World Aquacluture Magazine - September 2020

WWW.WA S.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEP TEMBER 2020 7 C H A P T E R R E P O R T S M y last column of June 2020 was understandably gloomy. Blame it on the Covid-19 pandemic, which was at its peak then, taking its toll and causing so much economic despair in Africa but also globally. There was this spirit of uncertainly as to what the future holds, especially when I look at Africa’s socio-economic fragility and generally weaker health delivery systems. Thank God, as I write this column now, the tables seem to have turned and the situation seem to be getting slightly better. There is growing sense of renewed hope in Africa. The continent seems to be recording a reduction in the incidence of cases in most countries, including the previous hotspot countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and others. Several countries have further relaxed their lockdowns and travel restrictions and have reopened most economic activities. We are also further encouraged by a lower than expected case fatality rate in Africa as, according to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, three in four people infected with coronavirus on the continent have recovered. These indicators are encouraging, but we still remain cautious as we have seen infections worrisomely soaring again some parts of the world. Let’s not be complacent but let’s keep doing the right things and hope for a better future. We know for sure that our budding aquaculture sector in Africa has been badly affected in various ways. We will continue monitoring the impacts. I understand some of our partners such as the FAO, SARNISSA, WorldFish, governments and other research organizations are conducting surveys on impacts of Covid-19 to fisheries and aquaculture. We hope to hear results soon. To complement these efforts, the African Chapter of WAS intends to partner with the Africa Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and launch an online survey to hear from our members and partners as to how the pandemic has impacted their diverse range of activities and operations (researchers, affiliate NGOs, state actors, non-state actors, students, producers/farmers, traders, consultants, suppliers, etc.). We will update you on this in due course. Despite all odds, there is however no doubt that our aquaculture sector, having been categorized as an “essential” food producing sector has continued operating, thus contributing to providing affordable food protein to many in these difficult times. We recently received news of another threat to aquaculture in parts of southern Africa. Malawi and Botswana have recently recorded an outbreak of Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), a serious disease of finfish. Although it has largely affected wild fish populations, where it is understandably difficult to control, there is a risk of it spreading to aquaculture farms in the vicinity. EUS was first identified in the Chobe–Zambezi River watershed in 2006 (Zambia, Botswana and Namibia) but has since spread to other SADC countries such as South Africa, DRC and Zimbabwe. Malawi had its first-ever incursion was reported in July 2020. In addition to the disease spreading during the midst of the winter, its spread has been exacerbated by the region’s closely knit drainage systems, but also other man-made factors. Through a SADC- facilitated regional emergency task force, Malawi and Botswana have now developed a roadmap to address the situation, including an urgent up-scaling of their active surveillance and control measures. They are working jointly with FAO, OIE, WorldFish and other partners. We will be monitoring the situation as it unfolds, but I would like to wish all these countries success in their efforts to contain the scourge. More about EUS outbreak in Malawi can be found here: https://www. sadc.int/news-events/news/press-release-outbreak- epizootic-ulcerative-syndrome-eus-disease-sadc- region/ . Despite some of these setbacks, probably our biggest success story lies within the “new normal” – our ability to keep the connection live with our members and the aquaculture community in Africa and beyond. Our media and publicity partner, Aquaculture Africa Magazine (AAM), has continued to do a tremendous job in hosting a series of webinar sessions that discussed a number of key technical subjects on aquaculture development in Africa. In the last quarter, many of you have attended the sessions on Tilapia Aquaculture in Africa, Aquaculture Country Profiles for Egypt and Tanzania and Water Quality Basics in Aquaculture. There is more to come. Please do connect to the AAM Facebook page https:// www.facebook.com/aquaafricamag/ for regular announcements and links to post-webinar recordings. We will also begin posting these webinar series reports on the African Chapter webpage on www. was.org. In addition, our West African regional office also convened several webinar sessions that attracted a huge audience fromWest Africa and beyond in the last quarter. These include sessions on women and youth in aquaculture, where invited guest panelists and discussants provided valuable insights and shared experiences on the subject matter. You can get more details including on planned future webinars not to miss on their Facebook page https://www.facebook. com/groups/555112605166042/ . Around mid-August, we had a special country profile webinar session on Aquaculture Development in Egypt. This gave an insight on how Egypt’s aquaculture sector has evolved over the years, affirming its position as the powerhouse of aquaculture in Africa, producing nearly 68 percent of the continent’s total production as of 2020. It was clear from the discussions that the country went through difficult experiences and testing times in their quest to become a success story, particularly on mass production of tilapia. They have over the years significantly invested on aquafeed production, genetics, domestic market development and R&D, among several other elements – all bearing fruitful results. They also have several other challenges that they keep working hard to address, such as lower than expected fish prices on markets, the question of limited water supplies and industry fragmentation. Due to popular demand, we hope to do more webinar series on Egypt and also other pioneer countries in aquaculture, and hopefully produce a special feature article as a precursor to the upcoming 1st Aquaculture Africa Conference. This brings me to the news you are all waiting to hear, that due to Covid-19 implications, WAS and its partners in Egypt have finally African Chapter ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 6 )