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{
    "id": 851457,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/851457/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 376,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. This is an important Zero Hour. It is good that we have banned importation of fish from China. The most important issue that we should look at is why fish is coming from China. The reality of the issue is that there is a big market and our fish production has dropped both around the lake and at the Coast. This is because we have not seriously developed the fishing industry to compete. If you look at Kisumu, for example, it is amazing that in the local Jubilee Market which supplies most of the fish in Kisumu, 70 per cent of the fish is now coming from China. When the ban was put in place, in fact, the local people were concerned because they will not find fish. The production in the lake dropped by 50 per cent between 2014 and 2015. Over the same period of time, the amount of money we have lost as a country through importation is about Kshs1 billion that has gone to China through the same process. The reason is that in this particular case, there is illegal fishing, overfishing, fishing in breeding areas, pollution, and the problem of hyacinth. So, whereas I support the ban, the most important approach to this would be to look at the fishing industry. In Lake Victoria, for example, we must develop aquaculture to the extent that when we need to protect the breeding areas and the fishermen have somewhere to get the fish. The aquaculture will do that. If we engage farmers to do pond farming, that will produce the fish that will result in releasing the pressure on Lake Victoria and the breeding areas. If you go to the Coast, you need heavy fishing gear and most of the sophisticated fishing and marine biology to support that. We must invest money in fishing both at the Coast and around Lake Victoria. Without that, the market forces will bring to us the Chinese fish. This is an important contribution. I thank the Member for bringing this as a topical issue in this Zero Hour. Thank you."
}