Aquaculture is growing rapidly in Africa to meet food security needs, with welfare standards in early development stages and significant opportunities for welfare-positive industry shaping.
African aquaculture welfare represents an opportunity to shape an industry at an early development stage toward welfare-positive practices rather than working retroactively to improve established poor practices as in Europe and Asia. Integrating welfare principles into development assistance programs, training curricula, and regulatory frameworks from the outset creates the conditions for a more welfare-positive industry trajectory. The small-scale nature of much African aquaculture means that welfare improvements can be achieved through relatively accessible producer training and extension programs. International development organizations, fish welfare nonprofits, and African agricultural agencies all have roles in shaping this trajectory.