Big harvest for family that took the plunge into cage fishing

The Mbeo family is practising a different kind of fish farming on the shores of Lake Victoria. Whereas most fishermen row their boats deep into the lake in hope of bringing back big stocks, the Mbeos simply go into big cages and catch as much as they want.

Their firm, Lake View Fisheries, is Kenya’s cage fishing pioneer, winning several entrepreneurial and environmental conservation awards in the three years it has been up and running.

Like most new ventures, Lake View Fisheries started as and idea that would not give its bearer any rest until it was executed. One of the Mbeo siblings, Gilbert, always had a passion for fish farming and shared his ideas with his family. In 2013, the family took a collective risk and invested most of their savings into his passion.

Gilbert had over the years done his research and learnt a lot about pond farming and cage farming. He realised that in a small area on the lake one could keep a large number fish compared to a pond.

“When we decided to go with this style of farming we knew we had to reach out for expertise because such cages have not been seen in Kenya, says Gilbert.

And so they consulted experts from Africa’s biggest cage farms to  understand best practices on cage management before setting up on Ramba Beach in Mfangano Island.

The farm is characterised by floating circular high-density polyethylene (HDPE) cages, a technology mostly applied in mariculture.

It has two circular HDPE cages with a capacity of 25 tonnes. Each is made of high density pipes surrounded by green nets with a 20 metre diameter and depth of six metres.

The cages use a series of up to four nets: the actual net that holds the fish, predator net, feed containment net measure to contain the feed so that it doesn’t spill out and finally the bag net that covers the cage to keep away predators such birds.

The company runs a tilapia hatchery, 31 ponds, two demonstration square cages and circular HDPE cages.
Before the fish are released into the cages in the lake, eggs are hatched in and incubation room using re-circulation aquaculture system.

The cages hold a brooding stock of 2,000 tilapia fish while the company currently produces over 100,000 sex reversed fingerlings in a month. Each fingerling costs between Sh5 to Sh10 depending on the size.

“We went through several months of developing our brood stock, which involves cycles of breeding and selecting the most favourable genetics and traits fit for cage farming,” says Gilbert’s sister, Michelle Mbeo, a Lake View Fisheries co-director.

Some of the daily activities include scuba diving to inspect different cage parts, feeding and monitoring fish health.

“We are building a team by up skilling local talent to ensure that this skill set is available in Kenya. Currently we have two employees being trained in Mombasa. Our target is to train 20 staff members,” says Gilbert.

The company has employed 31 permanent staff working in hatchery, the cage management, sales for fingerlings and outgrown fish.