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.
Author Archive
A new report is calling for Icelandic fishing company Samherji to properly acknowledge its role in a fish quota scandal it carried out in collaboration with Namibian government officials, as well as properly compensate Namibian fishers who lost their jobs as a result of the misconduct.
The scandal, first publicized in 2019 and colloquially known as Fishrot, resulted in scores of workers losing their jobs due to large chunks of the
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Iran, which boasts the top fishery output of any country in the Middle East, exported seafood worth USD 228 million (EUR 210 million) in the nine months ending December 2023, according to Iran’s House of Industry, Mining, and Trade.
That total included 102,352 metric tons (MT) of fishery products comprising 14,036 MT of carp, 10,765 MT of trout, and 5,672 MT of flounder, among other products, according to Iran International Relations and
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Saudi Arabia-based fish-farming firm Tabuk Fisheries Company has collaborated with the Saudi regional development project coordinator NEOM to create a joint aquaculture venture called Topian Aquaculture, building on a memorandum of understanding for a fish hatchery signed between the two entities in 2021.
NEOM has previously invested in a number of seafood industry initiatives, including an initiative with Cargill and ARASCO to expand the
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Cape Town, South Africa-based seafood company Irvin & Johnson (I&J) experienced a challenging back half of 2023, with a dip in fish sales, soaring fuel prices, and intensifying competition in the international seafood market all contributing to the poor performance.
The company said in its FY 2023 results that fuel costs plagued the company, as it heavily engages in fleet management activities. Between 2022 and 2023, the company
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A study supported by the World Bank’s Development Research Group has found African countries have the capacity to increase their fishery output and profits if they embraced a united approach regarding the distribution of fish quotas.
Gabriel Englander, a researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), served as the lead author of the study, "A fish cartel for Africa," which was published by Nature Communications in
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A Kenyan company specializing in cold storage has opened a facility in the country’s capital of Nairobi, pushing the East African nation closer to majorly reducing post-harvest seafood losses.
ARCH Cold Chain Solutions Fund’s USD 70 million (EUR 64 million) facility can store up to 18,000 metric tons (MT) of seafood and other perishable products and aims to support both domestic and international retailers and traders in effectively
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Cape Town, South Africa-based seafood company Sea Harvest Group has announced its intention to acquire 100 percent of businesses engaged in the catching, processing, and sale of pelagic fish under the umbrella of the Terrasan Group – a South African investment firm.
Sea Harvest said in a statement it will also acquire nearly two-thirds of Terrasan’s subsidiaries engaged in the farming, processing, and sale of abalone in South
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Morocco’s state-owned National Institute for Fisheries Research (INRH) recently launched a MAD 34 million (USD 3.38 million, EUR 3.08 million) research vessel that aims to enhance the scientific institution’s ability to collect accurate and timely fisheries data.
The 22-meter Ibn Sina II research vessel is the sixth in the Moroccan fleet and is equipped with two biological and chemical analysis laboratories. It also has other
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Namibia has partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to address food loss and waste in the country’s fisheries sector by adding value to fish byproducts – including heads, internal organs, skins, and frames.
The partnership, which was established under the Namibia Ocean Cluster – an initiative modeled on Iceland’s Ocean Cluster – aims to connect entrepreneurs, businesses, and fishers to develop shared expertise
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A group of small-scale fishers in South Africa have accused the country’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) of corruption and discrimination through the deployment of its fishing rights allocation (FRA) system, claiming that they have been cast aside in attaining rights while those with upper-class connections in the country receive more favorable treatment.
The group, interviewed where they work in Cape
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