African Aquaculture Company (AAC) has announced that it has successfully secured a 15-year “Offshore Commercial Phase” licence to establish Sub-Sahara’s first commercial salmon farming and production facility.
President of Namibia Operations for African Aquaculture Company Clement Kaukuetu said the company’s operations will primarily be concentrated in three offshore sites, located northwest of Lüderitz in the //Kharas Region.
AAC aims to produce high-value and omega-rich Atlantic Salmon for both export and domestic markets.
“Relying on Norwegian expertise, the AAC anticipates the initial phase to commence in early May with a projected production capacity of 100 thousand tonnes per annum,” he said.
The Salmon Farms are envisaged to contribute to the socioeconomic progression of the country through infrastructure development, job creation and skills transfer.
“AAC expects to provide 5,000 jobs through direct and indirect beneficiation, full production, in-house and services, logistics and construction,” said Kaukuetu.
He further acknowledged the industry’s infancy and is thus initiating a local Salmon Farming Association to attract more participants to the globally lucrative salmon fishing sector.
AAC’s main goal is “to create sustainable fish farming in the cold waters of the Benguela current’’.
According to the project Environmental Assessment, ACC aims “to develop facilities for breeding North Atlantic salmon by harvesting the best from Norwegian aquaculture”; advanced technology “will secure the most sustainable growth conditions as well as a thriving economy”.
“Project management will be carried out by highly skilled Norwegians and Africans with long experience from the fish farming industry and local employment at the fish-farming sites, in the fish factories, as well as in the related services industries will be created,” said the report.
The Company’s target is to produce up to 100,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon through both offshore and onshore production facilities in the Lüderitz area, //Kharas Region Namibia.
The total investment by AAC is estimated at N$8.5 billion and around N$100 million will be invested during the Offshore Pilot Phase (at either of the sites AAC-I to AAC-III).
AAC plans to invest N$1,250 million for Full-field Offshore development, including a production capacity of 50,000 tonnes across three sites (AAC-I, AAC-II, AAC-III) with 16 cages each.
The report notes that this covers bottom mooring, one operations barge per site, installation costs, and a good boat for fish transportation to land (African Aquaculture Company (Pty) Ltd, 2023).
Concurrently, Benguela Blue Aqua Farming is set to have its groundbreaking ceremony next month.
This project, which began in July 2022 and is expected to take off in June 2024, seeks to raise 35,000 metric tonnes of Atlantic salmon annually in submersible net pens, eight kilometres off the coast of Namibia.
