Shem Oirere

Shem Oirere

Contributing Editor

Shem Oirere is a Kenyan journalist who previously worked for daily newspapers as a general news correspondent, business reporter and sub-editor before turning to full-time freelancing. For the more than 20 years, he has covered various sectors of Africa’s economy including agriculture, food processing, and maritime industries. A graduate of the University of South Africa, he has traveled within and outside Africa covering various industry events that have a bearing on the continent’s economy on behalf of different international consumer and trade publications. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.

Published on
February 10, 2022

The ban on tilapia imports in Ghana will be sustained until the West African country achieves adequate production levels to meet domestic demand, according to Ghana Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Mavis Hawa Koomson.

The minister, speaking in early February during the official launch of the Volta Catch depot, operated by Tropo Farms in the town of Kasoa, said her ministry will work closely with the country’s law-enforcement

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Published on
February 4, 2022

Cape Town, South Africa-based fishing company Oceana Group has completed a probe into issues pertaining to its U.S. subsidiary, but was unable to release the company’s results on 31 January 2022 as previously promised …

Photo courtesy of Oceana

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Published on
January 31, 2022

A campaign to develop, publicize, and enforce guidelines setting standards for the responsible management of transferring catch between vessels at sea is gaining momentum.

The Food and Agriculture Organization is leading an effort to close loopholes allowing for transshipment of catch on the high seas, a practice the United Nations organization said encourages illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Trygg Mat

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Published on
January 25, 2022

Despite the People’s Republic of China maintaining that mainland China and Taiwan are parts of “One China” whose sovereignty cannot be divided, the world's second-largest economy appears reluctant to entertain such perceptions when it comes to the management of fisheries for both entities.

The country’s delegation to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has disagreed with the commission’s 10,557 metric ton (MT)

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Published on
January 17, 2022

Cape Town, South Africa-based frozen fish supplier Sea Harvest Group has signed a business purchase agreement to acquire Western Australia-based MG Kailis Holdings Proprietary Limited and its subsidiaries at a cost of AUD 70 million (USD 51 million, EUR 44.6 million) – excluding transaction costs.

The acquisition will be made through its wholly-owned Australian subsidiaries Sea Harvest Pty and Sea Harvest Marine Pty.

In a

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Published on
January 14, 2022

The African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe has announced a new resolution to join the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI).

The country – whose population relies on fish as a primary source of protein – is now the sixth nation committed to increase transparency in its fisheries management through the FiTI standard, following Mauritania, Seychelles, Senegal, Cabo Verde, and Madagascar, according

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Published on
January 11, 2022

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has, on the recommendation of its scentific committee, set the catch limit for yellowfin tuna at 287,140 metric tons (MT) in 2022.

IOTC Executive Secretary Christopher O’Brien said in early January that 24 of the commission’s members have been allocated varying catch limits in line with committee recommendations, with the European Union, Maldives, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Yemen

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Published on
January 6, 2022
Saudi Arabia’s National Fisheries Development Program – a Division of the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture – has predicted the country’s shrimp exports to Russia will increase more than 600 percent in 2022. Program CEO Ali Al-Shaikhi told Zawya the anticipated increase in shrimp exports to Russia from the current 3,000 metric tons (MT) to 20,000 MT is driven by an uninterrupted surge in demand for the product in the… Read More
Published on
January 6, 2022

South Africa has pushed back the deadline for the 2020/2021 Fishing Rights Allocations Process (FRAP), which will now end on January 2022, after the new online application procedure became problematic for applicants.

Deputy Director-General for Fisheries Management in the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment Susan Middleton said, in a public notice dated 28 December 2021, the re-opening of the FRAP Online system is to

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Published on
December 29, 2021

Three West African countries have forged a partnership to implement a joint fisheries’ observer program as part of their effort to ensure safe, secure, and legal fisheries are maintained across the Gulf of Guinea.

Ghana has signed a pact with Togo and Benin to carry out the joint monitoring of the countries’ fisheries, including sharing intelligence supplied by the Regional Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance Centre (RMCSC) that

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