Aquaculture in Madagascar started to take off in the 1980s. The industry includes the cultivation of sea cucumbers, seaweed, fish and shrimp and is being used to stimulate the country's economy, increase the wages of fishermen and women, and improve the regions ocean water quality. Coastal regions of Madagascar are reliant on the Indian Ocean's marine resources as a source of food, income, and cultural identity.
History
Over the past fifty years, aquaculture in Madagascar went through four stages of development. It started during the colonial occupation when new marine species were introduced. After the nation's independence, the government played a major role in regulating the development of aquaculture ponds. During the 1980s, the government stepped back from state-owned controlled aquaculture fields to allow independent entrepreneurs to invest the sector. Then, in the past 15 years, a marketing-focused approach to promote Malagasy aquaculture became dominant to favor exports.
Aquaculture sectors
Sea cucumbers
Sea cucumbers, considered a delicacy in Asia, play a crucial role in recycling nutrients from sediments on the ocean floor to form the bedrock of complex marine chains. Wild sea cucumber populations have dropped with many fishers now using SCUBA gear to access those that are left, a practice now banned in Madagascar. A 2012 EU commissioned study of Madagascar’s sea cucumber trade showed an 85% drop in the population since the fishery’s peak.
The country's first locally owned sea-cucumber farm is located in Tampolove and was developed with the British NGO Blue Ventures. They developed a protected area called Velondriake ("to live with the sea" in the Vezo language). In the southeast Velondriake region of the island, Toliara's marine institute uses new technology to produce broodstock of sea cucumbers to sell to fishers. Community farming groups then grow these animals in simple mesh farming pens close to their village. Because sea cucumbers feed off the ocean floor, the growing process requires no food, just pen maintenance. After nine months sea cucumbers reach their full adult size and are sold to exporters for around US $2.50 each. This system links isolated communities to global markets and has been proven to raise income of farmers who make less than one-dollar fifty per day, by US $30 per month, nearly doubling their monthly income.
Shrimps
Commercial shrimp farming was introduced to Madagascar in the early 1990s. International organizations and foreign investors have dominated this industry with financing, technical support and infrastructure development. Shrimp aquaculture in Madagascar has grown in importance over the years, and is responsible for the direct and indirect employment of over 3 000 people on the island. As of 2005, Madagascar counted six shrimp aquaculture companies. During the 1980s, the FAO concluded that shrimp aquaculture was a great factor of development, and oriented many development programs in Madagascar towards this industry. Besakoa became a boom town thanks to those developments, going from 10 households in the 1990s to 3,000 inhabitants 10 years later after the site Aqualma opened.
Shrimp farmed in Madagascar are high quality and sell at relatively high prices. Today, the shrimp export industry has difficulty competing with less costly shrimp from other areas such as Asia.
One species of shrimp, from Madagascar, prized by shrimp farmers is Penaeus monodon. It is renowned for its size and quality and sells for up to three times as much as shrimp from other countries. Penaeus Monodon is valued by consumers for both its taste and texture but it is too expensive to those whose purchase based on the price. Therefore, on price alone, shrimp products from Madagascar cannot compete in export markets. It is unknown whether they can compete in high-end niche markets, but it could be a marketing opportunity and solution to the crisis the industry now faces. The company Unima was the first to breed pathogen-free Penaeus Monodon on the island and manages the first farm in Africa to be awarded the Aquaculture Stewardship Certification by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).
Marine aquaculture in the northwest is dominated by giant tiger prawn farming near the mangrove areas which have been identified by the Madagascar Shrimp Aquaculture Development Master Plan (Schéma d'aménagement pour l'aquaculture de crevettes à Madagascar - SAACM). These farm areas are systems composed of breeding ponds, a hatchery, a processing and packaging factory and storage facilities.