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Contents
List of Tables............................................................................................................................5

List of Figures...........................................................................................................................5

1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................1

2. Study approach.................................................................................................................2

2.1 Data analysis method........................................................................................................................3

2.1.1 Forecasting Techniques.......................................................................................................3
3. Overview of fishery & aquaculture sub-sector in Ethiopia..........................................6

3.1 Aquaculture in Ethiopia.....................................................................................................................8

3.1.1 Aquaculture research and development in Ethiopia...................................................................8
3.1.2 Potential and beneficiaries.......................................................................................................10
3.1.3 Fish seed multiplication............................................................................................................12
3.1.4 Fish feed and nutrition..............................................................................................................13
3.1.5 Fish Health and Management...................................................................................................14
3.2 Role of fish to food & nutrition security..........................................................................................16
4. Fish production...............................................................................................................17

4.1 Capture fishery production..............................................................................................................17

4.1.1 Production by water bodies......................................................................................................17
4.1.2 Production by species...............................................................................................................21
4.1.3 Fishing gears and capture method............................................................................................24
4.1.4 Capture fishery production system...........................................................................................27
4.2 Aquaculture production...................................................................................................................27
4.2.1 Culture species..........................................................................................................................29
4.2.2 Production/farming system......................................................................................................30
5. Fish post-harvest management......................................................................................31

5.1 Fish post-harvest loss in Ethiopia.....................................................................................................31

5.2 Fish handling and processing...........................................................................................................33
6. Fish technology dissemination.......................................................................................34

7. Fish marketing and consumption..................................................................................40

 7.1 Value chain actors......................................................................................................................40
7.2 Marketing practices.........................................................................................................................41
7.3 Value chain mapping and trade flow...............................................................................................42
7.4 Status of market fundamentals.......................................................................................................50
7.4.1 Fish market information system...............................................................................................51
7.4.2 Fishery cooperatives.................................................................................................................52
7.5. Fish price formation........................................................................................................................55
7.6. Capture fisheries production cost...................................................................................................60
7.7 Costs of production for aquaculture................................................................................................63
7.8 Role of women in fisheries..............................................................................................................66
7.9 Fish consumption.............................................................................................................................70
7.9.1 Preference and frequency of consumption..............................................................................72
7.9.2 Link between income and fish consumption pattern................................................................76
7.10. Trends of fish import and export..................................................................................................87
7.10.1 Imported fish products...........................................................................................................90
7.10.2 Import price............................................................................................................................92
7.11. Cross-border trade........................................................................................................................93
8. Policy and Regulatory Framework...............................................................................98

8.1 Fish trade regulation (benchmarking)............................................................................................100

9. Future outlook analysis................................................................................................101

9.1 Demand and supply projection......................................................................................................102

9.2 Import and export projection........................................................................................................104
10. Investment opportunities in the fishery & aquaculture sub-sector.........................105

11. Challenges......................................................................................................................106

12. Intervention options......................................................................................................115

References.............................................................................................................................121

List of Tables

Table 1. Main characteristics of water bodies in Ethiopia.........................................................................18

Table 2. Percentage yield of gutted and filleted fish in four Lakes (Yared et. al. 2006; 2010, 2013)..........32
Table 3. Grading parameters in fish marketing (%)...................................................................................40
Table 4. Fish collected from its members by Tana No.1 cooperative in Lake Tana....................................54
Table 5. Fish selling price difference between cooperative and traders (birr/kg), March 2021................58
Table 6. Price setting along the fish value chains, (%)...............................................................................59
Table 7. Mode of payment in fish marketing (%).......................................................................................60
Table 8. Costs of production for a single trip, the case of Lake Tana.........................................................62
Table 9. Cost structure of aquaculture production in Ethiopia, 2018........................................................64
Table 10. Pond size and average harvested yield of Tilapia.......................................................................65
Table 11. Place of purchase and quantity purchased per week.................................................................74
Table 12. Consumer preferences towards fish packaging.........................................................................75
Table 14. Share of food consumption expenditures by wealth quintile/poverty quintile.........................77
Table 15. Fish import price........................................................................................................................93
Table 16. Dried fish export trends to Sudan..............................................................................................97
Table 17: Fish production outlook, (2021-2025) using exponential smoothing method.........................102

