Kenya’s maritime domain is no longer a peripheral concern. It is central to national security, food systems, trade, employment, and the Blue Economy ambitions articulated in Vision 2030. Against this backdrop, the Kenya Maritime Authority’s (KMA) recent call for public participation on two sets of proposed regulations—the revised Merchant Shipping (Marine Casualty Reporting and Investigations) Regulations and the new Merchant Shipping (Work in Fishing) Regulations—represents more than a bureaucratic process. It is a critical opportunity to strengthen accountability, protect vulnerable workers, and align domestic law with international obligations at a moment when maritime risks are rising.
The notice, issued in late October 2026, invites comments by 30 November 2026 and schedules public meetings throughout November. The drafts, prepared in consultation with the State Department for Shipping and Maritime, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Kenya Law Reform Commission, are available on the KMA website. This is constitutionally mandated public participation under Articles 10 and 118 of the 2010 Constitution. Done well, it can produce durable rules. Done poorly, it risks creating paper compliance that fails the people who actually work on and around Kenya’s waters.
Updating the Architecture of Accident Investigation
The existing Marine Casualty Reporting and Investigations Regulations date from 2014 (Legal Notice 90). They established duties to report accidents, preserve evidence, conduct inquiries, and issue safety recommendations. The core objective has always been preventive rather than punitive: to establish causes and circumstances so that similar incidents can be avoided, not primarily to assign blame. That principle remains sound and is consistent with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Casualty Investigation Code.
Yet twelve years is a long time in a sector experiencing rapid growth. Cargo volumes through Mombasa are expanding, inland water transport on Lake Victoria is increasing, deep-sea fishing activity is on the rise, and incidents—including recent fatalities at the port—are a recurring concern. Critics have long noted that Kenya still lacks a fully independent, permanent marine accident investigation body of the kind contemplated by the SOLAS Convention and the IMO Code. Investigations have sometimes remained fragmented, reactive, or insufficiently resourced and transparent.
Any revision must therefore be judged against clear benchmarks. Does it strengthen mandatory and timely reporting by masters and owners? Does it clarify the threshold for formal investigations versus preliminary inquiries? Does it enhance the independence and technical capacity of investigators? Does it guarantee that safety recommendations are tracked, published, and implemented rather than filed away? Does it improve coordination with the Kenya Coast Guard Service, Kenya Ports Authority, and other agencies without creating bureaucratic overlap? And does it ensure that findings are made public in a timely manner so that the industry, fishers, seafarers, and the public can learn from them?
Public comments should press for these outcomes. A modernised regime that remains largely internal to the regulator risks repeating past limitations. An independent or quasi-independent investigative function, properly funded and insulated from operational pressures, would better serve both safety and public confidence.
Decent Work for Fishers: Closing a Long-Standing Gap
The second set of regulations is, if anything, more consequential for Kenya’s most vulnerable maritime workers. The proposed Merchant Shipping (Work in Fishing) Regulations seek to domesticate key elements of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188), which Kenya ratified in February 2022 and which entered into force for the country in 2023.
Convention 188 establishes minimum standards on employment agreements, rest periods, accommodation, food, occupational safety and health, medical care, and social protection for fishers on commercial fishing vessels. These are not abstract aspirations. Kenya’s coastal and inland fisheries support tens of thousands of livelihoods. Many fishers operate under informal or share arrangements, on vessels that may lack basic safety equipment, adequate rest facilities, or medical support. Recent cases of Kenyan fishers being recruited under dubious circumstances, subjected to harsh conditions abroad, and requiring diplomatic intervention underscore the human stakes.
The proposed regulations aim to introduce written employment agreements, enforceable rest periods, standards for onboard accommodation, requirements for medical care and safety training, and social protection measures. If well-designed and effectively enforced, they can reduce exploitation, improve the retention of skilled fishers, and support the government’s push to expand deep-sea fishing capacity while raising standards.
Yet implementation will be the real test. Many fishing vessels, especially artisanal and smaller commercial craft, operate far from Mombasa and outside formal inspection regimes. Regulations that are overly complex or costly without accompanying support—training, phased compliance timelines, access to affordable safety equipment, and practical guidance—risk driving operators further into informality rather than elevating standards. Public participation must therefore examine whether the drafts strike a realistic balance between protection and practicability, whether they differentiate appropriately by vessel size and type of operation, and whether enforcement mechanisms are credible and adequately resourced.
The Broader Strategic Context
These two regulatory streams sit within a wider set of reforms. Kenya has been strengthening its maritime labour framework (including the 2024 Maritime Labour Regulations), expanding vessel inspection programmes, investing in training at Bandari Maritime Academy, and seeking to grow the domestic shipping and fishing fleets. The Blue Economy is repeatedly described as a “sleeping giant.” Regulatory modernisation is a necessary, though insufficient, condition for unlocking it safely and inclusively.
Public participation in November is therefore not a box-ticking exercise. Coastal communities, Beach Management Units, seafarers’ unions, shipowners, fishing vessel operators, civil society organisations focused on labour and maritime safety, county governments along the coast and Lake Victoria, and technical experts all have a direct interest. Their input can surface practical problems that drafters in Nairobi or Mombasa may overlook: the realities of multi-day fishing trips, the challenges of evidence preservation after an incident at sea, the cost of compliance for small operators, and the need for accessible reporting channels in local languages and remote locations.
A Call for Substantive Engagement
The deadline of 30 November 2026 is tight. Stakeholders should download the drafts and the comments template from the KMA website without delay, attend the scheduled public meetings, and submit reasoned, evidence-based submissions to comments.draftlaws@kma.go.ke. Generic praise or blanket opposition will achieve little. Specific recommendations on reporting timelines, the independence of investigations, the publication of findings, rest-hour rules for fishers, medical standards, and enforcement mechanisms will carry far more weight.
Kenya has made progress in ratifying key international instruments and building institutional capacity in the maritime sector. The current proposals offer a chance to convert that progress into stronger, more protective, and more practical domestic law. The quality of the final regulations will depend heavily on the quality of the public scrutiny they receive in the coming weeks. For a nation whose economic future is increasingly tied to the sea and its inland waters, that scrutiny is not optional. It is essential.