped would turn its poor performance around by increasing trade… Read More
Published on
December 5, 2025
Conflicts between foreign trawler operations and local artisanal fishers in The Gambia have reached a boiling point over access to limited fish stocks, resulting, in the most extreme cases, to physical injuries and arson.
Small-scale fishers in the West African nation have protested what they claim is encroachment and unfair competition for limited fish stocks by mainly Chinese industrial trawlers within areas supposedly reserved for them by the… Read More
Published on
December 1, 2025
Russia has renewed its fishing agreement with the North African nation of Morocco for another four years.
Under the previous agreement signed in 2020, Russia, which has been signing fishing deals with Morocco since 1992, was allowed to have 10 of its trawlers access Morocco's Atlantic waters to fish 140,000 metric tons (MT) of small pelagic species, such as sardines, mackerel, and anchovies, over a four-year period.
In exchange, Russia gave… Read More
Published on
November 10, 2025
The Central African country of Cameroon has received a USD 98 million (EUR 85 million) loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to expand its livestock, fisheries, and aquaculture sectors.
The nation’s Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries, and Animal Industries will put the funding toward support for its five-year Livestock and Fish Farming Value Chain Development Project (PD-CVEP), a key component of which is producing and distributing… Read More
Published on
October 31, 2025
Japan has partnered with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on an initiative aimed at modernizing fisheries infrastructure and mitigating IUU fishing activities in Somalia.
The USD 2 million (EUR 1.7 million) initiative entails making investments in the East African nation’s landing sites and vessel repair facilities, as well as promoting responsible fishing practices and creating more employment opportunities,… Read More
Published on
October 29, 2025
NOAA Fisheries has determined that South Africa is among 10 African countries that have been granted permission to export fish and fish products from all of their marine fisheries to the U.S. from January 2026 onward.
The announcement was made as part of NOAA Fisheries’ crackdown on nations that do not meet requirements under the U.S.’s Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
In early September, NOAA ruled that 240 foreign fisheries from 46… Read More