List of Figures

Fig. 1 Fish production trend from 1980 to 2019 (Data source: MoA)........................................................19
Fig. 2. Annual fish production by region, (average 2010-2021).................................................................20
Fig. 3. Annual catch contribution (%) by lake, 1999-2009..........................................................................21
Fig 4. Catch composition of fish species in 2019........................................................................................22
Fig. 6. Fish harvest per day in major lakes of Ethiopia, (%)........................................................................24
Fig.7. Aquaculture fish production (Tilapia) trends in Ethiopia, 2012-2020...............................................28
Fig.8. Suggested Model of IAA for small scale fish farm efficiency............................................................39
Fig.9. Fish value chain actors and production flow of Lake Ziway.............................................................43
Fig.11. Mapping of supply areas and volume of production flows of Lake Hawassa.................................45
Fig.12. Value chain actors and fish production flow of Lake Koka.............................................................46
Fig.13. Formal value chain map of Lake Chamo.........................................................................................48
Fig.14. Illegal fishing route for Lake Chamo...............................................................................................48
Fig. 15. Formal and informal fish marketing channels of Lake Tana..........................................................50
Fig.16. Trends of different fish species price (fillet) at fishermen level (2015-2020).................................57
Fig.17. Nominal fish selling price comparison between producer (Ziway) and retail market (Addis Ababa)
..................................................................................................................................................................58
Fig. 18. Women role in fish value adding activities (Bata Kebele landing site, Lake Tana)........................67
Fig.19. Fish Marketing at Itang, Annual zone of Gambella Region............................................................69
Fig.20. Fish marketing activity (fish open market in Bahir Dar).................................................................70
Fig.21. Per capita fish consumption (kg/year) across IGAD countries........................................................71
Fig.22. Reasons for not consuming fish.....................................................................................................73
Fig.23: Criteria for fish purchasing.............................................................................................................74
Fig.24. Major lakes and rivers in Ethiopia..................................................................................................83
Fig.28. Import of fish products, (in quantity, ‘000 kg), 2014-18...............................................................88
Fig. 29. Import of fish products, (in value, ETB), 2014 to 2018.................................................................88
Fig. 30. Country of consignment and share of import quantity in 2014....................................................89
Fig.31. Country of consignment and share of import quantity in 2018.....................................................90
Fig. 32. Imported fish species and products (%), 2014..............................................................................91
Fig. 33. Sea food available in the Ethiopian market...................................................................................92
Fig.35. Sun drying method for fish exporting to Sudan.............................................................................96
Fig. 36. Informal dried fish marketing channel to Sudan...........................................................................97
Fig. 37. Fish production projection (2021-2025)......................................................................................103
Fig. 38. Fish trade projection (2020-25)...................................................................................................104
Annex Table 1. Name of contacted fishers and cooperative leaders.......................................................122
1. Introduction

Since Ethiopia is a landlocked country, the growing fish demand has largely been met through

inland capture fishery. However, the capture fish production is confronted with a number of

challenges including overfishing, catchment degradation, introduction of alien species, and poor

implementation of policies. Therefore, it has become crucial to improve the sustainability of fish

production in Ethiopia through exploiting potential alternative fish supply sources. The best

viable option is fostering aquaculture, which promotes fish production based on fish farming

technologies. However, the aquaculture experience and production in Ethiopia is quite

negligible, with average annual production of <20 tons/year (Lakewet al. 2018).

There is a growing gap between fish production and supply in the country, where estimates

shows that demand is projected to increase to 118 000 tons in 2025 up 23 tons from 2015 (Janko,

2014; Tesfaye & Wolff, 2014), while the country annual fish production is 94 000 tons per

annum. The main drivers of fish demand are seemingly population growth and purchasing

power, in addition to the food habit of urban dwellers residing away from water bodies.

From the demand side, there is a changing trend in consumption preference and habits of

consumers especially by better-off consumers to invest in animal source foods that are rich in

animal protein. The demand for fishery products is also surging with the emergence of new

market outlets such as the growing supermarkets in major big cites of Ethiopia. Besides, big

international hotels in the country are also becoming major suppliers of processed fish food. As a

result of the growing fish demand, the country has been importing considerable number of fish

annually from overseas. On the supply side, expansion of reservoirs, primarily built for

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hydropower generation, and aquaculture fisheries are some of the untapped fishery resources of

the country that could play a big role in import substitution in future. The dynamic nature of the

sector calls for better understanding of the status quo of the fishery sub-sector (both capture and

aquaculture) from the demand and supply side. Except for a study on the analysis of investment

options on aquaculture subsector conducted by ENTAG, there is hardly any comprehensive

study which clearly integrates national future production outlook of the sub-sector with

marketing and consumption challenges and investment options in fish production and

management in the country. As a result of this lack of information, the sector has been given less

attention from policy decision markers.

The primary purpose of this review is to document fish production, marketing, post-harvest, and

consumption trends and challenges of the fishery sub-sector in Ethiopia. The study will also look

at enabling environment in the industry, particularly integration of the fishery sector with

national agriculture and food security policies and strategies. Availing this information will

support fact-based decision-making and guide investments in the sector. Overall, the study is

designed to give adequate answers to the following research objectives;

 Document fish production trends, marketing, post-harvest, consumption and challenges

of the fishery sub-sector in Ethiopia.
 Provide future outlooks (projections) for fish production and utilization; and consumption
 Identify investment opportunities for enhancing fish production and utilization.

2. Study approach

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In terms of the research design, the study combines both qualitative and quantitative data to

review the sub-sector. Extensive literature review of previous empirical studies wasmade in fish

technologies (seed and feed), fish production (capture and aquaculture), post-harvest and

technology dissemination sections. In the literature review, the number of studies that

investigated the economics of fisheries in Ethiopia is limited. Most of reviewed studies have

investigated the value chains of fisheries. In this regard, the national fisheries and aquatic life

research center (NFALR) collected data on status of fisheries value chain and its challenges in

major water bodies of Ethiopia. The dataset was cross-sectional on fish value chain analysis

collected from lakes Chamo, Tana, Ziway, Koka and Hawassa. The key findings of these studies

were incorporated to augment the study report. Furthermore, a time series import and export data

(2014-2019) and price trends of imported fisheries by product type were collected from the

Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and world trade map. Focus

group discussions with fishers and key informant discussions with traders and cooperative

leaders were also conducted in March 2021 in major rift valley lakes (Koka, Ziway, Hawassa

Arbaminch) and highland Lake (Tana) Ethiopia to map fish trade flows and identify challenges

in fish production and marketing (see annex Table 1 for list of contacted

stakeholders).Furthermore, the review also used the Living Standards Measurement Study

(LSMS), World Bank dataset in order to observe the connection between fish consumption and

income of households in Ethiopia.

