Africa
Africa
Africa
for the
Development of African Fisheries and
Aquaculture
Executive Summary
NEPAD recognises the vital contributions by African inland and marine fisheries
to food security and income of many millions of Africans and to poverty
reduction and economic development in the continent. It further recognises the
growing opportunities and emerging successes of aquaculture development in
the region. Within the framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Program (CAADP), a series of regional technical consultations
were held that identified the primary areas for investment to safeguard and
further increase these benefits, together with a first set of priority actions in
each. The NEPAD Action Plan for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development in
Africa describes these investment areas for inland fisheries, coastal and marine
fisheries, and aquaculture:
For Aquaculture:
• Developing sector-wide strategies at national level for expansion and
intensification of aquaculture
• Supporting priority aquaculture zones
1
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Executive Summary
If investments are made across these areas it is projected that the stagnating or
declining fishery production in the region can be stabilized and in a few cases
expanded. By improving processing and access to regional and global markets
through improved policies and public-private partnership investments in quality
control capacity, market info rmation systems, and sector management, it is
expected that their contributions to socio-economic development can be
enhanced and diversified. In the case of aquaculture, substantial growth in
sustainable production can be achieved.
To guide these inves tments and enhance sustainability of impact, several cross -
cutting areas need to be supported. These include the development of sector-
wide strategies for fisheries and aquaculture using economic planning
approaches and a comprehensive value-chain perspective. Regional capacity
for research and development needs to be strengthened; and technical
expertise in the region needs to be supported through networking and improved
communications.
2
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Executive Summary
3
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Background
1. BACKGROUND
African fisheries and aquaculture are at a turning point. The fish sector makes
vital contributions to food and nutrition security of 200 million Africans and
provides income for over 10 million engaged in fish production, processing and
trade. Moreover, fish has become a leading export commodity for Africa, with an
annual export value of US$ 2.7bn. Yet these benefits are at risk as the
exploitation of natural fish stocks is reaching limits and aquaculture production
has not yet fulfilled its potential.
4
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Background
Africa currently produces 7.31 million tons of fish each year. Of this 4.81 million
tons is from marine fisheries, and 2.5 million tons from inland fisheries. While
capture fisheries rose steadily throughout the 1980s and 1990s they have
stagnated since then, reaching about 6.85 million tons in 2002. Aquaculture on
the other hand has risen, but slowly, and only in Egypt has growth achieved
rates of increase seen in other parts of the world, rising from 85,000 tons in
1997 to over 400,000 tons in 2004. These trends combined with population
growth mean that per capita consumption of fish in Africa is low and stagnating,
and in sub-Saharan Africa specifically per capita consumption has fallen in the
past twenty years. In a recent study by IFPRI and the WorldFish Center
analysis of future demand and supply of fish suggested that if per capita
consumption is to be maintained at present levels up to the year 2020, capture
fisheries will need to be sustained and where possible enhanced, and
aquaculture developed rapidly, with an increase of over 260% in sub-Saharan
Africa alone over the course of the next 16 years.
While these trends underline the enormous internal demand for fish in Africa,
they also highlight both the importance of managing capture fisheries more
effectively so that their full development potential can be achieved and
sustained, and the urgent need to foster more rapid development of
aquaculture. For capture fisheries there is growing recognition that improved
governance systems for fisheries resources and better management of the
resource base upon which they depend are needed for sustainable use, while
carefully targeted investments in infrastructure and marketing are needed if the
full value of these resources is to be realised by the local, national and regional
economies.
5
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Background
are opening up. With growing urbanisation, improved market integration and the
concurrent supply crisis from capture fisheries, small and large scale investors
are gaining interest in aquaculture production. There is urgent need to develop
guidelines and policies that create a conducive aquaculture investment climate
and at the same time provide safeguards against environmental and social
risks.
Trade in fish products has increased substantially over the past two decades
and African fish exports were valued at US$ 2.7 billion in 2001, from a total
global value of US$ 56 billion. Much more can be done to foster markets for
African fish products, both within the region and globally. In several countries,
fish exports to European and other overseas markets are now contributing
significantly to national economies. In a relatively short time, the fish processing
and exporting industry has acquired access to tightly regulated markets by
meeting international HACCP and SPS standards. There is great potential to
learn from these success stories and build the capacity of a wider spectrum of
small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in these growth opportunities.
