Low wages push flower farm workers into illegal fishing
Stakeholders around Lake Naivasha have identified poor pay among flower farm and hotel workers as the main reason for the presence of illegal fishermen in the water body.
The workers have been pushed into fishing in search of food for their families and an extra coin leading to hippo attacks and cases of drowning. This came as two men including a flower farm worker died in two days while illegally fishing.
In the first incident, a middle-aged man was killed by a hippo near Kongoni while in the second case a flower farm worker drowned near Kamere landing beach. In both cases, the two were illegally fishing on the shores of the lake despite the presence of the recently introduced patrols by the Kenya Coast Guards Service.
Speaking over the weekend, Lake Naivasha Network Group secretary Grace Nyambura noted that poverty and high levels of unemployment had pushed the workers into the lake. “We conducted a survey and over 80 per cent of the foot-fishermen are flower farm and hotel workers seeking to fend for their families,” she said.
Chairman Lake Naivasha Boat Owners Association David Kilo said cases of hippo attacks had reduced sharply since the arrival of coast guards.