2.1 Data analysis method

2.1.1 Forecasting Techniques

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To examine the dynamics of fish supply and demand as well as trade components various
forecasting techniques have been selected and used. The selection of a method depends on
forecast accuracy, data availability and their assumptions to estimate the outlook period. Various
short-term forecasting approaches ranging from moving averages and exponential smoothing has
been used to forecast the variable of interests.

Moving average

The mean of all data is not an appropriate model for these data because of the trend in the data. A
moving average model does not handle a trend very well either but better than a mean model.
The shorter the moving-average, the more closely the forecast follows the latest data. The
general formula for a moving-average forecast is as follows:
F t+ 1=¿ ¿¿
Where;
Ft+1 = the forecast value for the next period, Yt= the actual value at period t, n = the number of
terms in moving average

Exponential Smoothing
F t=¿ F t−1
+ ρ (Y ¿ ¿ t−1∓F t−1 )¿¿

Where;
Ft = The exponentially smoothed forecast for period t, Ft-1 = The exponentially smoothed

forecast made for the prior period, Y t-1= the actual value at period t, ρ = The desired response
rate, or smoothing constant/a smoothing coefficient whose value is between 0 and 1.
Or
F t+ 1=¿ ρY +¿ ¿ (1- ρ ¿ Ft
Where;
F t+ 1=¿ ¿forecast of the time series for period t + 1, Yt = actual value of the time series in period t,
Ft =forecast of the time series for period t, Ρ = smoothing constant (0 ≤ ρ ≤).

There is no consensus among researcher as to which measure is best for determining the most
appropriate forecasting method. Accuracy is the criterion that determines the best forecasting
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method; thus, accuracy is the most important concern in evaluating the quality of a forecast. The
goal of the forecasts is to minimize error. Some of the common indicators used evaluate accuracy
are Mean Forecast Error (MSE), Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD), Mean Absolute Percentage
Error (MAPE).

n
( Et ) 2
MSE=∑
t=1 n
n
E t /¿
MAD=∑ ¿ ¿
t =1 n
Or
Σ Absolute variance
MAD =
Number of observations

1
n
¿ E t /¿
MAPE= ∑
n t=1 Dt
¿

Or
Absolute Value ( Actual−Forecast )
MAPE=( ) X 100
Actual
or
Σ Absolute percent deviation
MAPE = 100 X
Number of observations

Theoretically, the study has to choose among the alternative furcating models using forecast
errors. Normally a model that provides the smallest forecast error using one or more of the
measures of forecast accuracy (MAE, MSE, or MAPE) is selected for outlook estimation.
However, instead of relying on that, we opted to use a model that suits our historical dataset and
the nature of the market realities of the fish sub-sectors. In this regard, we choose to use the
exponential smoothing forecasting technique owing to its compatibility to our dataset (more on
this is explained in the outlook section).

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3. Overview of fishery & aquaculture sub-sector in Ethiopia

The fishery sector in Ethiopia is based mainly on the capture fishery harvested from major lakes,
reservoirs and rivers. The capture fishery is mostly artisanal type based on traditional vessels
using wood and reed boats. There are also few motorized commercial based fisheries using out
board engine in some lakes like Chamo, Hawassa, Ziway and Tana. The gears used are mainly
gill nets of different stretched mesh size (60 mm-200 mm stretched mesh). Beach seine, hook
and line and caste nets are also used in some lakes and rivers. Destructive gears such as
monofilament gill nets, beach seine and Gancho nets were reported from lakes Tana, Ziway and
Chamo. Especially the Gancho net in Lake Chamo has been reported for the collapse of the Nile
perch fishery in Lake Chamo which indiscriminately removed the juvenile fish from the lake.
This has collapsed the Nile perch stock of the lake in less than two years in the late 1990s
(LFDP, 1997).

The fish production from the capture fish has increased from <10000 tones/year in the 1980s to
over 55,000 tonnes in the 2020 (MoA Report, 2020). This increase in fish production may be
attributed to the exploitation of the riverine fishery as well as fish harvest newly built reservoirs
for power generation and irrigation purpose. The contribution small water bodies < 10 km2 in the
capture fishery has increased over the years. Thus, the current potential fish production was
estimated to 94500 tons/year (Wolff and Gashaw, 2014). However, the fish production from the
capture fishery alone is unlikely to meet the growing demand of the fast-growing population of
the country exceeding 110 million. This calls for the rapid growth of the aquaculture sub sector
which is least developed even by Sub Saharan Africa level.

Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, mollusks, crustaceans and
aquatic plants. Farming implies some sort of intervention in the rearing process to enhance
production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators, etc. Currently,
approximately 16% of animal protein consumed by the world’s population is derived from fish,
and over one billion people worldwide depend on fish as their main source of animal protein.
Worldwide consumption of fish as food has risen from 40 million tons in 1970 to 86 million tons
in 1998 (FA0, 2016).

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In Ethiopia, despite the presence of conducive environment, and candidate culture fish,
production from fish farming is very low (<50 too/year) even by African standard. Aquaculture
exists in its lowest form based mainly on semi-intensive pond-based fish farming practiced by
few farmers in central, south and northern part of the country (FAO, 2011). It is reported that
there are over 200 species of fish harboring major river basins, lakes and reservoirs in Ethiopia
(Golubstov and Mina, 2003; Redeat Habte Selassie, 2012). There are over 10 species of
reportedly introduced into the country aiming at enhancing fish production and biological control
of diseases vector (ShibruTedla and Fisha Haile Meskel, 1981).

