Aquaculture in East Africa holds vast potential to enhance food security, create employment, and drive economic growth. However, the sector remains underdeveloped, contributing less than 10% to the region’s total fish supply despite increasing demand projected to reach 2.5 million metric tons by 2030. The adoption of innovative technologies presents a pivotal opportunity to transform this sector. Precision aquaculture, digital farm management tools, and recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) can increase productivity by up to 35%, reduce input costs by 20%, and improve fish survival rates by 25%. Mobile-based platforms have already begun connecting over 50,000 smallholder fish farmers with real-time data on water quality, disease outbreaks, and market access. In countries like Kenya and Uganda, smart hatchery innovations have led to a 40% improvement in fingerling quality and availability. Despite these gains, barriers such as limited access to finance, poor infrastructure, and low digital literacy persist. Unlocking aquaculture transformation in East Africa will require strategic investments, public-private partnerships, and supportive policy frameworks. Cage aquaculture is an innovative approach whose contribution to aquaculture production is at over 60%, while alternative feed ingredients such as Black Soldier Fly and aquatic macrophytes have a 30% cost reduction potential though not yet fully tapped. By scaling innovations and leveraging digital technologies, East Africa can bridge the fish demand-supply gap, improve livelihoods, aquaculture production catchment, contribute to national GDP and establish itself as a competitive player in the global aquaculture market.
Key Words: Innovation, technology, aquaculture, transformation, East Africa