A fisherman is admitted at the Naivasha sub-county hospital after he was shot on the leg for illegal fishing in Lake Naivasha.
Following the Tuesday night incident, a group of his colleagues on Wednesday held protests and burnt down a police boat used in the operation.
Trouble started when a group of fishermen were found near Karagita beach at around 11 pm which is past the regulated hours.
“Once challenged to surrender, the eight suspects attacked the officers using stones and the officers opened fire hitting one of them on the leg,” said one of the officers in the operation.
Karagita assistant chief David Kaviku confirmed the incident.
Earlier, the area fisheries officer Raymond Mwangata had decried the rise of illegal fishermen in the lake.
“We have managed to recover over 3,700 illegal nets from January to date and we are working closely with KWS officers in addressing the issue of illegal fishing,” he said.
Fish catch in Lake Naivasha has dropped by over 40 percent with the use of the banned filament nets been blamed for the crisis.
It has emerged that licensed and illegal fishermen are using the net which is similar to mosquito nets to fish a move that spells doom for the lake according to the fisheries department.
The drop has also been attributed to the rise in water levels, cold weather pattern and over fishing mainly from illegal fishermen whose numbers are on the rise.
According to Naivasha sub-county fisheries officer Raymond Mwangata, production of the popular Tilapia species had dropped drastically while that of Common Carp had risen sharply.
He said that as of January, fishermen managed to capture a total of 155,618Kg of fish valued at Sh36.5m but in September fish catch stood at 171,136kg worth Sh13.3m.
Mwangata noted that Tilapia catch which is more expensive that Common carp dropped and hence the increase in production but a decrease in the earnings.
“Tilapia production dropped from 82,377kgs in January to 57,614kgs in September and this was due to overfishing, rise in water levels and the cold weather,” he said.
Speaking in his office, the senior officer expressed his concern over the use of the filament nets in the lake noting that this spelt doom for the lake.