The three aquaculture candidate fish species selected for aquaculture in this project include the
indigenous Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), African catfish (Clariasgariepinus) and the
exotic common carp (Cyprinus carpio). They are chosen for fish farming because of their
biological feature such as feeding, reproductive capacity and fast growth under controlled system
in the tropical environment. However, these culture fish species are collected from wild which
could be slow growers under controlled system. Therefore, research on selecting fast growing
strains should be intensified and expanded. The current attempt based on selection and crossing
of Nile tilapia strains have to be rigorously studied (KassayeBalkaw and Gjeon, 2012).

Based on knowledge generated from the natural system, there have been few feeding
experiments conducted to evaluate the growth performance of O. niloticusfed with single or
formulated plant-based feeds like Sebeta I and animal protein based Sebeta II derived from agro-
industrial byproduct ingredients like brewery waste, Noug cake and wheat bran. Although, the
fish grew better than the control, the daily growth rate recorded were in most cases <1 gram per
day (Zenebe Tadesse et al., 2012; AbelnehYimer et al., 2015; Mesay Eniyew et al., 2016). The
FCR values reported were mostly more than 3, indicating the low quality of the diets tasted.
Therefore, there is a need to formulate more complete feeds which satisfy the nutritional
requirements of the culture fish species.

Generally, the fishery sector serves as a means of livelihood for over 70,000 people nationwide
(Wolff and Gashaw, 2014). The fishery sector serves as major source protein and means of

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livelihood for local communities in the Rift valley, Lake Tana and Gambella Regional state. It is
reported that the contribution of the fishery to the national GDP is low (about 1%) and has been
attributed to the capture fishery alone. On the other hand, our knowledge on the socio-economic
importance and marketing of the fishery is scarce and need to be studied more in the future.

The fish production from aquaculture in Ethiopia has been reported to be < 50 tons per year as
reported by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA, 2020). However, the potential to boost fish
production using aquaculture technologies appears to be huge. The condusive warm tropical
climate; availability of both underground and oover ground water, candidate culture fish species
and diverse potential feed ingredients makes the sector the future source of fish in Ethiopia.
However, shortage of trained personnel, less focus for the sector, low consumption of fish due to
cultural reasons eta are some of the challenges hindering the expansion of the aquaculture in
Ethiopia. Therefore, both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders as well as the
research and academic institutions should collaborate and work together to improve the fishery
and aquaculture sector in Ethiopia.

3.1 Aquaculture in Ethiopia

3.1.1 Aquaculture research and development in Ethiopia

Globally, the high annual growth rates of aquaculture production at 10.8 percent and 9.5 percent
witnessed in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively, have slowed gradually in recent years. The
average annual growth rate was 5.8 percent in the period 2001–2010 and 4.5 percent in the
period 2011–2018. The contribution of world aquaculture to world fish production has constantly
increased, reaching 46.0 percent in 2016–18, up from 25.7 percent in 2000. By excluding the
largest producer, China, this share reached 29.7 percent in 2018 in the rest of the world,
compared with 12.7 percent in 2000. At the regional level, aquaculture accounted for 16–
18 percent of total fish production in Africa, the Americas and Europe, followed by 12.7 percent
in Oceania. The share of aquaculture in Asian fish production (excluding China) rose to
42 percent in 2018, up from 19.3 percent in 2000 (FAO, 2020).

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Although African contribution to the total aquaculture production is only 2.67% of the world, a
few African countries like Egypt produced over 1.5 million tonnes, contributing more than 70%
to the total aquaculture production in African (FAO, 2020). Presence of diverse agro-ecological
zones, water sources (surface and ground), candidate culture fish species (cold and warm water)
and available fish feed ingredients (agricultural and agro-industrial by-products) in Ethiopia and
global experience revealed the possibility to develop various aquaculture production schemes.
However, the sub-sector has not been developed because of lack of recognition as a priority
commodity, lack of trained human power and infrastructure, lack of extension system that links
the research system with the development wing. The recent emphasis by the government to the
sub-sector at national and regional levels needs clear research directions and strategies so that the
country’s huge potential can be unlocked which ultimately will contribute to the overall
development process.

Culturing of fish species in natural and manmade water bodies in Ethiopia dates back in the early
1940‘s during the time of Italian invasion. Introduction of exotic fish species like Esox lucius and
Gambusia holbrooki into Lake Tana as a biological control of aquatic vector was performed by
the Italians in 1938. Introduction of trout species from Kenya into Bale highland rivers in 1950‘s
and Cypernid species (Common carp, Grass carp and Gold fish) from Japan into the then Sebeta
Fish Culture Station at present National Fishery and Aquatic Life Research Center (NFALRC)
late in 1970‘s were some of the attempts made to introduce aquaculture practices to Ethiopia.

Sebeta Fish Culture Station was established in 1977 with the objective of culturing both
indigenous and exotic fish species. Since then, quite a number of water bodies were stocked with
fingerlings of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), common carp (Cyperiniscarpio), Tilapia
Zillii. Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodonidella) was also cultured to stock water bodies with aquatic
weeds (e.g.,Fincha reservoir) to use as a biological control although the species didn’t establish
itself. In addition to stocking the above fish species into different water bodies, NFLARC
performs breeding and dissemination of ornamental fish, gold fish (Carassius auratus) to users.
Since the establishment of the culture station over 3 million fish fingerlings were stocked into

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different water bodies to establish fish stocks and/or enhance declining fish stocks in lakes and
big reservoirs.

