Malawi’s Fish Tipped To Be Economic Earner

Malawi stands a change of dominating the fish trade in the SADC region and overseas, an experts have said.

Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) fisheries technical adviser Motseki Hlatshwayo said Malawi’s aquaculture sector has huge prospects of supporting the country’s economic

He made the remarks during the Sixth Meeting of the Sadc Aquaculture Working Group and the Second Sadc Worldfish, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and East African Community (EAC) Platform for Genetics and Biodiversity Management in Aquaculture in Lilongwe this week.

Hlatshwayo observed that water bodies such as Lake Malawi harbour the best fish species which are on demand in the region, but there is minimal benefit economically.

“If you look at the fish species that Malawi has and the demand those species have on the regional market, you will appreciate that if well developed and managed, the fisheries sector can boost Malawi’s economy,” he said.

Worldfish country director Sloans Chimatiro advised countries looking forward to greater fish market benefits to improve on multiplication of quality fish seeds and sustainable fish feed supply.

“The first stage of a successful industry is quality and adequate inputs. So, if we are talking of capitalizing on the promising fish market, we need to look at the supply of quality fish feed and sustainable supply of fish feed,” he said.