Blue economy refers to the sustainable use and economic development of both aquatic and marine spaces including oceans, seas, coasts, lakes, rivers, and underground water (State Department for the Blue Economy and Fisheries Strategic Plan 2023-2027).

As emphasised in the definition, exploitation of the aquatic and marine resources should be undertaken in a responsible manner (sustainably) to ensure long-term health and resilience of marine and aquatic ecosystems. This ensures that these resources are not depleted beyond their capacity to rejuvenate. Kenya is a signatory to both domestic and international laws seeking to establish standards to manage and ensure sustainability of its Blue Economy. The Domestic laws and regulations include the following:

1. Wildlife (Conservation & Management) Act by the Kenya Wildlife Service, which protects marine parks and reserves as designated protected areas. The act states that limited human activity, including resource exploitation, is permitted in maritime reserves but prohibits all forms of resource extraction or exploitation in marine parks.
2. Environmental Management and Coordination Act, 2015, which prohibits the execution of specific activities in the ecosystems of rivers, lakes, and wetlands without first conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and then receiving approval from the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA).
3. Merchant Shipping Act, which aims to govern shipping activity both inshore and outside the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), protecting the environment, reducing pollution, and ensuring marine safety and security.
4. Fisheries Management and Development Act, 2016, which established the Kenya Fisheries Services and calls for the conservation, management, and development of fisheries and other aquatic resources to improve the standard of living for people who depend on fishing.

Other domestic laws and regulations governing the Aquatic and Marine resources include the Kenya Maritime Authority Act; Maritime Zones Act (Cap. 371)); Territorial Waters Act Cap 371, 1972; The Continental Shelf Act Cap 312, 1975, Coast Development Authority Act (Cap. 449) and National Oceans and Fisheries Policy.

Additionally, Kenya is a signatory to the following International Laws and Agreements:

1. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982), which outlines the rights and obligations of states on their use of the oceans, including rules for industry, the environment, and the conservation of marine natural resources.
2. Convention on the Continental Shelf (Geneva 1958), which grants Kenya sovereign rights over its continental shelf for exploration and exploitation, with provisions to avoid unjustified impacts on navigation, fishing, conservation of sea life, and scientific research.
3. Convention of the High Seas (Geneva 1958), whichrequires states to establish rules preventing sea pollution from oil by ships and pipelines, as well as from seabed exploration, exploitation, and radioactive waste dumping.
4. Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna & Flora (Washington, 1973), which regulates international trade in endangered wild animals and plants.
5. Convention on the Conservation and Management Measures of High Seas Resources, which promotes compliance with international conservation and management measures by fishing vessels on the high seas.
6. The African Convention for the Conservation of Nature & Natural Resources (Algiers, 1968) which promotes conservation, utilization and development of soil, water, flora and fauna for the present and future welfare of mankind.
7. Lusaka Agreement on Cooperative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna & Flora (1994), which supports member states to reduce and ultimately eliminate illegal trade in wild flora and fauna.

Other international conventions and treaties that Kenya is a signatory with a view to ensure sustainability of its Blue Economy include The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (1971); International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL); The Paris Agreement; Convention on Biological Biodiversity (1992); 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Sectors of the Blue Economy

Blue Economy encompasses various sectors such as fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, renewable energy, biotechnology, shipbuilding, maritime transport and underwater mining and related activities as explained below:

1. Fisheries: An activity of catching fish from one or more stock of fish for commercial, subsistence or recreational purpose.
2. Aquaculture: Farming of aquatic organisms, including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants
3. Tourism: Recreational activities including beach vacations, scuba diving, cruise ship travels and watching wildlife.
4. Renewable energy: This refers to energy produced from wind turbines located offshore, energy from ocean waves and energy produced from the temperature differences between deep and shallow ocean waters.
5. Biotechnology: Refers to use of marine organisms such as marine bacteria and fungi, marine invertebrates (sponges and corals), marine algae and seaweeds, among others, for the development of medicines, nutritional supplements, cosmetics, and other biotechnological applications.
6. Shipbuilding: Refers to the process of construction of ships and other vessels for use in movement on aquatic and marine spaces.
7. Maritime transport: Involves the movement of goods and people via ships and other vessels on aquatic or marine spaces.
8. Underwater mining: Refers to extraction of minerals such as manganese nodules, polymetallic sulfides and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts from the seabed.

Why Blue Economy

Kenya is endowed with rich coastal and maritime resources, which have a huge potential for wealth and employment creation as well as contributing to food and nutrition security. The Blue Economy as an alternate economic frontier is a potential game changer for sustainability in maritime development and create real-time opportunities for improving the citizens well-being and social equity as well as wealth through exploration and exploitation of maritime and export of marine products. However, these aquatic and marine resources have been minimally or sub-optimally harnessed to realize the gains. This is largely attributable to among others limited and scattered knowledge base on blue economy, insufficient training facilities and equipment leading to low-capacity building initiatives and weak integration of policies on blue economy. It is in consideration of the many gains vis a vis the resolvable impediments, that the Government prioritizes development and promotion of the blue economy value chain for the benefit of Kenyans.

Opportunities in the Blue Economy

1. Kenya has a unique opportunity for exploration, conservative exploitation and management of diverse maritime zones and deepening exploitation of attendant natural resources beyond the sectors that have already been perceived beyond artisanal fishing and tourism.
2. There are emerging products from the blue economy including power generation; offshore oil prospection and other marine biodiverse resources that are still underexploited and which provide opportunity in maritime related services including merchant shipping, sea personnel while the shipping infrastructure would also be maximized within a vibrant blue economy ecosystem.
3. The Blue Economic development paradigm will strengthen maritime cities and coastal communities, for higher level employment and quality of life in fulfilment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
4. The Blue Economy as an alternate economic frontier is a potential game changer for sustainability in maritime development and creates real-time opportunities for improving the citizens well-being and social equity.  

KEPROBA’S focus on Blue Economy

The Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency, adopts the value chain approach to implementation of the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). Among other priority value chains, the Agency leverages on its mandate of Export Promotion and Nation Branding to prioritize development and promotion of the blue economy value chain. Specifically, the Agency supports fisheries and aquaculture sectors of the blue economy through product development, branding and value addition programmes and export market linkage initiatives to link Kenyan exporters of blue economy products to buyers in the regional and international market thus supporting growth of Kenya’s exports. Through these interventions, the Agency, under its Strategic Plan 2023/2024 – 2027/2028, endeavor to grow exports of fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates from USD 47.5million in 2022 to USD 76.5 million by 2028, This growth will be focused in the following markets: Asia (China, Japan and South Korea), European Union (Italy, Spain, Israel and Portugal), EAC (Democratic Republic of Congo), United Kingdom and the US market.

According to International Trade Centre (ITC), Kenya was ranked 98th exporter of fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates in 2023. Her exports of this product valued at USD 47.8 million, up by USD 0.3 million from USD 47.5 million in 2022. On average, Kenya’s exports of fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates grew by 14% in the period between 2019 and 2023 and grew by 1% in the period between 2022 and 2023.  However, her share of exports against the total world exports of fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates remained insignificant.

Additionally, in its quest to position Kenya as among the top 50 Country brands, the Agency leverages on the Country’s forefront position in championing use of renewable energy including the offshore wind energy, wave and tidal energy and the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) generated within the parameters of Blue Economy. In so doing, the Agency positions the Country as compliant and a leader in environmental conservation and climate change eradication. This further supports the Country’s market access to the European Union that has greatly encouraged compliance with greening under the European Union Deforestation Response (EUDR).