Since 1997 when Sebeta Fish culture Station was restructured into the research system with the
name National Fishery and Aquatic Life Research Center (NFALRC), it has conducted several
research trials focusing on different culture systems (e.g. mono and mixed sex, polyculture, cage
culture, Integrated Aquaculture Agriculture), fish feeds, characterization of Nile tilapia from
geographically isolated water bodies, growth & survival of culture fish species, semi artificial
and artificial fish breeding techniques etc. and has published the results in different local and
international journals (YaredTigabu et al. 2011; AdamnehDagne, 2012; Kassahun Asaminew et
al., 2012; KassayeBalkaw and Gjeon,, 2012; ZenebeTadese et al., 2012; Abelneh et al., 2015;
Adamneh and Abelneh, 2018). Regional fishery research centers such as Bahir Dar Fishery and
other Aquatic Life Research Center and Ziway Fishery and other Aquatic Life Research Center
are also doing both on station and on farm aquaculture research activities mainly on fish feeds
and culture systems. Higher learning institutions mainly universities like Addis Ababa, Bahir
Dar, Ambo, Hawassa and Jimma are also engaged in conducting aquaculture research (Eshetu
Yimer et al., 2014; KassayeBalkaw and Gjeon, 2012; AshagrieGibtan et al., 2008). In recent
years Integrated Aquaculture Agriculture system (IAA) got attention and the system is proved as
economical and effective at farmers’ level (Getinet et al. 2015; NFALRC, 2015).

Currently, aquaculture is one of the priority thematic research areas for both federal and regional
fisheries and aquaculture research centers. In addition to establishing culture -based capture
fishery in reservoirs and dams, the research centers are trying to develop small scale backyard
aquaculture. However, lack of input suppliers (fish feeds, seeds), less engagement of private
sectors in the sub-sector and high initial investment requiring nature of aquaculture are the major
bottle necks for its development.

3.1.2 Potential and beneficiaries

Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, including fish, mollusks, crustaceans and aquatic
plants, is a major means of global meat production. Aquaculture can produce protein rich human

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food and will enables to achieve food and nutrition security particularly in developing countries
like Ethiopia. For example, farmed fish ranked 4th in terms of global meat production after pig,
poultry and beef & buffalo (FAOSTAT, 2011). It creates job opportunity and income, foreign
exchange earnings, conservation and restoration of biodiversity, used as a source of fish
fingerlings to stock over exploited water bodies in stock enhancement programs, canserve for
aquatic biodiversity conservation where endangered culture species can be cultivated and
restocked into the water bodies,bait and ornamental fish production and also used as animal feed.
Apart from direct involvement of actors in aquaculture business several beneficiaries will also be
benefited along the value chain. The sub-sector requires inputs like fish feeds and fish seeds
which are opportunities for others to be engage either in producing or availing those inputs.
Applicability of aquaculture at various agro-ecology (where there are land and water resources)
and possibility to integrate with other agricultural commodities and hence maximizing resource
utilization are generally known and are widely applied by several countries. It has also the
potential of breaking geographical distribution barrier, where the African native fish Nile tilapia
is no more confined in Africa rather it is an international species because of its distribution
allover the world.

Ethiopia having diverse agro-ecological zones with wide temperature ranges, ranging from as
low as 180 m below sea level in the Danakil area to mountain slopes of over 4000 m above sea
level in the highlands, is ideal to develop aquaculture. With such altitude range variation in
temperature is imminent and aquaculturists will have different options to culture both cold and
warm water culture species.

Apart from the diverse agro-ecology, Ethiopia is endowed with several water sources both
surface and ground. Lakes ranging from a few square meters to 3150 km 2, reservoirs of different
sizes and several rivers (including trans-boundary) are potential resources for the development of
aquaculture. A recent study by Gashaw Tesfaye and Wolf (2014) revealed that Ethiopian water
bodies are estimated to be about 13600 km2 of lakes and reservoirs and 8065 kmlong rivers. An
increasing numbers of manmade water bodies such as small micro dams in most regions as well
as big dams and reservoirs like Alewero, Fincha, Koka, Koga, Rib, Gedabo, GenaleDawa III,
Gilgel Gibe 1& 3 and the upcoming Ethiopian Great Renaissance Dam with an area of 1860 km 2

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(which will have twice the volume of Lake Tana) can serve as a dual-purpose water bodies for
hydropower generation and/or irrigation as well as fish production. The fishery production can
be either culture base capture fishery and/or by deploying different aquaculture technologies in
the reservoirs (example cage culture). Considering a combination of factors (water availability,
topography and soil texture, land use/cover, temperature regime, and economic parameters)
Eshete Dejen and ZemnuMintesnot (2012) reported that quite large areas of the country (15,158
km2 highly and 871, 731 km2 moderately) are suitable for Tilapia culture development.

Agriculture being one of the major drivers of the Ethiopian economy is an advantage for the
development of aquaculture. Several crop commodities such as cereals, oilseeds, pulses, fruits
and vegetables (agricultural products and agro-industrial byproducts) can serve as fish feed
ingredients. Increasing human population (for labor and market demand) is also an opportunity
to develop aquaculture in Ethiopia. Possibility of using agricultural products for fish feed
preparation and/or partly with agro-industrial byproducts will also reduce total aquaculture
production costs. According to Gabriel et al. (2007) locally produced and reasonably priced
feedstuffs of sufficient nutritional quality are a key element in the development of aquaculture in
developing countries. Flourishing agro-processing industries such as brewery factories, oil
refineries and mills for various products have enormous byproducts that can be used in
formulating appropriate fish feeds. Despite aquaculture’s importance and potentials, in terms of
poverty alleviation, food and nutrition security, job opportunity, sources of income, reducing
fishing pressure on capture fishery, its contribution to the national GDP is insignificant.

