Executive Summary (extract)
Community based aquaculture (CBA) is seen as an important Alternative Income Generating Activity (AIGA) for marine resource dependent coastal communities, and has attracted considerable attention from governments, international donors, and social entrepreneurs as well as conservation and development agencies. As a result, CBA projects have undergone global expansion, and their rapid growth throughout the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is attracting considerable donor and private-sector investment.
Despite a proliferation of CBA approaches throughout the WIO region in recent decades, little is known about the degree to which these activities have resulted in favorable conservation and community development outcomes. The challenges faced and lessons learned during production are often poorly documented, and in many cases the environmental and socio-economic impacts of CBA activities remain unknown.
A workshop titled ‘Community based aquaculture in the western Indian Ocean: Challenges faced and lessons learned’ was held in Zanzibar on December 9-11, 2013, to address the key issues faced by CBA practitioners in the WIO region. The main goal of the workshop was to provide a platform for scientists, technicians, entrepreneurs and community leaders involved in CBA to enable broader understanding of common challenges and generate recommendations for best practice. Specific aims of the workshop were to:
a) Identify key issues influencing successful implementation of CBA projects.
b) Analyze the effectiveness of CBA programmes as economic incentive mechanisms to promote conservation.
c) Initiate a regional CBA network to enable broader understanding of common challenges and discuss possible solutions.