The coastlines of Tanzania and Mozambique offer considerably better physical conditions for mariculture development, due to their protected shorelines, than Namibia and Angola. However, the latter countries too have areas suitable for the establishment of culture operations.
An important development task will be to define areas with potential and integrate these areas into overall coastal management plans.
The macro-economic changes in the region discussed above for inland fish farming, have positive short and long term effects for mariculture. As mariculture is largely export oriented, more liberalised markets, the opening up of new markets and improved market infrastructure should assist the development of mariculture. In addition, the development of improved marine fisheries infrastructure (cold stores, processing plants etc.) in Namibia, Angola and Mozambique should be a positive help for mariculture development.
When planning for mariculture development, the overriding concerns (besides physical potential of a given area) are production costs and world markets. Coastal countries in the region have competitive labour costs, which would offset some of the disadvantages of being relatively far from the major world markets. The distance may however not be a serious problem, judging from the recent rapid developments of salmon and seaweed farming in southern Latin America.
The main export markets have rigorous demands for quality product as well as strict health and hygiene standards. Coastal countries of SADC are already upgrading their infrastructure to enable export of marine fisheries products. Mariculture products could benefit from this. In countries with poor infrastructure the culture of products that are not destined for direct human consumption, such as seaweed, may have an advantage.
Culture of marine shrimp is perhaps the mariculture activity which has been given the greatest attention. It is a high value product and has export potential. The world market for shrimp expanded dramatically during the 1980's in USA, Japan and Europe. This expansion has been forecast to slow down during the 1990's although a growing number of developing countries are trying to increase their cultured shrimp production. The opportunities for SADC countries to enter the world cultured shrimp market has to be explored thoroughly as they will not only be competing with existing producers but also new producers, who might have a competitive advantage over them.
Culture of high value molluscs, such as oysters and abalone, benefit from the pollution-free and nutrient rich waters found along the west coast of the SADC region. The markets for these products will be mainly in Europe, the Far East and Japan. The oyster market appears to have stabilised, so the opportunities for export of oysters would be in the development of niche markets. Abalone has a good potential market (estimated shortfall between supply and demand is close to 80 000 t/yr) in Japan and the rest of the Far East.
The world market for seaweed products is expected to continue to expand during the 1990's, as more uses for the products obtained from processed seaweed are developed. Other products with market potential are sea cucumbers and pearl oysters.
The Working Group concludes that the macro-economic changes in the SADC region favour the development of high-value export-oriented mariculture products, provided markets can be found for the products.
Mariculture is mainly carried out as large-scale commercial ventures. However, the recent developments of seaweed culture in Zanzibar show that there is considerable scope also for small producers to participate in the activity with beneficial effects for distribution of income and with positive rural development impacts.
The developments in the mariculture sector are recent. The Working Group considers it premature to elaborate in any detail on the outlook. It concludes, however, that there is considerable scope for expansion, provided that mariculture is included in coastal zones management plans, that infrastructure is developed within the marine fisheries, that legislation is elaborated and research on sites, production systems, species and marketing is carried out and that such information becomes easily available to the private sector.
The Working Group projects that seaweed farming will continue to spread in Zanzibar, Pemba and mainland Tanzania. Interest is also increasing in Mozambique and it is likely that seaweed farming will expand there.
Entrepreneurs in the region are displaying increasing interest in mariculture. More liberalised regional trade, EC preferential trade agreements with SADC countries and the expanding world market for fish indicate good future potential for mariculture.
