Twenty-First Annual Technical Report
bachelorŐs degrees and four Fisheries Officers will receive M.Sc. degrees.
Introduction
Food security is an issue for many developing countries, and maintaining an adequate and sustainable supply of fish and other aquatic products is an important part of this issue. High quality products should be accessible to the consumer in sufficient quantity to provide adequate nutrition.
Since we are near a state of crisis with respect to food supplies in Kenya, the future contribution of fish to food security is in question and now is an appropriate time to examine fish production issues. Past experience shows that fisheries resources in Kenya have been degraded and overexploited due to a lack of qualified managers and uninformed stakeholders. The end results are drastic reductions in fish catches and huge post-harvest losses, leading to poor quality fish being supplied to the markets or even no fish at all. Over the next 25 years, the challenges in fisheries management will be to maintain fish harvests at present or near-present levels while sustainably increasing aquaculture production to meet demand for fish and other aquatic resources. The Government of Kenya's National Development Plan (1996) called for an increase in
aquaculture production to compensate for the shortfall in production from capture fisheries.
Increasing aquaculture production in a sustainable way requires trained manpower. Training opportunities in the past have been limited, and sustained funding and well-thought-out training strategies have been lacking. In the last decade, Fisheries Extension Officers serving in the Government have had no formal training program because the only training institution, the Naivasha Wildlife and Fisheries Training Institute, reverted to training Wildlife Officers only. This has had far reaching repercussions for the fisheries sector, because serving Fisheries Officers, who are charged with the responsibility of managing the country's fisheries resources and helping fish farmers manage their ponds and farms effectively, have received neither initial basic training nor periodic in-service training.
Given this scenario, we recognized the need for capacity development through assistance from reputable international institutions. Serving Fisheries Officers who are unable to participate in longer-term degree courses needed to be equipped with an understanding of pond dynamics and modern technologies for small-scale commercial aquaculture in order to cope with the emerging challenges in
Table 1. Names, study topics, and support period for undergraduate students receiving CRSP stipend support at Moi University under
Table 2. Names, thesis topics, and supervisors of graduate students receiving M.Sc. program support (tuition and stipends) at Moi University under the CRSP Tenth Work Plan. All students began their course of work on 1 May 2002 and are expected to complete their pro
