Expert Perspective

Why Sustainable Fisheries Matter to Africa's Future

Africa does not have a fish problem. Africa has a fish governance problem.

We have 30,000km of coastline, the second largest freshwater lake system in the world, and over 10,000 dams. Yet Africa spends $15 billion every year importing fish it can produce. Nigeria alone spends $1.2 billion.

That is not poverty. That is policy failure.

Dr. Piriye Kiyaramo

Founder, Africa Blue Economy Roundtable (ABER) and Chair, Blue Council Africa.

Fish is not Just Food. Fish is National Security.

Fish provides over 55% of animal protein for coastal Africans

In Bayelsa, Rivers, Senegal, Ghana – fish is currency, culture and survival.

When fish stocks collapse, we don't just lose dinner. We lose jobs, we trigger migration, and we fuel piracy and militancy in the Gulf of Guinea. An empty net creates an angry youth.

The Numbers That Should Keep Us Awake

12 million Africans depend directly on fisheries for jobs. 90% are artisanal, women and youth.

A woman in the delta loses 40% of her fish post-harvest because she has no cold chain. That is not waste, that is wealth rotting.

Africa's aquaculture produces only 3% of global output, while Asia produces 89%. We have the water. We don't have the hatcheries, feed mills and finance.

The FAO confirms: over 35% of Africa’s fish stocks are overexploited, and foreign industrial trawlers take 3 times more than they declare.

If we farm fish like we farm cassava, Africa can produce 30 million more tonnes by 2030 and end fish importation.

Sustainable Fisheries is Africa's Triple Win

Win 1 – Economic

A sustainable fishery is not about catching less. It is about earning more from each fish. One tilapia farmed, processed, packaged and exported creates 7 jobs: hatchery, feed, grower, cold chain, processor, logistics, export. That is the blue value chain.

Win 2 – Ecological

Mangroves are fish nurseries. Protect one hectare of mangrove, you protect 1,000kg of fish annually. Destroy mangroves for firewood, you destroy the factory. This is why ABER ties fisheries to mangrove blue carbon.

Win 3 – Diplomatic

70% of fish conflicts in West Africa are transboundary. Sustainable fisheries require joint surveillance, shared data, and coastal diplomacy. This is why ABER is completing convening the 1st World Congress of Coastal and Deltas Diplomats.

My 3-Point Agenda for Africa

If I advise AU and President Tinubu tomorrow

First: Ban The Leakages

License every trawler with satellite tracking, impose a Blue Levy, and domicile $1bn of fish import money into aquaculture clusters in Bayelsa, Lagos, and Lake Kariba.

Second: Empower the Real Owners

Give women the cold chain and youth the data. Under ABER's 50/50 framework, if women own smoking kilns and solar freezers, post-harvest loss drops from 40% to 5% overnight.

Third: From Catch to Culture

Move from wild catch to farming. Establish National Fingerling Bank, Local Feed Mill Policy, and State Aquaculture Parks with off-taker guarantees.

Conclusion

Sustainable fisheries is not about saving fish for Greenpeace.

It is about saving jobs for our youth, saving forex for our Central Banks, and saving peace for our coastal communities.

A country that cannot feed itself from its own waters cannot claim sovereignty.

That is why ABER says: From River to Sea, We Must Farm the Water.

Expert Perspective