Madagascar, an island country officially known as the Malagasy Democratic Republic, is located in the western rim of the Indian Ocean separated only by the Mozambique Channel from the African continent. It has an area of 525 840 km2 (203 035 mi2) and an estimated population of 8.1 million. The climate is tropical and the economy is mainly based on agriculture.
Fisheries is an important source of animal protein, but production of fish and fishery products is inadequate for the needs of the country. Fish production comes from marine fisheries, inland fisheries and aquaculture. Latest information available are as follows (Rajaona, Ralison and Raveloson, 1975):
| Production (tons) | |
| Marine fisheries | 11 500 |
| Inland fisheries | 39 444 |
| Aquaculture | 17 392 |
| T O T A L | 68 336 |
The per caput consumption of fish per year is 8.4 kg which if based on a normal requirement of 30 kg is far short by over 20 kg. Present production of 68 000 tons is therefore short of over 170 000 tons per year.
But the potential for increased production of fish for the country is still very high. According to published estimate (Rajaona, Ralison and Raveloson, 1975) marine fisheries production can increase by over 200 percent; inland by over 300 percent; and aquaculture by as much as 3000 percent.
Aquaculture industry has attained some development in the country. This consists mainly of fish culture in ricefields, and to a small extent freshwater pondfish culture. In addition, extensive areas of mangrove swamps, tidal lagoons, and low floodlands which may be suitable sites for aquaculture have not yet been utilized for this type of production.
The development of brackishwater aquaculture is of special interest in this consultancy. It is noted that there is hardly any development in this aspect of aquaculture in Madagascar. It is estimated that some 350 000 ha consisting of 330 000 mangrove swamps and 20 000 of coastal lagoons may provide possible sites for brackishwater aquaculture projects.
The country abounds with suitable species that can be cultivated in this type of environment. The milkfish (Chanos chanos) is available and has market demand; besides various species of penaeid shrimps, some of which may be cultivated by themselves or in polyculture with milkfish, mullets and other finfish.
Upon request of the Government through the FAO/UNDP project on Development of fisheries and Aquaculture (MAG/76/002), this consultant was appointed with the following terms of reference:
To undertake preliminary assessment of two coastal sites (Diego Suarez and Majunga) and prepare construction plan and management programme of two aquaculture centres for experimental culture of Chanos, Mugil, Tilapia, etc.
The consultant travelled from his home country (Philippines) from 10 March 1979 and undertook field work in the country up to early April. His complete itinerary is shown in ANNEX A.
To accomplish the work, the consultant meet and consulted with various officers for consultation on technical as well as administrative matters. The people met are shown in ANNEX B.
General information about the country was also gathered. Meteorological information in the localities where the identified sites are located are shown in Tables 2 and 3 and Fig. 5).
