The Institutional Determinants of Ease of Doing Business in the Marine Fisheries Industry in Kenya

Abstract

Even though Kenya has a sizable portion of the Indian Ocean and other bodies of water, the marine fishing industry in Kenya is still mostly untapped. If and when off-shore marine fishing is efficiently exploited, the marine fishing business in Kenya will boom and significantly contribute to social-economic development in Kenya. While, it is the role of institutions to manage the marine resources, their influence on how they influence the marine fishing industry in Kenya is yet to be determined. Specifically, the research aims to determine institutional factors that influence ease of doing marine fisheries business in coastal Kenya. The key aspects of institutional factors studied were legal requirements, business registration, marine fisheries policies, environmental regulations and technological innovations. The study is anchored on three key theories namely institutional theory, contingency theory and entrepreneurship innovation theory. Institutional theory explains how government institutions influence the ease of doing marine fishing business, contingency theory highlights the influence of environmental factors on the industry, and entrepreneurship innovation theory focuses on the success factors for marine fisheries entrepreneurship. The study employed cross-sectional research design and utilized questionnaires to collect the data. The target population was 1310 registered fishing enterprises in coast region as at December 2021 and the sample size was 131 respondents made up of managers and owners of the marine fishing enterprises. The study employed descriptive statistics namely mean and standard deviation and inferential analysis namely correlation analysis and regression analysis to quantitatively analyze the data. The study found that the legal requirement has insignificant positive influence on (β= 0.071, P.value = 0.203) Business registration requirements have a negative (β= -0.197, P.value = 0.006) and significant influence on ease of doing business. Marine fishing policies have positive (β = 0.107, P.value = 0.03) and significant influence on ease of doing marine fishing policies. Environmental regulations are detrimental to the ease of doing marine fishing business in Kenya (β= -0.345, P.value = 0.000) and that technological innovations have positive and significant effects on ease of doing marine fishing business in Kenya (β= -0.155, P.value = 0.001). Based on the findings, the study concludes that some institutional factors namely marine fisheries policies, and technological innovations have beneficial effects on ease of doing marine fishing business, while business registration and environmental regulations are detrimental to the ease of doing marine fishing business at coastal Kenya. The study therefore recommends the government and policy makers to prioritize the development and implementation of effective marine fisheries policies that create a favorable regulatory environment for businesses in the sector. These policies should focus on promoting responsible fishing practices, sustainable resource utilization, and conservation efforts.