Kenyan youth have been asked to venture in the rich blue economy sector which has vast economic opportunities especially along the Coastal region.

According to the Mombasa governor's Youth Leadership programe in climate action sector leader Basil Muga , the blue economy sector remains fully unexploited, urging youth to take advantage of the multi-Billion sector.

“We have realized that there is huge opportunity for young people in the blue economy, the demand for fish is high but the supply is going down, because we have continued to mess with the Ocean, so we urge the youth to participate in the reservation of the Ocean if you want to really reap the benefits of the Ocean,” said Muga.

He said the Blue economy is promising for the youth from fishing, tourism, ocean science, among others but this can be achieved through protection of Oceans from pollution.

Basil noted that Mombasa is endowed with a vibrant biodiversity from land and from the ocean presenting many opportunities for development from the blue economy .

“Let us protect it so that we can increase what comes out of the ocean so that we don’t import fish, and as we do that we will also get to increase the culture of eating fish locally and we will encourage more fishers going for fishing in the sea,” added Muga.

He made the remarks during the Governor’s young leaders  youth in climate action round table meeting  which brought together over 150 youths from Mombasa and other stakeholders to deliberate on the effects and mitigation on climate change where he asked youth to actively participate in mitigating climate change.

“We have to act now because the planet is dying, if we remain with the same practice we will not have somewhere to live, even if it means joining volunteering for beach cleanups, and letting up young people getting into entrepreneurship in green businesses, “he added.

Innocent Wanyonyi from coastal marine resources development stated that a lot of implications of climate on marine environment were as a result of human activity, which is majorly pollution.

Fish populations are already declining in many regions as warming waters throw marine ecosystems into disarray, according to the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists convened by the United Nations to guide world leaders in policy making.

“When sea temperatures rise, different species of marine start disappearing and we get a lot of losses especially on dependants of sea fishing,” said Wanyinyi adding that some fish species have completely been exploited because of climate change.

Climate change is heating the oceans and altering their chemistry so dramatically that it is threatening seafood supplies, fueling cyclones and floods and posing profound risks to the hundreds of millions of people living along the coasts.

 “One of the other effects of climate change is the unpredictability of ocean cycles which has affected fish count in the sea, thus denying us food and making the cost of fish very expensive,” said Wanyonyi adding that youth have a big role to play in mitigating the effects.

Mombasa is largely affected by climate change ,residents experience long heat spans above the normal tropical climate,floods and the ever rising sea level are a real threat to life in this very cosmopolitan city.