Assessment of the Kenyan marine fisheries

Lack of information on fish stocks, inadequate and unreliable data have been a major concern in the management of marine resources in Kenya. A need to improve methodology in data collected and stock assessment has been recognized. Data collected by the Fisheries Program at Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute from Lamu and Vanga areas was used to demonstrate various analyses. Mapping of catch distribution in the two areas, CPUE calculation, species composition, length distribution, length-weight relationships for selected species were performed. The estimated b values for the length-weight relationships for three species ranged from 1.954 to 2.326. No deductions can be made due to the limited data, however, recommendations on improvement of data to be collected and type of analyses to be performed in future when adequate data is available have been suggested.