At the same time, trade relations with importing countries need to develop
further to stimulate the growth of value-adding industries in Africa. In marine
fisheries, arrangements that regulate the access of foreign fleets to African fish
stocks need to be considered from a long-term perspective on fish supply and
economic development opportunities. Though the export of fish from Africa is an
important economic activity for many countries, marketing fish locally needs to
be encouraged as this will contribute significantly towards the reduction of
hunger and malnutrition as highlighted in the Millennium Development Goals.
Clearly, the implications of accelerated fish trade for poverty and food security
need to be fully understood so that the potential of trade as a stimulus to
fisheries development can be effectively harnessed. Importantly, this will include
increased attention to domestic and regional markets in addition to exports to
industrialised countries. Trade of fish between African countries is an important
if often unreported sector that provides affordable fish products to millions of
consumers across the continent. It is estimated to absorb up to 50% of fish
catches in some inland fisheries and it is widely acknowledged that better
processing, improved transport and marketing, and more conducive regional
trade relations could increase the contribution of this trade to the regional
economy and food security. Gaining a wider and more balanced perspective on
opportunities for trade at all levels will be an important step towards maximising
the development impact of fish exports to regional and global markets.
6
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Background
(i) extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable
water control systems;
(ii) improving rural infrastructure and trade-related capacities for market
access;
(iii) increasing food supply and reducing hunger; and
(iv) agricultural research, technology dissemination and adoption.
In all four areas, fisheries and aquaculture have achieved successes at local
and national levels that can be scaled up regionally. Aquaculture has proven to
improve water management practices at community and farm level, thus
increasing returns from crop production in drought prone regions in southern
Africa. Marketing of fish products, especially from small-scale capture fisheries,
has opened many remote areas to wider markets, in the process enhancing
market involvement of rural producers. Fish also contributes substantially and
cost-effectively to nutrition security by supplying protein and other vital nutrients
to the diets of 200 million Africans. Finally, aquaculture research, technology
development and transfer are making a growing contribution to increasing fish
supply and have the potential to widen their impact substantially in future. The
recent success of commercial aquaculture in Egypt, which today contributes
50% of domestic fish supply, exemplifies opportunities for transferring such
technologies within Africa.
With growing demand for fish and stagnating supply figures, there is an urgent
need to now build on these success stories in developing a regional approach to
fisheries development. In its efforts to identify opportunities arising from
particular sectors and initiatives, the CAADP Action Plan has recognised the
importance of fisheries in the region and the potential for development of
aquaculture. There is considerable potential to include a plan for Fisheries and
Aquaculture Development amongst the “flagship programmes” of the Action
Plan to further guide the fisheries sector’s key contributions to the CAADP
priorities.
7
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Background
investments should include public -private partnerships that will support business
development across the continent while also safeguarding wider poverty
reduction objectives through involvement of small-scale entrepreneurs and
attention to regional markets.
Further, the NEPAD Environment Action Plan has prioritised the ‘conservation
and sustainable use of marine, coastal and freshwater resources’ as well as
‘cross-border conservation or management of natural resources’. Both
objectives are of critical importance to the future of fisheries and aquaculture.
Investments into developing environmental safeguards for the expansion of
aquaculture and improving management of wild fisheries resources will be key
contributions by the fisheries sector to overall environmentally sound
management of aquatic resources.
8
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Background
9
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Background
Context
Africa’s inland fisheries play a critical role in supporting the livelihoods and food
security of millions of people across the continent. They provide employment
and income for households dependent on fishing and post-harvest activities,
and provide the principal source of animal protein and essential micronutrients
for millions of rural and urban-based poor. Yet catches from most inland
fisheries have generally reached their maximum capacity, and in many are now
declining. Many of these fisheries are considered to be over-fished, while the
ecosystems that sustain them are threatened by eutrophication, deforestation,
dams and other water management schemes. In the next three decades
increasing competition for water will be a major challenge for these fisheries.
10
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Inland Fisheries
activities aiming at reducing the high rate of post-harvest losses that severely
hampers the development of the African inland fisheries.
