Catfish Production in South Africa
Freshwater Aquaculture in South Africa

©Nigel Dennis
The sharptooth catfish are called Clarius gariepinus. This fish are indigenous to the inland waters of much of Africa.
Catfish are a fast-growing, warm water fish suitable for production in warm water systems. Catfish production in South Africa is limited but shows huge potential.

Characteristics of Catfish

There are few freshwater fish species that offer more than one of the following attributes for aquaculture:
Fast growing. Catfish can grow up to 1 kg in 6 months.
Cheap to feed. Catfish eat a vegetable-based feed.
Very fertile: They can produce up to 50 000 eggs per kg of body mass and will spawn every 8 weeks.
Air-breathing so low oxygen levels are not a problem.
Allows for extremely high-density farming to levels of more than 500 kg of fish per 1000 litres.
Very tough in terms of water quality.
Excellent flesh quality, with no bones in the fillet.

One species, the sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus ticks all the boxes and is quite literally the worlds’ ultimate aquaculture species. It is therefore unsurprising that the global production of this species is growing extremely rapidly.

World Production of Catfish

©Leslie Ter Morshuizen
This graph shows the increase in the world's catfish production since the 1980s.
The bulk of catfish production takes place in Nigeria in West Africa, but there are several other countries that are producing more and more of this amazing fish, including Holland, Hungary and Cuba.

Unfortunately, South Africa still lags far behind despite enormous investment in farming this fish locally in the 1990s. Interest in catfish farming fizzled out after a few years. Operators were too focused on production with not enough attention being given to the marketing of catfish. Once ready to sell their fish, they discovered that there is significant consumer resistance towards catfish in South Africa, due to religious objections, as the fish has no scales, and due to the perception of catfish as a scavenger.

There is a resurgence of interest in the farming of catfish to satisfy local demand, although export demand also exists. Several small-sized operations have started up cautiously, having learned from past failures. Each is developing slowly and ensuring they have a market for the product as they proceed.
One large-scale catfish operation has developed a hub in Graaff-Reinet. Here catfish are farmed, processed into catfish products such as sausage and burger patties and distributed across the Eastern Cape. Any by-products are turned into pet food. Detailed market research was conducted during the planning phase to ensure that a market truly exists for their value-added products.

By Leslie Ter Morshuizen