Lake Turkana Fisheries Management Plan, 2023-2033, Legal Notice no. 49 of 2025.

This Management Plan, made by the Director-General, in consultation with the County Government of Turkana, in compliance with the provisions of section 39 (2) of the Fisheries Management and Development Act, provides for the conservation and management of the Lake Turkana Fisheries. The Plan defines the following relevant terms: aquatic resources, including: creatures such as fish, crabs, corals, whales, substrates such as sand, rock, minerals, man-made structures, and plants such as algae, kelp that abide underwater, whether in salty water or freshwater that are potentially useful; beach management unit; biological reference points; catch per unit effort or catch rate; critical fish habitats; fish stock; data collection on all fishing crafts and gears at all the landing sites; invasive species; management measures; monitoring, control and surveillance; sustainable exploitation; stock assessment; pollution of water. The Plan defines the following objectives: providing a framework for interventions, investments and development of Lake Turkana fisheries; providing an effective mechanism for sustainable exploitation of fisheries resource by involving the resource users in the management of Lake Turkana; reducing and resolving any conflicts arising from resource use, social and economic dimensions in the region. Specific objectives are: rebuilding fish stock levels; applying a precautionary harvest control strategy; increasing fish production from Lake Turkana; creating employment opportunities and generating income; creating incentives and increasing financing in target fishing communities; reducing post-harvest losses; enhancing export opportunities and strengthening value addition; protecting at least twenty critical fish habitats in both sides of Lake Turkana by year 2030; regulating capture fisheries and commercial aquaculture in the lake to minimise its potential impacts in the aquatic ecosystem; adopting climate change mitigation measures in the fisheries resources; promoting necessary research, technology, innovations and information sharing mechanism for management and development of Lake Turkana fisheries.
This Management Plan is inspired by the following guiding principles: precautionary principle; biodiversity conservation principle; sustainability of fisheries resources; ecosystem approach to fisheries management; inter-generational and intra-generational equity; participation, public accountability and transparency. The Management Plan also specifies the following measures for ensuring protection and conservation of fish resources: declaration of fish breeding area; prohibited activities within the area; limitations on the mesh size of the nets; fish stocks conservation and utilisation; control of fish post-harvest losses; optimal utilisation of the fisheries resources; protection of the lake and watershed ecosystem, through environmental measures including: water pollution monitoring unit, reporting on the levels of heavy metals in sediments, water and fish of the lake, water abstraction; mitigation against climate change effects; equitable distribution of benefits from fishery resources.