The Governance of Aquaculture in Namibia as a Vehicle for Food Security and Economic Growth

The Namibian aquaculture sector is still very small, but it has the potential to act as a vehicle for both food security and economic growth for the country. The governance structure in place regulates matters such as public health, environmental protection, animal health and disease. The aquaculture license includes the classical bundles of property rights such as transferability, renewability, specified duration and cancellation based only on failure to perform. However, aquaculture land ownership/leasing is not sufficiently regulated to encourage long-term investment into aquaculture. Freshwater aquaculture has the potential to contribute to food security, but the absence of differentiation between community-based and commercial farming creates regulatory burdens which cannot be easily be met by prospective small-scale fish farmers. The strict regulatory requirements for importing new species limit the opportunity for growth that can be achieved with fast-growing non-native species. Mariculture can significantly contribute to economic growth, but a significant part of the value chain needs to be localized. Aquaculture investors, just like those of its sister sector (agriculture), require a regulatory framework that gives sufficient tenure security and ascertainable property rights, an important requirement that appears to only partially be met by the Namibia aquaculture governance structure.