Improved Productivity
Action points:
• Build capacity of key stakeholders at all levels to engage effectively in
improved governance arrangements for inland fisheries
• Analyse property rights arrangements at local level and encourage the
development of adapted equitable property rights frameworks
• Pursue the implementation of fisheries co-management plans that include all
fisheries key-stakeholders
• Create accountable governance structures at the decentralised level to
supervise the fisheries management operations characterised by transparent
mechanisms of control and audit
• Develop cost-effective information systems that can support improved
governance
11
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Inland Fisheries
Action points:
• Strengthen public and private investments in post-harvest (processing and
trading) infrastructures
• Invest in road and transport systems to improve accesses between major
fishing areas and urban centers
• Identify technologies for improving processing in specific fisheries and build
capacity through PPP to disseminate and use these technologies
• Develop the appropriate institutional conditions to stimulate the creation of
viable long-term formal and informal financial systems to support small-scale
processors and traders
Environmental Sustainability
Action points:
• Build capacity of planners and manage rs at national and local levels to
integrate fisheries priorities into integrated water resource planning and
management
• Develop and implement decision support tools for land and water
management that incorporate the needs of fisheries and the freshwater
ecosystems that sustain them, and strengthen the capacity of decision
makers to implement them
• Undertake assessments and valuations of major inland fisheries and
contribute this information in support of improved water management
12
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Inland Fisheries
Action points:
• Support regional and basin -wide fisheries bodies to manage shared
resources
• Raise awareness amongst planners and decision-makers at regional level to
integrate fisheries concerns into land and water management
• Pursue ecosystem-based approaches to river and watershed planning and
management
• Improve capacity building (including training for strategic and cross-sectoral
planning)
• Develop basin-wide monitoring and information systems and promote
establishment of compatible legislative frameworks across basin and
between sectoral management agencies
13
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Inland Fisheries
removal of tariff barriers and elimination of all forms of illegal (informal) taxations
systems need to be implemented. Finally to ensure that the benefits of markets
and trade are shared, more accountable and transparent institutions will need to
be developed that allow all size operators to benefit from their support and
services.
Action points:
• Develop market information systems and strengthen market research and
development capacities
• Promote fish and fisheries products in international, regional and local
markets
• Assess regional fish trade in order to identify current and potential internal
African market opportunities
• Provide support to artisanal fish processors and traders, in particular women
entrepreneurs, to further develop their enterprises
• Reform policies and regulations to encourage formalization of informal
regional trade
• Elaborate guidelines for eco-labeling of inland fisheries products
• Develop competency of testing laboratories and quality control authorities,
and develop legal / institutional frameworks to support certification processes
• Prepare and negotiate market access jointly during WTO negotiation rounds
and international discussions on SPS and TBT agreements
Action points:
• Develop and finance training for enterprise management and marketing
strategies along the marketing chain
• Strengthen the organisational and institutional capacities of producers
organisations
• Support fisher and trader associations and professional organisations to
access and manage credit
14
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Inland Fisheries
Action points:
• Document and communicate the real contribution of inland fisheries to
regional, national and local food security
• Identify national and regional policies that promote better management of
inland fisheries as a contribution to enhanced local and national food
security
• Pro mote fish consumption in areas where it can provide a source of cheap
protein
• Develop safety standards that recognise the different requirements of export
and local markets.
Context
Coastal and Marine fisheries provide over half of Africa’s fish production. As
efforts are made to increase the contribution of fisheries to the continent’s
development it is essential to sustain and where possible enhance the benefits
these fisheries provide. This will require considerable investment at multiple
levels to address the increasing challenges faced by coastal and marine
fisheries and the conflicts these generate, while a wide range of innovative
investments are needed in order to, where possible, add value to the resources
that are harvested.
Improved Productivity
15
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Coastal and Marine Fisheries
With few exceptions, the coastal and marine resources of the African continent
are fully exploited and in many places signs of significant over-exploitation and
resource degradation are evident. Population pressure and urbanisation of the
coastal areas play an important role in this dynamic, but overcapacity of
industrial fleets and artisanal coastal fisheries remains the major factor driving
resource degradation. In recent decades, competition for scarcer resources has
also led to increasing conflicts amongst users, in particular between local fishers
and larger-scale off-shore industrial fleets. However increasingly these conflicts
have taken on a regional dimension. To address these issues long-term
fisheries management plans are needed at regional, national and local levels.
These need to recognise that the transboundary nature of many stocks and the
migratory feature of many fishing communities require a more collaborative
approach between countries. This will in particular require harmonization of laws
and institutional frameworks, and the overall approach will need to be
underpinned by major investments in capacity building, including in particular for
policy and implementation of Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS)
measures. In many cases these management plans will need to address the
politically and socially difficult process of reducing fishing effort in both large -
scale and artisanal fisheries. The ecological sustainability and long-term
economic viability of the entire fisheries sector depends on these necessary
reforms.
