Aquaculture Production

Aquaculture Production - Best management practices

Fresh water aquaculture is an important source of food, income, employment, and recreation. The sector contributes to economic development and food security in South Africa (Emmanuel et al, 2014). For decades aquaculture has been widely recognized globally as the fastest-growing food production sector with a growth of 7.5% annually since 1994. Its contribution to the South African economy grew by 10.7% per annum over the same period. Also, a DAFF (2019) report has estimated that a revenue of R3Bn is expected to be contributed by aquaculture in South African economy, with 15 000 people to benefit from direct and full-time employment.

A majority of small-scale commercial farmers are not profitable in South Africa, with poor management practices identified as a major constraint (Taylor, 2022). As a result of poor management practices, fish farmers are losing about 70% of their profit. Maintaining a good culture environment through use of proper management practices reduces the risk of disease, increase production, fish quality, and marketability. Therefore, it is essential to implement and follow good aquaculture management practices to ensure quality and quantity yield. The major management practices necessary for effective production includes fish stocking density, feeding, water quality control, diseases control and record keeping. Also, Good management practices in aquaculture maximizes the environmental and economic sustainability, product quality and safety, animal health, and worker safety, while also strengthening biosecurity and minimizing the likelihood of a disease outbreak on fish farms. Also, good management practices for aquaculture does not only maximizes production but also plays a role in the sustainability of the farming system and the biosecurity associated with the farmed species.

The ARC – Agricultural Research Council released the Aquaculture Production app that provides comprehensive and updated info on:

- Comprehensive farmed species background information

- Comprehensive farmed species identification information

- Comprehensive common aquaculture diseases and management

- Comprehensive aquaculture biosecurity Information

- Downloadable aquaculture environmental requirements factsheets

- Downloadable farmed species feeding requirements

- Discussion Forum

- Useful Links

- Addition resources (Publications, Articles)