WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2016 27 scale catfish production in South Africa. The only commercial operation, which had been producing since 2001, with a 200 t/ yr capacity, has recently suspended operations so as to revise its business model, illustrating the difficulties around value chains and markets for catfish. On the one hand, extensive product promotion and development of value-added products such as smoked catfish were positively received by chefs and upmarket restaurants, but the distribution logistics for small volumes were uneconomical. On the other hand, a large West African expatriate community provided a steady market for live and traditionally smoked dried fish, but rising input costs priced the fish out of the market. A number of un- or under-utilized small-scale production facilities are the focus of government-sponsored catfish farming projects, motivated by policies to promote small farmer development and improve livelihoods in rural areas. The projects are funded by government with goals of poverty alleviation, creation of employment and the supply of an affordable source of nutrition, but their economic viability and potential as sustainable business enterprises without government support remains questionable. New production and market strategies are required to establish catfish aquaculture as an economically viable and competitive sub-sector, including addressing the high costs of doing business for pioneer farmers, developing realistic product pricing and distribution logistics, as well as product development, promotion and marketing. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 28) Dusky kob (Argyrosomus japonicus) broodstock Trout aquaculture has created jobs in the remote Lesotho highlands rural area. Trout cage aquaculture is undertaken in storage dams in the remote and rugged Lesotho highlands. Rearing trout at low densities in pristine waters produces a product of superior quality.
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