Action points:
• Develop long-term bi-lateral and regional fisheries management plans for
major marine fisheries, including recognition of the role and contribution of
small-scale coastal fisheries
• Harmonize laws and institutional frameworks amongst countries and
agencies and conduct audits to ensure conformity with management
objectives
• Strengthen planning capacity at all levels through African regional
collaboration backstopped by international agencies’ technical support
• Support emerging regional networks of technical and managerial expertise in
order to provide regional learning platforms and mechanisms for knowledge
sharing
• Raise high-level political awareness about the critical importance of effective
MCS, and strengthen the capacity to implement these MCS at national and
local levels, in particular to support implementation of existing action plans
on Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing
• Identify situations where reduction in fishing effort is required in marine
and/or small-scale coastal fisheries and develop approaches to addressing
this that are socially and economically viable
16
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Coastal and Marine Fisheries
of the fish harvested from African waters is neither caught by African boats nor
processed within the continent. There is broad consensus that the capacities to
reverse this situation need to be developed and investments to support this
made. This will require public and private sector investment in boats and
processing capacities, and the general infrastructures of roads and ports to
support this. These substantial investments will necessitate strong political
support at national, regional and pan-African levels. At the local level, reliable
and affordable credit facilities is a critical element in particular for small-scale
operators, as will be strengthened resource access rights for coastal fishing
communities. Mechanisms for reinvestment of fisheries revenues through direct
and indirect public investments supporting the specific needs of fishing
communities will reinforce this.
Action points:
• Raise high-level political awareness of the importance of coastal fisheries for
local economic development
• Create national legal frameworks that are adapted to the specific conditions
of local fishing communities and that allow equitable resource access rights
• Build Africa-wide capacity to ‘catch and process its own fish’
• Review existing foreign access agreements and assess their impact on
national and regional economic development and food security objectives
• Encourage investments in value-added industries through conducive trade
and market access conditions for value-added products from Africa
• Assess the impact of large-scale operations and fully evaluate the long-term
impact of policies supporting foreign fleets agreements
• Ensure that revenues and economic rent generated by the sector are
reinvested into development interventions with a strong focus on fisheries
sector priorities
• Modernise and upgrade existing landing site infrastructures and invest in
new ones both in rural and urban coastal areas
• Improve access to enduring financial institutions for the fishing sector and
access to credit at single-digit rates
17
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Coastal and Marine Fisheries
Action points:
• Institutionalize and reinforce participatory management approaches in both
national and local fisheries agencies
• Strengthen institutional and legal mechanisms for co-management and build
capacity for consultation and participatory planning
• Develop and implement plans for information transfer, communication, and
education
• Improve governance processes through supportive laws and legislative
frameworks and through establishment of mechanisms to increase
transparency and strengthen accountability of both public and private
institutions
• Conduct audits of institutions and align them with management and
conservation realities
Environmental Sustainability
Action points:
• Develop and implement integrated coastal zone management plans
(including the use of MPAs)
• Implement multi-disciplinary ecosystem-based assessment and develop
integrated data management systems
18
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Coastal and Marine Fisheries
Action points:
• Accelerate regional integration initiatives through stronger collaboration
between national institutions and the support of RECs
• Negotiate favourable fisheries access agreements under various
conventions
• Strengthen individual and collective negotiation power through a
harmonization of African positions in global trade negotiation fora such as
WTO and CODEX
• Strengthen control capacities for sanitary, certification and labelling at
national level (for legislative issues) and at provincial level (for
implementation issues)
• Develop a more enabling and stimulating institutional environment to
strengthen regional fish trade and ensure a fair redistribution of these trade
benefits
• Design policy frameworks that support investment by Africans in the
processing and trade of Africa’s fish products
19
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Coastal and Marine Fisheries
Action points:
• Increase the private sector’s support and involvement in research and
extension services while ensuring the competitiveness, accountability and
quality-driven nature of the process through an adapted and flexible
legislative framework
• Improve infrastructure and equipments through appropriate public and
private investments (e.g. roads, ice, landing sites, cold rooms)
• Provide support to artisanal fish processors and traders, in particular women
entrepreneurs, to further develop their enterprises
• To reduce the rate of discard and improve utilization of ‘by-catch’
• Expand research and development for post harvest technology through
Public Private Partnerships
• Strengthen financing mechanisms, in particular credit and micro-finance,
with a particular attention to the specific legal and institutional constraints
faced by women
20
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Coastal and Marine Fisheries
Action points:
• Promote the development of Public-Private Partnerships in support of
investments in coastal and marine fisheries, and develop tools and capacity
for monitoring their economic development and food security impact
• Develop policy frameworks which support and protect the comparative
economic and social advantages of small-scale coastal fisheries
• Develop training programmes that strengthen fishers and traders’ capacities
for enterprise management
• Promote public and private investments in the fisheries sector and develop
investment codes which specifically address constraints faced by small-scale
entrepreneurs
• Expand and support research and development for fisheries and processing
input supplies
Action points:
• Design and enforce national and regional level policies and legislation that
promote and support the contribution of fish to food and nutrition security
• Support the development of intra -Africa commercialisation and trade of low -
value fish products
• Promote fish consumption in areas where it can provide a source of cheap
protein
• Support market research and better use of existing information sources on
national and regional fish trades.
