Nakuru to outlaw night fishing following deaths in the lake

The County Government of Nakuru has planned to introduce a Bill in the county assembly seeking to outlaw night fishing in Lake Naivasha.

This is following the deaths of five fishermen in a span of one week.

This came as hopes of finding two of the missing fishermen alive were dashed as the search entered its third day.

Over the weekend, two fishermen drowned while on a fishing expedition in the lake while last week another three fishermen died after their boat capsized while on a similar mission.

Following the weekend deaths around Kasarani Village, county officials joined local fishermen in the search for the bodies of the missing duo.

The county chief officer in charge of agriculture, Purity Muritu, attributed the five deaths to ignorance and failure to obey the set rules and regulations.

“We shall introduce a Bill in the county assembly seeking to formally ban night fishing in the lake so that we can curb these deaths,” she said.

Muritu added that the county government would also buy 100 safety jackets for fishermen around the lake as one way of addressing the safety issue.

On his part, Naivasha sub-county fisheries officer, Mathew Ngila, said that the fishermen were not learning from past mistakes.

He noted that of the four fishermen who had ventured into the lake, only one wore a safety jacket, adding that in future anyone found in the lake without the jacket will be arrested.

Ngila stated that a total of three fishermen were missing following two incidents in which five people had lost their lives.

Enforcing an order barring any fishing in the lake between 5am and 6pm, he urged the fishermen to stop venturing into the lake while drunk.

One of the fishermen who was rescued from the lake after the accident, Jackson Ouma, attributed the accident to strong winds and currents.

He mentioned that the boat capsized very fast throwing them into the waters where he stayed for two hours before being rescued.

On his part, Dickson Mwiti, who was involved in the rescue mission, said that they moved into the lake after residents reported of screams.

He noted that they managed to rescue two of the fishermen and they are still searching for the other two bodies.