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
April 29, 2021

Qatar-based industrial biotech investor Gulf Biotech has signed an agreement with Danish sustainable protein firm Unibio Group, paving the way for the construction of a natural gas processing plant that will produce protein needed in the manufacturing of fish feed.

The use of natural gas-derived protein reduces pressure on the need for soybean and other imports considered critical in achieving food security but diverted into the making of

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Published on
April 28, 2021

Namibia has started extradition proceedings for three Icelandic nationals suspected of involvement in the multimillion-dollar “fishrot” scandal that has shaken the country’s fishing industry.

Namibia Deputy Prosecutor General Ed Marondedze asked judge Christie Liebenberg to adjourn the fishrot case until the three Icelanders – Adalsteinn Helgason, Egill Helgi Árnason, and Ingvar Júlíusson –

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Published on
April 28, 2021

Namibian President Hage Geingob has appointed Derek Klazen as the country's new fisheries and marine resources minister in a cabinet reshuffle announced on 22 April.

The new fisheries minister has been promoted from his former position of deputy minister of urban and rural development to replace Albert Kawana, who has become the new minister of home affairs.

Klazen becomes the third fisheries minister since the 2019 re-election of President

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Published on
April 27, 2021

Zambian President Edgar Lungu has directed the country’s fisheries minister to submit a memorandum on establishing a fisheries and aquaculture development fund in line with Fisheries Act No. 22 – nearly 14 years since it was first introduced.

The fund was initially proposed in 2007 when the Zambian government passed the Fisheries (Amendment) Act that focused on enhancing the involvement of riparian communities in fisheries

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Published on
April 23, 2021

A combined marine operation against unlicensed fishing by Sierra Leone Navy and Sea Shepherd Global led to the arrest of four fishing vessels engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the West African country’s inshore exclusion zone (IEZ).

Two of the arrested vessels – Liao Dan Yu 6616 and Liao Dan Yu 6618 – were Chinese-flagged and had no fishing license, according to Sea Shepherd.

Sea Shepherd

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Published on
April 20, 2021

Dronninglund, Denmark-based aquaculture firm DanMarin A/S – part of the Kangamut Group – has one of the best-organized pond-based aquaculture farms in West Africa, where it grows tilapia and shrimp. DanMarin A/S CEO Rajiv Banerjee talked to SeafoodSource about the company's goals in Africa and the outlook for West Africa's aquaculture sector.

SeafoodSource: What is your experience of the African aquaculture market, and what

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Published on
April 16, 2021

Greenpeace is raising an alarm regarding the ongoing use of illegal driftnets in the northwest Indian Ocean, and warned that looming food insecurity and constrained economic growth in the region will result if the practice is left unchecked.

Greenpeace – which spoke to Reuters after a 14-day fact-finding mission in the northwest Indian Ocean – exposed rampant deployment of illegal fishing gear to catch tuna in the region,

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Published on
April 12, 2021

Four countries are upping their engagement in the fight against marine litter and plastic pollution by teaming with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to organize a ministerial conference on preserving the oceans through the sustainable production and consumption of plastics.

Germany, Vietnam, Ecuador, and Ghana are organizing the ministerial conference, to be held in September 2021, in line with a decision made during the

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Published on
April 9, 2021

The developer of a proposed USD 500 billion (EUR 421 billion) commercial and residential development in Saudi Arabia – NEOM Company – has signed a memorandum of understanding with fish technology firm Tabuk Fish Company for a hatchery

Photo courtesy of

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Published on
April 5, 2021

Agrico Qatar has plans to increase its fresh shrimp production to 800 metric tons (MT) annually, boosting Qatar’s nascent

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