# **8.3. Landing beaches**

The impact that stricter hygiene and other food safety requirements have had on landing beaches and the success of efforts to enhance capacity must be viewed in the context of the prevailing physical and management infrastructure along the shores of Lake Victoria. Generally, fishing communities are characterised by severe infrastructural constraints, whilst efforts to effect sustainable management of the fishery in a manner that is inclusive of local interests have been largely ineffective.

# **<u>Box 5.  Costs of compliance for Plant 3:</u>**

<mark>This plant is owned by a company that also operates bakeries and hotels. It started processing Nile perch in 1992 and currently operates one facility with a capacity of nine tonnes per day. This is currently operating at five tonnes per day for four days per week because of problems obtaining a sufficient supply of fish. The facility currently has 75 permanent employees.</mark> <mark>Fish is sourced through agents that operate on five beaches. The Company provides a truck and ice to ensure reliable transportation of fish to the processing facility. Agents are paid an agreed price at the factory. Periodic checks are made at the beaches to ensure the price being paid is ‘reasonable’. Agents that have been used for a long time are provided with funds to purchase fish, although to a maximum of 50 percent of the purchase value.</mark> <mark>Prior to the restrictions on exports, 70 percent of exports were to the EU, with other less important markets including Japan, United States, Latin America, Middle East and China. However, since the ban it has not attempted to export to the EU and major markets are now Japan, China, Middle East and the United States.</mark> <mark>The Company has had to make significant changes to its processing facility in order to comply with current hygiene requirements. These include the installation of partitioning and revisions to the layout of the factory to ensure segregation of operations, new tables and other equipment, up-grading of the laboratory, recording thermometers and on-line chlorination. Further the costs of implementing HACCP and staff training have been significant. The total cost is estimated to be US$26,800.</mark> <mark>The Company has also made changes to its production process, including new sanitation regimes. More quality control staff have been employed (there is now a quality control manager and five supervisors) and processing staff have been assigned to particular operations for which they have been trained, reducing flexibility. The speed of work has also declined because of the need to implement and monitor temperature controls. Further, more samples are required that are sent to KEBS for analysis. Overall, the increase in costs</mark> <u><mark>of production is estimated to be 5 percent.</mark></u> Overall, the management of the Lake Victoria fishery has been characterised by ineffective institutions and poor enforcement and implementation of legal controls under the Fisheries Act (McCormick and Mitullah, 2002). Further, in general Fisheries Department staff is poorly paid and there is a lack of an enabling environment in which they can undertake their duties (Geheb, 66