Aquaculture in Colombia continues to consolidate itself as a driving force in the agricultural sector, generating formal jobs directly and indirectly, as well as favoring the country’s foreign exchange earnings from exports of fillets and whole fish, and in general boosting rural areas throughout the country. The commitment to aquaculture is a commitment of the country, which is why, in the most recent National Development Plans (NDP), this sector has been included among those prioritized. The current plan is no exception, and aquaculture production is aligned with objective 3 of the NDP focused on the “human right to food,” the catalyst A in terms of food availability.

On the other hand, the development of this activity is also articulated with the Sectoral Plan for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development 2022 - 2026 in the following terms: Transformation 2: Productive and sustainable rural economy; strategic line: Innovation as a necessity for productivity; transformation action: Technical assistance and development of the territorial innovation system. This prioritization is not only limited to productive aspects but also involves research and extension. Thus, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) and other portfolios such as the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, through its entities such as UPRA, ICA, AUNAP, Colombia Productiva and Procolombia, among others, have aquaculture among their sectors to address and focus on with human, economic and logistical efforts.

The year 2023 saw a reduction of close to 2,000 tons of fish farming in Colombia. The total volume harvested exceeded 202,000 tons including the contribution of shrimp. Between 2013 and 2022, fish farming brought an average growth rate of around 10% per year in terms of volume produced. In 2023 it was -1%, while shrimp farming achieved 3% growth compared to 2022. Despite the reduction in volume produced, mainly of tilapia, this sector generated around 250,000 jobs, distributed in 64,349 direct and 193,047 indirect jobs. The sector also favored the income of foreign currency from exports of tilapia, trout and farmed shrimp, reaching 21,393 tons, representing $134,266,000 dollars, translating to a growth of 2.98% and 16.97% in value compared to 2022 in terms of shrimp and finfish, respectively. In terms of imports, Colombia with 87,402 tons of fish entering the country in 2023, reflecting a decrease of close to 5% compared to the previous year. The increase in both production volume and value, as well as the formalization of aquaculture activities, among others, allowed the contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of the fishing and aquaculture sector to register a growth of 7.4% in 2023.

When analyzing Colombian aquaculture production behavior at the departmental (or state) level, 3 types of situations can be identified: the first is a reduction in production volumes. There are 5 departments: Atlántico, Magdalena, Cundinamarca, Huila and Tolima that experienced such an impact on their production, of -46%, -18%, -12%, -5% and -5% respectively. In the second category are the majority of departments that had an increase of around 5% (indicated in blue in Figure 1). And, finally, Casanare and Córdoba grew by around 45% and 7%, respectively. Among other departments that stand out are Vaupés and Vichada, which went from producing 125 and 3 tons in 2022 to 145 and 5 tons in 2023, respectively.

It is worth noting that Huila continues to lead national production with a contribution of 73,985 tons representing 37% of the national total, followed by Meta with 23,098 tons (12%), and Tolima with 17,276 tons (9%). In terms of species, tilapia (Oreochromis sp & Orechromis niloticus) continue to lead the volumes produced, reaching 58%, followed by cachama (19%), trout (16%) and other species (7%).

As mentioned above, in 2023 Colombia faced a sanitary situation that significantly affected national production, especially in the departments of Atlántico, Magdalena, Cundinamarca, Tolima and Huila, due, among others, to the presence of Streptococcus agalactiae Ia ST7 bacteria, identified in the first quarter of the year. This condition led the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA), which is the sanitary authority in Colombia, to declare a sanitary emergency on June 7. This type of declaration recognizes an abnormal situation in production and generates special provisions and mechanisms to address it.

A key factor that has strengthened Colombian aquaculture has been exports, in large part due to compliance with international quality certification standards such as Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), GlobalGap at the primary production level, and others such as HACCP, BRCGS Food Safety Global Standard, Food Safety System Certification (FSSC- 22000) at the processing plant level. This has not only favored the improvement of programs and procedures in terms of sanitary, environmental, productive and social management in farms, but has also radiated to the supply and value chains, including certification of balanced feed in BAP and GlobalGAP, generation of specific jobs related to quality control, and suppliers, as well as laboratory testing for sanitary diagnoses and water analyses, and implementation of biosafety systems and continuous improvement programs. This particularity of integrated management of production systems made it possible to mitigate the sanitary impact of Streptococcosis and to ensure that the producers’ response was as appropriate as possible, as well as to collaborate with public and private entities to address the situation.

Taking into account the above, and in order to strengthen the productive activity, since 2023, the MADR and the Rural Agricultural Planning Unit (UPRA) have been working on the Aquaculture Productive Management Plan, with emphasis on products for human consumption. This plan is expected to define the route to follow over the next 20 years to consolidate aquaculture as an activity of relevance within the agricultural sector. This instrument will also establish the strategies, programs and goals for Colombian aquaculture production in different aspects including sanitary, productive, technological, logistical and environmental management, involving related entities from the guilds and the productive sector, as well as those responsible for promotion, agricultural extension and research.

Aquaculture in Colombia has proven to be a resilient activity that, through cooperation between private and public entities, has had the capacity to face challenging situations and overcome health, climate, social and trade adversities that have put aquaculture production to the test.