21
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Coastal and Marine Fisheries
3.3 Aquaculture
Context
Aquaculture has grown strongly in most regions of the world where the potential
exists. This has not happened in sub-Saharan Africa, and Egypt is the only
African country to have achieved the scale of change observed elsewhere.
However there is now growing recognition that aquaculture in Africa can
develop under specific conditions and contexts, and that the prospect of market-
led growth and broader regional integration, together with more realistic
understanding of the technical potential, provides substantial opportunities for
growth.
Improved Productivity
Action points:
• Develop national aquaculture sector strategies based on economic planning
and value -chain approaches, including targeted strategies for small and
medium scale, as well as large scale industry
22
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Aquaculture
23
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Aquaculture
Action points:
• Link aquaculture investors at all levels to national and regional enterprise
development programs.
• Review lessons and experiences of public -private partnerships from other
sectors and regions.
• Review policy, regulatory and legal frameworks with a view to support
private sector opportunities, in particular for small and medium-scale
enterprises
• Encourage private-public partnerships in support of research, training and
technology development
Action points:
• Immediately identify technologies available in the region with potential for
wider dissemination and application, including advances in commercial
production in Egypt and in integrated smallholder systems in Malawi.
• Establish and support private sector led technology dissemination and
application services.
• Support regional networks of aquaculture service providers, including
research and technology dissemination, for scaling-up local and national
successes
• Support private sector capacity to deliver advanced monitoring and risk
management services.
• Strengthen the capacity of tertiary and research institutions in Africa to
provide science and training services required for longer-term technology
development, and strengthen their linkages with private sector initiatives
Environmental Sustainability
24
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Aquaculture
developing world (in particular Asia) are effectively applied to avoid mistakes
and achieve sustainable growth.
Action points:
• Assess competitive advantage of different African environments and product
ranges.
• Review lessons and experiences of aquaculture resource degradation from
other regions, in particular Asia.
• Identify policy needs and institutional linkages with environmental, water and
related sectors at national level.
Action points:
• Assess the longer-term trends and current structure of domestic supply and
demand, including urban demand, product range and price elasticity
• Support the development of practical market information mechanisms
• Support small and medium scale enterprises through technical advice and
financial services to access local, urban and wider domestic markets with a
targeted product range
• Provide enterprise development support to small and medium scale
operators to further develop their businesses towards market integration
25
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Aquaculture
• Review policy, regulatory and legal frameworks with a view to support further
opportunities for small and medium-scale enterprises in production and
service industries
Action points:
• Assess and document the current structure, volume and economics of intra -
regional trade of low-value food fish
• Support women entrepreneurs in this sector through technical advice and
financial services to further invest in post-harvest and trade of aquaculture
products in regional markets
• Review policy, regulatory and legal frameworks with a view to further
strengthen opportunities for women in small and medium-scale enterprises
26
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Aquaculture
Action points:
• Assess options for public-private partnerships for management and financ ing
of this sector, using experiences from other export sectors and regions
• Where possible, support associations of small and medium-scale enterprises
to participate in this sector, based on lessons from other regions and sectors
• Establish a regional aquaculture industry association to facilitate
coordination, R&D and market development
• Encourage investments in value-added industries through conducive trade
and market access conditions for value-added products from Africa
Action points:
• Immediately identify and apply approaches for scaling-up successful
integrated aquaculture practices from Malawi in other countries in Southern
Africa
• Support further research and development to intensify these integrated
systems and adapt them to new water and land environments
• Support integration of aquaculture and agriculture research and planning in
the context of growing investments in irrigation schemes
• Assess the viability of stocking and stock enhancements of dams and small
water bodies in food insecure regions
27
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Aquaculture
Action points:
• Assess and document the nutrition benefits of common fish consumption
among vulnerable populations, including women, children and people
affected by HIV and AIDS
• Support health and rural development agencies to include promotion of fish
consumption into their community programs
• Link small and medium-scale aquaculture enterprises as suppliers with
national school feeding programs to improve child health and nutrition
28
Draft NEPAD Action Plan Annex
ANNEX 1
Acronyms
29