This Regional Survey of the Aquaculture Sector in Africa South of the Sahara is a contribution to the global survey of the sector currently being undertaken by the Aquaculture Development and Coordination Programme (ADCP). It has been prepared from the considerable information available at FAO Headquarters in Rome, together with individual Country Reports resulting from specific missions in 1988 to Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria, followed by Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia.
There are 22 francophone, 19 anglophone, and 6 lusophone countries in the region as described by the survey, as well as one bilingual (French-English) country. This makes a total of 48 countries (see Figure 1). Countries included in the regional survey are:
English speaking
Botswana
Ethiopia
Gambia
Ghana*
Kenya*
Lesotho*
Liberia*
Malawi*
Mauritius*
Nigeria*
Seychelles
Sierra Leone*
South Africa*
Sudan*
Swaziland
Tanzania*
Uganda*
Zambia*
Zimbabwe*
French speaking
Benin*
Burkina Faso*
Burundi*
Central African Republic (CAR)*
Chad
Comoros
Congo*
Côte d'Ivoire*
Djibouti
Gabon*
Guinea*
Madagascar*
Mali*
Mauritania
Niger*
Réunion
Rwanda*
Senegal*
Somalia
St. Helena
Togo*
Zaïre*
Portuguese speaking
Angola*
Cape Verde
Equatorial Guinea
Guinea Bissau
Mozambique
Sao Tomé-et-Principe
Bilingual (French and English)
Cameroon*
* countries which reported aquaculture production for 1985
About one-third of the countries in the region as described are land-locked, namely, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Although there are a few inland water bodies in the region, their water levels have dropped considerably in the last decade due to successive droughts. Consequently inland capture fisheries activities in these waters have been reduced substantially. In addition, like most of the other countries world-wide, the marine fish resources of most African countries are reported to be exploited to their maximum.
Data on active aquaculture production (for 1985) are reported for only 31 of the 48 countries described (noted above by asterisk). However, this does not infer that aquaculture is not being practised in the others. The author is of the opinion that data obtained from these non-reporting countries would not alter the substance of this report.
