The small hamlet of Kijangwani by the shores of the Indian Ocean in Kenya’s Kilifi County is a fishing community home to over 50 small-scale fishermen. Day and night, the fishermen go out to sea in their canoes and land their catch at a busy site built by the local county government.
The Kijangwani landing site is devoid of power and running water but during the day, officials of the Beach Management Unit and the county government are at hand to collect data from the fishermen. Also waiting at the landing site are fish traders. The data taken includes the weight of the catch, the type of fish, and the price the fish is sold.
In Kenya, it is mandatory for fishermen to give data on their catch to the government. Beach Management Units, or BMUs, are local groups of fishers and fish traders registered with the fisheries department that enable the department to enforce regulations, such as mandatory data collection on fishing.
About the author
Anthony Langat
Anthony Langat is a Kenya-based Devex Contributing Reporter whose work centers on environment, climate change, health, and security. He was part of an International Consortium of Investigative Journalism’s multi-award winning 2015 investigation which unearthed the World Bank’s complacence in the evictions of indigenous people across the world. He has five years’ experience in development and investigative reporting and has been published by Al Jazeera, Mongabay, Us News & World Report, Equal Times, News Deeply, Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Devex among others.
