Source: APO – Report:
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AU-IBAR, through the European Union-funded Fisheries Governance Project Phase Two (FishGov2), convened a capacity-building training on institutionalising and operationalising the African Fisheries and Aquaculture Database (AFAData) in Cape Town from 23 to 24 July 2026. Sixteen participants took part, including thirteen national technical officers from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat and AU-IBAR. Ms Hellen Guebama of AU-IBAR, Dr Motseki Hlatshwayo of the SADC Secretariat, and Mr Belemane Semoli, Acting Deputy Director General of Fisheries Management, opened the workshop.
AFAData is a continental repository for the entry, retrieval, updating and analysis of fisheries and aquaculture data by African Union Member States, linked to AU-IBAR’s Animal Resources Information System (ARIS). It is now operational and open to all Member States at https://afadata.au-ibar.org/. South Africa is one of five countries — with Madagascar, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda — selected to accelerate operationalisation by populating the database during hands-on training.
Opening remarks: data as the basis of public policy
Speaking on behalf of AU-IBAR, Ms Hellen Guebama situated the training within the reform agenda that FishGov2 supports—implementing the Policy Framework and Reform Strategy for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa through stronger institutional capacities, information systems, and data-driven decision-making.
“High-quality data is now essential for developing effective public policies, guiding investments, measuring sector performance, and ensuring rigorous monitoring of commitments made at the national, regional, and continental levels.”
— Ms Hellen Guebama, AU-IBAR
She recalled the platform’s political mandate — its adoption by African Ministers at the Specialised Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and the Environment, which recommended its gradual deployment across Member States — and noted that South Africa is now actively engaged in that continental dynamic. Thanking the Government of South Africa for its collaboration, she closed with an expectation rather than a formality:
“I am convinced that this training will be an important step in strengthening the national information system on fisheries and aquaculture in South Africa and that it will contribute to better decision-making, for the benefit of fishing communities, fish farmers and the sustainable development of the sector.”
— Ms Hellen Guebama, AU-IBAR
What the training delivered
Ms Adeline Oduor of AU-IBAR led participants through the database design and logic before the national team moved to live data entry. Three outcomes stand out.
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A national account was created, with a designated focal point to manage membership.
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South Africa’s 2024 annual fisheries and aquaculture data was reviewed jointly and entered in full — the training ended with real national data in the platform, not a demonstration dataset.
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The Acting Deputy Director General designated data validators in each Chief Directorate: Marine Resources Management for fish trade and vessels; Fisheries Research and Development for capture fisheries and effort; and Aquaculture and Economic Development for aquaculture production and farms.
The third outcome is the most consequential. Naming validators within existing directorate structures turns AFAData from a system a country has been trained on into a system a country reports through — the difference between capacity built and capacity institutionalised.
Because participants worked with genuine data, the sessions also surfaced refinements that will improve the platform for every Member State that follows: registration numbers rather than vessel names as unique identifiers, corrections to import templates and species reference lists, and definitional questions of continental relevance — how to classify restocking with hatchery fingerlings, or wild-caught fish fattened in cages.
Contribution and relevance
For continental reporting: AFAData strengthens the representation of fisheries and aquaculture in the Kampala Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Declaration and its Biennial Review process, which commenced in 2026. A sector that cannot report consistently cannot be counted, and a sector that is not counted is not prioritised.
For national systems: South Africa now has a populated account, trained personnel across three chief directorates, and named validators—a functioning reporting chain rather than a one-off event.
For regional integration: SADC’s participation links national practice to regional oversight, supporting harmonised reporting across the region.
For the sector: reliable data on production, effort, trade and aquaculture underpins rational resource management, credible investment cases and defensible policy — ultimately in the interest of fishing communities and fish farmers.
The lessons from Cape Town will inform the next phase of the rollout to remaining Member States. AU-IBAR thanks the Government of South Africa, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, the SADC Secretariat and the European Union for their support, and encourages Member States yet to nominate an AFAData focal point to do so.
– on behalf of The African Union – Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR).