Aquaculture & Mariculture
Aquaculture is not only good business, with good export markets identified for fish products, but it is a relatively inexpensive way of ensuring food security .
The National Minister of what was then called Environmental Affairs and Tourism announced in 2007 that South Africa spent more than R700 million on importing 200 000 tons of fish between the years 2000 and 2004. Given that South Africa has access to two huge oceans in which fish can be caught and many rivers and dams in which fish can be cultivated, South Africa certainly has the capacity to produce far more fish to feed its own citizens.
The national Department of Science and Technology (DST) is funding a series of grow-out pilot schemes across South Africa, in association with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The project is stocking cages in dams and lakes with tilapia, barbell and trout. Research into finding suitable rivers and dams in the North West is ongoing.
Some of the dams in the northern reaches of the province (Bloemhof, Boskop and Vaalkop) contain excellent stocks of carp and trout. Fishing for yellowtail is a popular pursuit in the Wolwespruit Nature Reserve
A most successful private scheme to farm catfish has been running for several years in the central town of Ventersdorp. The Catfish Supreme company has teamed up with Invest North West in creating markets for the fish in Japan. Although the project is going well, there is scope for entrepreneurs to expand the project in satellite sites.
A 200-ton per annum processing plant is already functional but there is scope for several such plants to be built to cope with demand. Intended products include cured and smoked fillet and cured, smoked and cooked fillet, with 90% of production destined for the export market.
The catfish is an indigenous and sturdy fish. It suffers few diseases and is well suited to being kept in large numbers. Economic returns on catfish farming have been found to be good.
