By Abdullahi Lukman
Africa must rapidly scale up its aquaculture sector to secure its future food supply, a top United Nations official warned Tuesday, as a landmark report revealed global fish production has reached unprecedented highs.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) latest *State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture* report—launched at the 11th annual Our Ocean Conference—the global fish and seafood trade has ballooned into a massive $184-billion industry. Globally, fish farming has boomed, officially overtaking traditional wild-capture fishing in 2021 and surpassing 100 million tonnes for the first time in 2024.
Yet, Africa is lagging far behind. While farmed fish accounts for roughly half of the seafood consumed worldwide, it makes up just 18 percent of the supply in Africa.
With the continent’s population surging, the FAO projects that sub-Saharan Africa must increase its fish production by 68 percent by 2050 just to keep pace with demand. Manuel Barange, director of the FAO’s fisheries division, called the gap an opportunity waiting to be exploited, though he questioned whether development can happen fast enough.
He emphasized that aquaculture could be a genuine game-changer for the region if properly developed.
The UN agency advocates for fish farming as a more predictable and sustainable alternative to ocean fishing, particularly as climate change increasingly disrupts wild fish volumes and locations. Barange noted that climate change is currently acting as a disruptor to everything the industry does.
The pressure on natural oceans remains high, with the FAO report revealing that only 62 percent of global marine fisheries are currently being fished at biologically sustainable levels.
The urgent need for reform framed the opening of the Our Ocean Conference in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. Marking the first time the summit has been held on the African continent, the event has brought together global politicians, environmental NGOs, investors, and innovators.
Since its inception in 2014, organizers say the conference has successfully driven global marine action, mobilizing more than 2,900 commitments valued at over $169 billion to tackle marine conservation, sustainable fishing, climate adaptation, and ocean pollution.
