A sound aquaculture development plan has necessarily to conform to the overall development goals and policies of the country. Clear concepts of the objectives of aquaculture, such as increased food production, generation of rural employment, and earning or saving of foreign exchange, have to be established at the very outset of the exercise. In the African context, increased food production and rural development have the highest priority. A review of the present and projected fish production through marine and inland fishing showed that, in none of the participating countries will it be possible to meet the demand for fishery products through capture fisheries alone. The Economic Development Plans of some countries like Nigeria and the Central African Republic have already recognized aquaculture as the only means of meeting the deficit in production. The limited possibilities for expansion in fish production from coastal and inland waters in several countries, coupled with the increased cost of distant-water fishing bring into focus the role of aquaculture in Africa.
An evaluation of the attempts so far to develop aquaculture in each of the participating countries, showed that more broad-based programmes oriented to the achievement of realistic production targets are urgently required. Some of the countries have to carry out detailed surveys and evaluations of the existing rural fish farming to decide on the precise nature of development activities to be undertaken. Information on the sites and extent of potential areas for aquaculture development is very incomplete in most countries and surveys of such areas need to be given high priority.
Although there is need for much adaptive research and production tests to select the species and culture systems for application under local conditions, as stated on page 5, there are even now some technologies that can immediately be adopted.
The Workshop recognized that gaps exist in the precise basic information necessary for planning and that a number of assumptions have necessarily to be made regarding potential for expansion of the industry. However, as the plan is implemented and the proposed surveys and studies are completed, periodic revisions of targets and programmes can be undertaken based on their results and the experience gained through pilot-scale commercial operations.
