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
June 7, 2022

Fisheries Development Oman (FDO), a joint-stock company and subsidiary of Oman Investment Authority, has signed a construction contract with a local company for the development of a tuna and sardine canning complex slated to commence operations in 2024.

FDO, through its affiliate firm, International Seafood Company, signed the RO 14 million (USD 36.2 million EUR 33.7 million) deal with Al Hajiry Projects for the complex, which will process an

Read More
Published on
June 3, 2022

Tuna purse-seine organizations OPAGAC and ORTHONGEL have partnered with start-up Brikole to launch a two-phase fishing-net recycling project in the Seychelles 

Photo courtesy of Seychelles News

Read More
Published on
June 2, 2022

Cape Town, South Africa-based Oceana Group’s external auditor – PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) – has abruptly resigned from the position, the company has announced.

Oceana confirmed the resignation came a day before a scheduled consultation meeting of shareholders that was to discuss the company’s next action after a majority of its board of directors voted against reappointing of PwC as the group’s external auditor.

Read More
Published on
May 30, 2022

Agriculture, fisheries, and qquaculture ministers from 14 countries that are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have issued a report on the organization's Protocol on Fisheries, which seeks to harmonize the countries’ domestic fisheries legislation.

The ministers met on 13 May, 2022 in Lilongwe, Malawi, to review the steps SADC member-states have made toward advancing the protocol.

Although the

Read More
Published on
May 30, 2022

Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa’s top producer of farmed fish, has the potential to achieve an output of 2.5 million tons annually, but it faces barriers such as the cost and availability of aquafeed and land use issues that are restraining the sector’s growth.

New research from the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture estimates Nigeria’s current annual aquaculture production at around 300,000 metric tons (MT)

Read More
Published on
May 27, 2022

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has blacklisted a fleet of tuna-fishing vessels after an Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) investigation revealed it has a previous record of engaging in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The decision by the IOTC, made at its 26th session meeting in the Seychelles, was based on the investigation by the EJF that culminated in the International Commission for the Conservation of

Read More
Published on
May 26, 2022

The Spanish Fisheries Confederation (CEPESCA) has accused Senegal of violating an existing five-year fishing protocol it signed with the European Union in July 2019.

CEPESCA said the West African country has refused to issue permits to the country’s pole-and-line fleet, which has remained moored in the Senegalese port of Dakar since the beginning of 2022. The moored fleet, CEPESCA said, is continuing

Read More
Published on
May 25, 2022

Benin is set to become the first African nation to make its fishing fleet’s movements publicly visible.

The country's government announced it has reached a deal with nonprofit Global Fishing Watch (GFW) to establish a vessel-monitoring system (VMS) to track its fleet. Under the deal, the country will share all its data with GFW for presentation on the GFW map – the first African nation to agree to full transparency,

Read More
Published on
May 23, 2022

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has passed a resolution aiming to improve the rules and oversight procedures on transshipment of tuna in the Indian Ocean.

The resolution, the text of which was slightly amended at the request of the Indonesian and Japanese delegations, was passed at the IOTC’s 26th session and associated meetings, held in Victoria, Seychelles, from 16 to 20 May. According to the commission, it is one step forward in

Read More
Published on
May 23, 2022

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Compliance Committee has expressed concern with low levels of compliance with the commission’s regulations at its latest meeting. 

In response, it has produced several recommendations on how to achieve targets set by IOTC Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CPCs).

During the 19th session of the committee in May 2022 – and attended by delegates from 25 Contracting

Read More