A Policy Analysis of Illegal Fishing's Impact on Women's Fish Processors and Corporate Stewardship in Kenya, 2000–2003

This policy analysis examines the detrimental impact of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing on women’s artisanal fish processing enterprises in coastal Kenya between 2000 and 2003. It critically evaluates the nascent concept of corporate ocean stewardship as a potential policy response. The research problem centres on how IUU fishing, by depleting nearshore fish stocks, directly undermines the economic security of this vital yet vulnerable cohort. Employing a rigorous qualitative policy analysis framework, the study triangulates evidence from official Kenyan government documents, fisheries management data, and primary interviews with members of women’s processing cooperatives. The findings demonstrate that IUU activities caused a severe decline in the availability of key species, leading to substantively reduced incomes, business instability, and heightened livelihood precarity. The analysis further contends that contemporary corporate stewardship initiatives, while emergent in policy discourse, remained largely rhetorical and institutionally disconnected from the gendered socioeconomic realities on shore. The significance of this study lies in its explicit conceptual linkage of maritime environmental crime to concrete gendered economic outcomes, foregrounding African women’s lived experiences. It concludes that effective policy must move beyond generic maritime enforcement to integrate targeted, gender-responsive support for women’s businesses and to mandate more accountable and inclusive forms of corporate stewardship within Kenya’s blue economy agenda.