CAPE TOWN, South Africa (XOL Africa) — South Africa is moving to embed a continent-wide fisheries and aquaculture reporting system into its government data architecture, in a step that could improve how African countries measure production, trade and the use of marine resources.
The initiative centres on the African Fisheries and Aquaculture Database (AFAData), a platform developed by the African Union to allow member states to submit, update and analyse sector data in a common format. The system is linked to the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources’ wider information system and is now open to member states.
The push comes as governments face increasing pressure to produce more reliable data to support fisheries management, investment decisions and assessments of progress under continental agricultural commitments.
AU-IBAR, through the European Union-funded Fisheries Governance Project Phase Two, known as FishGov2, held a two-day training session in Cape Town on July 23-24. Sixteen officials participated, including 13 technical officers from South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, as well as representatives from the Southern African Development Community and AU-IBAR.
South Africa was one of five countries selected to accelerate the rollout of AFAData, alongside Madagascar, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda.
The significance of the exercise was less the training itself than the attempt to incorporate the database into existing government reporting structures.
South Africa created a national account and appointed a focal point to manage it. Officials then reviewed and entered the country’s 2024 fisheries and aquaculture data, providing the platform with actual national information rather than a demonstration dataset.
The government also designated data validators across three directorates. Marine Resources Management will oversee information on fish trade and vessels; Fisheries Research and Development will validate capture-fisheries and fishing-effort data; while Aquaculture and Economic Development will oversee production and farm information.
“This training will be an important step in strengthening the national information system on fisheries and aquaculture in South Africa,” said Hellen Guebama of AU-IBAR. She added that high-quality data was essential for public policy, investment and measuring sector performance.
The process also exposed technical issues that could affect the database across Africa, including how vessels should be identified, the structure of import templates and species reference lists, and how to classify activities such as restocking with hatchery-raised fish or fattening wild-caught fish in cages.
Those details may appear administrative, but they matter for a continental system intended to make national statistics comparable. Differences in definitions or identifiers can make data difficult to aggregate and weaken its usefulness to policymakers and investors.
The initiative is also intended to strengthen the visibility of fisheries and aquaculture in the Kampala Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, including its Biennial Review process, which began in 2026.
The sector is economically important across much of Africa but has often been poorly represented in national and continental statistics. More consistent reporting could help governments assess production and fishing effort, manage resources and demonstrate the economic contribution of fisheries and aquaculture.
For investors, better data could also reduce some of the uncertainty surrounding a sector where information on production, trade and capacity is often fragmented.
SADC’s participation in the Cape Town exercise provides a regional link between South Africa’s reporting system and wider efforts to harmonise fisheries data among southern African countries.
The immediate challenge will be to turn the training into routine reporting. The appointment of validators within existing government departments is intended to ensure that AFAData becomes part of the national reporting chain rather than remaining a standalone donor-supported project.
AU-IBAR said lessons from the South African exercise would be used in the next phase of the continental rollout and encouraged other member states to appoint national focal points.
The database is available to African Union member states through the AFAData platform as the bloc seeks to make fisheries and aquaculture statistics more consistent, comparable and usable for policy and investment decisions.
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