Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture: practices, sustainability and implications

Wild fish and other aquatic organisms as feed in aquaculture in Africa and the Near East 133

Africa and the Near East has
taken place in brackishwater
aquaculture (most notably,
in Egypt) and to a lesser
degree in freshwater (Hecht,
2006). This is not the case
for global aquaculture, where
most growth has taken place
in marine and freshwater
(Figures 1 and 2)
Aquaculture in Africa and
the Near East is dominated by
Egypt, the Islamic Republic
of Iran and Nigeria, which
collectively contributed
87.4 percent to the region’s
production, which in 2004
amounted to some 471 535,
104 330 and 43 950 tonnes,
respectively (Figure 3). The
other main aquaculture-
producing countries (i.e.

5 000 tonnes) include Iraq,
Saudi Arabia, Madagascar,
Syrian Arab Republic, South
Africa, Tanzania, Uganda
and Zambia, which together
produced 63 400 tonnes in
2004 (FAO, 2006a). The
balance (i.e. 25 931 tonnes)
was produced by 42 countries
in the African and the Near
East region. However, some
of these smaller-producing
countries have experienced
the fastest rates of growth
in production during the
last ten years. For example,
reported production in
Togo grew from 20 tonnes
in 1995 to 1 525 tonnes in
2004 (FAO, 2006a), a 76-fold
increase, while in Zimbabwe
total production increased
from 150 to 2 955 tonnes over
the same period when one
large Nile tilapia cage-culture
operation was established on
Lake Kariba (Hecht, 2006;
Blow and Leonard, 2007).
Similarly, Uganda has shown
a remarkable 1 058 percent
increase in production

FIGURE 1

Global aquaculture production (fish, crustaceans and molluscs),

1995 – 2004

Source: FAO (2006a)

0

5 000

10 000

15 000

20 000

25 000

30 000

35 000

40 000

45 000

50 000

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Thousand

tonnes

Years

Mariculture Brackishwater Freshwater

FIGURE 2

African and Near East aquaculture production

(fish, crustaceans and molluscs)

by environment, 1995– 2004

Source: FAO (2006a)

Freshwater Brackishwater Mariculture

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Years

Thousand

tonnes

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

FIGURE 3

African and Near East aquaculture production (fish, crustaceans

and molluscs), 1995– 2004

Source: FAO (2006a)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

00

800

1995 1996 199 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

a a 10 c

ca 41 c

a

a