Aquaculture & Mariculture

The national minister of what was then called the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism announced in 2007 that South Africa spent more than R700-million on importing 200 000 tonnes of fish between the years 2000 and 2004. Given that South Africa has access to two huge oceans in which fish can be caught and many rivers and dams in which fish can be cultivated, South Africa certainly has the capacity to produce far more fish to feed its citizens.

Forty-three percent of South Africa’s aquaculture producers are in the Western Cape. The province is well positioned to be a leader in this sector, with the Marine and Coastal Management branch of the national Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries located in the province. The Aquaculture Institute of South Africa in Cape Town, the Cape Institute for Agricultural Training: Elsenburg, in Stellenbosch, and the Department of Genetics at Stellenbosch University are leading research institutions.

Freshwater aquaculture
The national Department of Science and Technology (DST) is funding a series of grow-out pilot schemes across South Africa in association with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The project is stocking cages in dams and lakes with tilapia, barbell and trout.

In the Western Cape, the aim is to set up 35 small-scale trout producers in the irrigation dams of wine estates, producing between six and eight tonnes annually. Hands-On Small- Scale Fish Farmers’ Co-op has been established and has already signed an agreement to supply a production facility in Franschhoek, the Three Streams Smokehouse, with 250 tonnes of trout per year.

Mariculture
The Western Cape has the natural advantage of access to the warm Mozambique current along the South Coast and the cold Benguela current up the West Coast, offering opportunities for a wide variety of mariculture products to be farmed along the coastline. Currently, the key species produced in the Western Cape include abalone, various finfish, mussels, lobsters, oysters, seaweed, different ornamental species of fish, and Cape salmon.

The DST is piloting several yellowtail ranching projects in the Western Cape, aiming to use cage technology to help small-scale fishers capture and harvest fresh yellowtail in a way that is responsive to the market. At the moment, fishers without access to cold storage routinely lose a large proportion of the value of their catch as time passes.

ONLINE RESOURCES
Aqua Africa: www.aquaafrica.co.za
Aquaculture Association of Southern Africa: www.aasa-aqua.co.za
Aquaculture Institute of South Africa: www.ai-sa.org.za
Cape Institute for Agricultural Training: Elsenburg: www.elsenburg.com/ciat.html
National Department of Science and Technology: www.dst.gov.za
South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity: www.saiab.co.za
South African Water Research Commission: www.wrc.org.za