3.1.3 Fish seed multiplication

Basic inputs required for the success of aquaculture include fish seed, fish feed and water with
regular management and follow up. Fish seeds have so far been collected from wild and stocked
into water bodies aiming at enhancing fish production. However, such practices are risky in
transferring disease to the receiving water bodies. A number of water bodies have so far been
stocked with Nile tilapia fingerlings and success stories have been reported in Lakes Hashenge
and Small Abaya in boosting fish production (Zenebe Tadesse et al., 2015). On the other hand,
stocking of common carp, crucian carp and T. zilli into Lake Ziway reduced the catch of the

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native Nile tilapia drastically and replaced with the exotic carp fish. Therefore, such wild and old
practices have to be stopped as source fish fingerlings have to be multiplied by responsible
bodies given legal mandates and responsibilities.

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture has established fish fingerling rearing ponds in Hawassa
and Arba Minch as fish rearing and producing centers to be dispatched to different parts of
Ethiopia. However, the two centers are not fully operational and therefore, Sebeta National
Fisheries & Aquatic Life Research Center took the initiative and propagates fish fingerlings to be
distributed to different Regional States.

3.1.4 Fish feed and nutrition

In fish farming, nutrition is critical because feed represents over 50% of the production costs
depending on the production system. Fish nutrition has advanced dramatically in recent years
with the development of new, balanced commercial diets that promote optimal fish growth and
health. The development of new species-specific diet formulations supports the aquaculture (fish
farming) industry as it expands to satisfy increasing demand for affordable, safe, and high-
quality fish and seafood products.

There are important factors to be considered while selecting potential ingredients to be used in
fish feed formulation. These factors include the nutrient composition of the ingredient;
availability and price of ingredients; presence and concentration of anti-nutritional factors;
presence of contamination (e.g., from pesticides) or toxins from fungal contamination and finally
the digestibility and how well energy and nutrients are utilised by the culture fish (De Silva and
Anderson 1995).

Fish feed is known to be one of the main inputs required to enhance fish farming in Ethiopia.
However, over the past two decades, there have been experimental feeds formulated and tested
by research institutes and Universities running undergraduate and graduate programs. Most of
the test feeds are supplemental diets are either single ingredient or formulated types mainly
composed of few feed ingredients (Zenebe Tadesse et al., 2012; AbelnehYimer et al., 2015,

13 | P a g e
Mesay Eniyew et al., 2016). The ingredients used to formulate the test diets were mainly
composed of agro-industrial by products available in local farms or industries. Some of these
ingredients include wheat bran, Noug cake, soya bean, fish carcass, brewery waste etc. The
proximate chemical composition of over 40 feed ingredients of agro-industrial by products,
cereals, fish by catch, fish carcass were analyzed for Nile tilapia feed formulations (Kassahun
Asaminew et al., 2012). The study was conducted mainly through the BOMOSA cage fish
farming project financed by the European Union.

3.1.5 Fish Health and Management

Fish health is one of the most important components of fishery aquaculture technology packages
for efficient fish production both in capture fishery and aquaculture. Fish health could be
affected by water quality parameters deterioration, pathogens, environmental pollutants and
intoxications. Water quality change could directly affect the fish physiology causing direct
mortality and creating stress which can lead to the invasion of the fish host by the opportunistic
bacterial and parasitic diseases. Fish pathogens including parasites, bacteria, viruses and fungus
are the most common enemies of fish welfare and productivity.

However, this component is mostly overlooked in many of the studies conducted on fishery
aquaculture in Ethiopia. But the economic effect of fish health on fish productivity is manifested
in different occasions in different water bodies of Ethiopia. For instance, Trout Fish Farmers
Private Limited Company was established a commercial trout fish farm in 2009 for the first time
in Ethiopian highlands in Adaba District, West Arsi Zone, Oromia Region of Ethiopia. The farm
was considered the promising farm for the commencement of fish farming investment in the
country. But the farm was damaged by an outbreak of a disease that resulted in the death of fish
from time to time after they exhibit clinical signs of poor appetite, darkening of the body,
gasping at the surface of the water and finally death. A study conducted by Eshetu et al., (2014)
indicated that the mortality was due to the bacterial diseases called Yersiniosis (Enteric red
mouth disease). The disease was caused by the bacteria Yersinia ruckri which resulted in the
complete closure of the fish farm and changed to other horticulture farming land. The other
evidence at farm level was the mass diseases outbreak due to the bacterial diseases called

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Aeromoniasis caused by the bacteria Aeromonas hydrophilia in Sebeta research and fish seed
multiplication ponds. This mass killing has resulted in the completed destruction of all brood
stock and ready for dispatch fingerling tilapia (unpublished data). With regard to capture fishery,
different mass mortalities have been recorded in different times in Lake Hashengie, Bishoftu
lakes, Lake Lugo, Lake Ardibo, Omo river, Gibe-I dam and other water bodies (Teshome et al.,
2015). All these mass destructions have been caused by water quality deterioration and other
stressing factors which lead to infection with opportunistic bacterial pathogens. The situations
had affected the fishery production and the water body ecology in these water bodies.

