Homa Bay County Department of Fisheries on Monday celebrated ‘World Fisheries Day with this year’s theme, ‘Investing in social protection to secure equitable blue transformation in the fisheries sector.’
World Fisheries Day is celebrated on November 21 and is dedicated to highlighting the critical importance of healthy ocean ecosystems and ensuring sustainable stocks of fisheries in the world.
Although World Fisheries Day isn’t on the list of United Nations days, it is endorsed by relevant UN organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The day is marked with various events (conferences, seminars, discussions, exhibitions, workshops, public meetings, rallies) to highlight the importance of the world’s fisheries and sustainable fishing.
Homa Bay county is one of the fishing communities that celebrated the day by showcasing all the key players in the blue economy through exhibitions which was in line with this year’s theme.
The Assistant Director of Fisheries, Michael Omondi said that , they are trying to find ways of ensuring that in the fisheries sector and the blue economy, all players and partners have equitable distribution of resources and the benefits that can be accrued from it.
Omondi who is also the County Programme Coordinator for Aquaculture Business Development Programme (ABDP) said that fisheries are an important sector in the country because it provides employment to millions of people hence there is need to be protected.
According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the livelihood of approximately 500 million people in developing countries depends on fisheries and aquaculture.
World Fisheries Day was established primarily to draw public attention to the most pressing challenges that the world fishing industry has to face, as well as to bring together stakeholders to find ways to solve them.
According to the FAO estimates, about one-third of world fish stocks are subject to overfishing. Some governments have introduced fishing quotas and other restrictive measures to combat overfishing.