The waterbodies of East Africa hold our future in their depths

The first World Conference on the Blue Economy, to be held in Nairobi from 26 to 28 November, is expected to yield a lot.

More than 4,000 delegates from 130 countries will discuss opportunities, challenges and strategies for the sustainable creation of ocean-based economies, based on activities such as fishing, tourism, aquaculture and a crowd. other marine initiatives.

the impressive number of discussions should result in an equally wide range of proposals.

It is no coincidence that the co-organizers, Canada, Japan, and Kenya, have settled in Kenya – and by extension in East Africa – to host the discussions .

Countries in East Africa are increasingly turning to the blue economy to find solutions to their pressing development needs, including extreme poverty and hunger. This is inevitable as the pressure on traditional livelihoods, especially agrarian agriculture, has become unbearable.

The United Nations has described Africa's oceans, lakes and rivers as "the new frontier of the rebirth of Africa".

Eastern Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda) has enormous potential to exploit over 2,800 kilometers of coastline, the waters of the Lake Victoria Inland Sea and the many lakes and rivers that are already the livelihood of millions of people. .

That said, it must be recognized that the development of the blue economy will be driven by global trends and collaborations between governments, the private sector and development partners.

Too often, the role of development partners is underestimated or understated, compromising the mobilization of significant amounts of resources through development agencies.

In East Africa, for example, Msingi, a non-profit organization funded by Gatsby Kenya and DfID, has selected aquaculture as the first industrial program and has identified the opportunity to transform a 15,000-tonne fishery into small-scale fisheries. a 220,000-tonne industry supports more than 75,000 profitable businesses and sustainably employs hundreds of thousands of people.

It will also contribute significantly to solving the protein deficiency crisis facing millions of families in East Africa. The current size of the fish market is estimated at 1.3 million tonnes.

But for this potential to be realized, we must tackle the current, disjointed, exploitative, risky and unsustainable capture of declining wild catches.

Sustainable development of aquaculture requires a coordinated approach to sectoral planning across the region, based on a 7-15 year long-term plan with clear roles for the state, the private sector and the private sector. development partners.

The imperative for this is very clear: the challenges of industry in the region are the same, the opportunities to develop aquaculture into an industry of $ 84 million a year by 2030 are open to all and can not be fully realized only if the planning specifies the role each partner should play. play and leverage them to maximize the impact of development.

Some of the most obvious problems facing the sector are the low yields of farmed fish (only 15 000 tonnes in the four countries) due to lack of know-how in farm management, appropriate genetics, poor quality food, lack of underdeveloped market infrastructure.

Compare this with the magnitude of the opportunities involved in the fact that Kenya alone imports more than 50,000 tonnes of fish a year!

Fishing is 95% done in East Africa, while all other sources of protein are exploited, an unhealthy paradox in which 53% of the population in the region is malnourished. Aquaculture provides an excellent opportunity to feed the population and convert wild fishermen into profitable fish farmers.

Here are some important recommendations for the East African region that deserve to be taken into account at the next conference:
Adoption of a regional approach to aquaculture transformation, building on existing regional platforms and many studies.

Participation of key stakeholders in planning for the development of comprehensive and realistic long-term systemic programs. Stakeholders could include policy / technical experts, knowledge partners, the private sector, development partners and governments.

Governments need to develop innovative and supportive policies to encourage investment in this sector by foreign and domestic actors.

Investment policies and programs need to take a long-term approach to transformation, rather than the traditional but unrealistic 3 to 5 year cycle, while separating business policy.

Identification of country value chain priorities to ensure that they complement each other.

A common vision and an innovative regional approach are the surest way to resolve this unique paradox: Socio-economic exclusion of communities near water schemes is extremely extreme in East Africa and Africa. malnutrition is undoubtedly at its highest level.

Yet East Africa is home to the incredibly popular tilapia and the potential for increased production and diversification of the region's fish portfolio is vast.