Production of fish fingerlings in hatchery is mainly hampered by fungal infections during

hatching process especially at the egg and larval stage. As the second most important mandate of
the NFALRC is fish seed multiplication and dispatching to small scale fish farms and stocking of
fish stock depleted water bodies, fungal infections are negatively affecting the NFALRC fish
seed production efficiency. In seed production of African catfish (Clariasgariepinus) and Nile
tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio), high losses are recorded
during egg and larval stage in hatchery units at the NFALRC (Melaku et al., 2017). This is
responsible for reduction in total fingerling production and remains the main challenge in our
hatchery unit. The main reduction is caused by fungal infection especially at the spawning stage.
It also hinders proper functioning of organs especially in young fishes and can also cause skin
irritation which may lead to reduction in commercial value of adult fishes. Therefore, in depth
research activities need to be conducted to improve eggs and larval health and enhance fish seed
production to answer the national seed demand.

Despite the fact that fish health is a significant thematic area in the improvement of fish
production, research works in this area are limited. Some studies mostly on prevalence and
diversity of fish parasites and very few bacteria studies were conducted separately by different
authors in different natural water bodies of the country (Florio et al., 2009; Gebremedhin et al.,
2017; Mitiku, 2017; Tesfaye et al., 2017; Tesfaye et al., 2018; Tsega et al., 2018; Assefa and
Abunna, 2018 and Sorsa et al., 2019). The research reports in fish farms are almost negligible
except very few studies conducted by Eshetu et al., (2014) and Marshet et al., (2017). This
indicates that there are limited research activities conducted in the area of other fish health

15 | P a g e
components including bacterial, viral, fungal diseases, water quality issues, and pollutants. It also
reveals that there is a very slow progress in research in fish health management and related
topics. Hence fish health research and its consideration in aquaculture technology packages is
highly needed in the area of water quality, pathogens, toxins, pollutants and the effect of fish
diseases in public and environmental health perspectives. To undertake the research related to
fish health, an organized aquatic animal health studies laboratory with full equipment needs to be
established at the NFALRC.

3.2 Role of fish to food & nutrition security

According to World Food Summit 1996, food security exists when all people, at all times, have
physical and economic access to enough safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and
food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle. The main indicators used to measure the
extent of food insecurity are the numbers and proportions of all people estimated to be
undernourished and the numbers and proportions of infants who are considerably below the
norms of height for their age, weight for their height or weight for their age. Food and nutrition
security is an increasingly important issue for the rural communities who rely on agriculture to
meet their subsistence needs.

Fishery offers a significant opportunity for improving food security and nutrition by providing
nutritious and affordable protein to many millions of people worldwide. Fish, whether captured
or cultured, plays an important role in human nutrition and global food supply, particularly
within the diets and food security of the poor. Food fish currently represents the major source of
animal protein (contributing more than 25 percent of the total animal protein supply) for about 1
250 million people within 39 countries worldwide, including 19 sub-Saharan countries (FAO,
2020). Fish and fish products are very important source of protein and fat (poly unsaturated fatty
acids) which has a very high degree of digestibility and wide variety of vitamins including
vitamins A and D and minerals such as phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, iodine.Evidence is
increasing that the consumption of fish enhances brain development and learning in children,
protects vision and eye health, and offers protection from cardiovascular disease and some
cancers. The fats and fatty acids in fish, particularly the long chain n-3 fatty acids (n-3

16 | P a g e
polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)), are highly beneficial and difficult to obtain from other
food sources. Of particular importance are eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3, EPA) and
docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA). Improving food security and alleviating poverty many
governments in the world have recognized fisheries as a means of nutrition, food security and
poverty alleviation.

In Ethiopia, despite its economic importance and huge untapped potential, the fishery sector
remains less developed in many cases. Malnutrition is still the number one killer compared to
other diseases. In fact, most Ethiopian diets are dominated by carbohydrates derived from
cereals, which have low protein content; thus, eating fish alongside cereals can help with
nutrition security and certainly eliminate the protein deficiency diseases that are currently
affecting many people. The role of fishery and aquaculture in reducing poverty and alleviating
food insecurity at household level is enormous. Apparently, the socioeconomic importance of
small-scale fisheries in reducing malnutrition by supplying high quality animal protein and
generating cash income for the rural communities are recently well recognized and attempts are
being made to promote and develop the subsector both at farmers and commercial levels.

4. Fish production

4.1 Capture fishery production

4.1.1 Production by water bodies

Ethiopia has been a landlocked country since 1993, so its fishery comes exclusively from inland
water bodies including lakes, rivers, streams, reservoirs and substantial wetlands that are of great
socio-economic, ecological and scientific importance. The water bodies of Ethiopia represent
7,334 km2 of major lakes and reservoirs, 275 km 2 of small water bodies and 7 185 km of rivers.
The Blue Nile and Omo are the major rivers (see Table 1 below).Ethiopian waters hold about
180 fish species including 37–57 endemics, which is a higher value than given for Sudan, Egypt
and Somalia, some freshwater shrimps and crabs, commercially important microalgae and a

17 | P a g e
diverse vegetation, all together of great economic and socio-cultural values (Gashaw& Wolff,
2014).

