This will be during the 1st Africa Fisheries and Aquaculture Summit that Seychelles will be hosting from November

27-29.

The summit is a platform that draws its aims and objectives from the Conference of African Ministers of Fisheries & Aquaculture (CAMFA) held in The Gambia in September 2010 and seeks to support national efforts by aligning the private sector investments in order to strengthen the sustainability of the industry.

“The fisheries and aquaculture industry remains marginalised from the mainstream national economic development plans and we feel that this must change,” said Dr Sloans Chimatiro, Nepad agency senior fisheries advisor after endorsing the event.

“Fisheries and aquaculture play a critical role in the economic development of the continent and the sector has enormous wealth-creation potential, only if requisite policies and programmes are put in place.

“Therefore, the summit will create a platform that will connect both the private and public sectors to work together in strengthening the industry as a whole,” said summit director Moses Mwanjirah from Events Management Company Ikapa media, who are organising the event
The rationale of the summit is to ensure the viability, sustainability and profitability of Africa’s vital fisheries for generations to come.

The fisheries summit aims to highlight three areas: Why fisheries and aquaculture matter to the development agenda for Africa; to show that by making carefully targeted investments in the fisheries and aquaculture sector we can make substantial contribution to the Millennium Development Goals (especially MDG 1).

The summit marks a turning point in recognising the true value and importance of African fisheries and aquaculture and strengthens our commitment to respond to the business opportunities they provide.

Today more than 200 million Africans eat fish regularly and the FAO estimates that fish provides 22% of the protein intake in Sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries fish provides greater than 60% of the protein. Fishing provides between 6 and 9 million full and part-time jobs and the income from fishing supports 30 – 45 million people. Of this number, many are women involved in fish processing and trade who lead single-headed households. For them fish is the primary and sometimes the only source of income to support their livelihood and their children. 

Fisheries generate export revenue to the value of US $4.3 billion, one of the leading sources of export revenue on the continent.  With these facts and more, the summit could not have come at a better time.

“I welcome the proposal for the conference to be held in Seychelles in November - it would be an honour and pleasure for us to welcome all delegates and invited guests,” said Peter Sinon, Seychelles’ Minister for Investment, Natural Resources and Industry.

Expected to attend the event are several African ministers, business and private sector executives, academic institutions, non-governmental organisations, regional economic communities, inter-governmental agencies, buyers and sellers from the sector and more.

More than 300 delegates are also expected to attend.
 
The summit will see the opening of the AFEX – Africa fisheries Expo with more than 30 exhibition stands available.