(Fish farm. Photo Credit: The Independent)
Africa needs to urgently expand its fish-farming sector to meet its food needs, according to the head of the UN’s fisheries division, even as the latest global figures show record production levels worldwide.
Fish and seafood now represent a $184 billion trade, according to the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), launched at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya.
Fish-farming, or aquaculture, overtook traditional capture fishing as a source of food production in 2021 and has continued to grow, surpassing 100 million tonnes for the first time in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available.
However, Africa continues to lag behind the rest of the world, with only 18 percent of its fish coming from farms, compared to roughly half elsewhere.
The FAO projects that sub-Saharan Africa’s fish production will need to grow by 68 percent between now and 2050 in order to keep pace with the continent’s rapidly expanding population.
Manuel Barange, director of the FAO’s fisheries division, described this as an opportunity waiting to be seized, though he questioned whether the pace of development would be fast enough to meet rising demand.
He said aquaculture could prove transformative for the continent if properly developed, but stressed that governments urgently need to put in place regulations and incentives capable of attracting investors.
More than 700 fish species are currently farmed for consumption globally, and the FAO maintains that aquaculture offers a more predictable and sustainable alternative to traditional sea fishing, while also being easier to manage amid climate change, which Barange described as a disruptor affecting nearly every aspect of the sector, including the volume and location of ocean fish stocks.
The report also pointed to a continued need to address overfishing, finding that only 62 percent of global fisheries are currently being fished sustainably.
The 11th edition of the Our Ocean Conference opened in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa on Tuesday, marking its first time being hosted on the African continent, bringing together politicians, NGOs, investors, and innovators.
Organisers say that since its inception in 2014, the conference has generated more than 2,900 commitments valued at over $169 billion, spanning marine conservation, sustainable fisheries, climate adaptation, security, and pollution reduction.
