Aquaculture continues to increase its importance to Africa’s economies in a number of ways - in providing sustainable and nutritious food to the continent’s fast-growing populations, to jobs and improved livelihoods.

The WAS initiated the annual Aquaculture Africa Conferences (AFRAQs) which have been a great success, starting in Egypt (2022) and in Zambia (2023). These annual meetings brought together a wide variety of aquaculturists from the commercial, academic, government sectors and NGO sectors to celebrate the sector’s achievements, but also to find solutions to some of the challenges the sector faces. Tunisia will host the 3rd Aquaculture Africa Conference (AFRAQ24) on 19-22 November 2024, at its majestic city of Hammamet – a popular holiday destination on the Mediterranean coastline.

Tunisia is currently amongst Africa’s top aquaculture producing countries and also one of the world’s fastest average annual growth rate. The country is the second biggest aquaculture producer country in North Africa region, after Egypt and is looking forward to expand the sector owing to the competitive advantages on its blue economy domain.

In addition to appraising Tunisia’s fast-growing aquaculture sector, bringing AFRAQ24 to the country is expected to inspire the African French and Arabic communities. It is expected to be a gateway platform to connect Africa to European aquaculture actors.

AFRAQ24 Programme Themes

AFRAQ24 technical program will aim to cover developmental issues including latest research and developmental aspects on aquaculture in Africa. The thematic plenary and technical parallel sessions will comprise submitted oral and poster presentations in English, French, Portuguese and Arabic. AFRAQ24 will feature an international trade exhibition, industry forums, student sessions and activities, satellite workshops (and training sessions) and various meetings/forums on aquaculture development in Tunisia and Africa. The international conference will be centred around the theme “Blue Farming: New Horizons for Economic Growth”, and will feature lessons learnt from Tunisia and other countries on the role sustainable aquaculture continues to play in building sustainable food systems for economic growth.