Table 1. Main characteristics of water bodies in Ethiopia

Altitude Surface area (km) Fish potential (t/year)
Rift valley lakes
Chamo 1 280 550 3,500
Abaya 1,285 1,160 9,800
Awassa 1,710 90 600
Shala 1,570 410 1,100
Langano 1,585 230 1,700
Abijata 1,575 205 1,700
Ziway 1,590 255 2,400
Other areas
Tana 1,830 3,500 24,900
Fincha 2,160 170 1,700
Source: Ward &Wakayo, ACP Fish II (2011)

The Ethiopian fishery exclusively comes from inland water bodies such as lakes, reservoirs and
rivers. Its fishery is mainly artisanal and has been used for subsistence until the 1990s, when they
became commercialized mainly in the Rift Valley lakes and Lake Tana (Gashaw Tesfaye and
Wolff, 2014). There has been also subsistence fishing in the Lake Tana basin and Blue Nile,
Baro-Akobo and Omo-Turkana River basins but their catch volumes have never been reported.
As seen in Figure 1 below, the reported annual fish production of the country was fluctuating
with an overall increasing trend. The overall increase was more than 16 folds over the last four
decades. Production was only 3,500t in 1980, 15,858t in the year 1999 and 59,000 in 2019,
indicating an increase of more than 350% and 270% in the 1 st and 2nd two decades, respectively.

18 | P a g e
But the mean annual rates of increase in the 1st and 2 nd two decades were 10% and 8%,
respectively. Several reasons can be given to support the rising growth of capture fisher
production in Ethiopia. Here we are listed four contributing factors, first, construction of new
dams and reservoirs with multiple purposes such as hydropower, irrigation and fish farming may
contribute to the rise in fish production level. Second, use of improved analysis methods and
statistics to estimate national fish production potential is also one explanation. For instance, the
national yield figure shown in Figure 1 is underestimated as compared to the estimate made by
Gashaw and Wolff (2014). In their empirical analysis, the authors showed that the potential fish
yield of inland fisheries in the country is 94 500 MT per year. The third factor is related to
increasing involvement of rural people and youth in fishing by considering the sector as a
profitable venture, leading to a greater number of fishers and increase fishing effort, which
ultimately leads to more catch and high fish production. Finally, the improved infrastructural
facilities that has been registered all over the country in the past two decades such as road and
marketing institutions, cooperatives and mobile has improved the timely mobility of agricultural
productions in general and fishery production in particular.

Fig. 1 Fish production trend from 1980 to 2019 (Data source: MoA)

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Region-wise comparison of fish production shows that Amhara region is the highest fish
producing regionwith average annual production coverage of around 27% in the last decade
followed by Oromia and southern regions, with average annual production of 21% and 18% of
the national fish production (see Figure 2 below).

18,000

16,000

14,000

12,000

10,000
Tons

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0
Amhara Oromiya SNNP Tigray Gambella Benishangul

Fig. 2. Annual fish production by region, (average 2010-2021)

Source: MoA (2021)

When it comes to fish production and supply by lakes, the bulk of supply comes from very few

lakes. Although Ethiopia has different lakes, rivers and reservoirs, seven lakes (Chamo, Ziway,

Tana, Abaya, Awassa, Langano and Koka) make up about 94% of fish production and supply,

while the remaining 6 % from other lakes (Gashaw& Wolff, 2014) (see Figure 3 below).

20 | P a g e
 35

30 % of total catch 29

25

20 19
17
Percent

15

10 8
7 7 7
5 4
2
0
Hyik,Ardib Turkana Awassa Langano Koka Abaya Tana Ziway Chamo
o, Lugo

Fig. 3. Annual catch contribution (%) by lake, 1999-2009

4.1.2 Production by species

Although there is a high diversity of freshwater fish species in Ethiopian, only a few of those
species – Tilapia, African catfish, Barbus, Bagrus, Clarias, Nile perch, and Labeo – form the
bulk of the catch. Tilapia is the major contributor followed by African Catfish and Barbus. For
instance, Tilapia and African Catfish make up 93% of the total catch registered in 2019, followed
by Nile Perch (5%) (see Figure 4 below).

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 African catfish
40%

Tilapia
53%

Bagrus
Barbus 1% Crucian carp
Nile perch 0%
5% 1%

Fig 4. Catch composition of fish species in 2019

Source, MoA (2021)

Though preferred by consumers but increasingly becoming scarce, a considerable amount of Nile
perch is found in large rivers as well as in Lakes Chamo, Abaya and in part of Turkana Lake.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) data, the trend on fish production by species
showed that tilapia species averaged about 50%, African Catfish about 20%, Barbus (12%) and
Nile Perch about 9% of total production over the last decade (Figure 5).

22 | P a g e
 35,000
African catfish Bagrus Barbus
30,000 Baso Common carp Crucian carp

25,000

20,000
tons

15,000

10,000

5,000

0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Fig.5. Trend on fish production by species (2010-19)

Source, MoA (2021)

Catch composition, however, varies greatly depending on the type of fishery. Significant catch
variations are obtained, in terms of quantity and species type by lake. For instance, in Lake
Ziway, Carp is the widely harvested fish species, followed by Tilapia and African Catfish.
Looking at lake Chamo, Tilapia is the major one, followed by African Catfish and Nile perch. As
to Lake Tana, 58% of the daily catch on average is Tilapia while 25% is LabioBarbus and the
remaining 17% is African Catfish. Similarly, Tilapia fish species is the commonly harvested fish
in Hawassa lake, accounting 85% of the daily catch, on average, followed by African Catfish
(15%). The same is true for lake Koka where Tilapia dominate the daily harvested amount
(77%), followed by African Catfish (15%) and Carp (8%) (Figure 6).

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Fig.6. Fish harvest per day in major lakes of Ethiopia, (%)
Source: Compiled from VCA surveys of NFALRC

4.1.3 Fishing gears and capture method

A number of modern and traditional fishing gears and methods of fishing are practiced in the
country. In the International Standard Statistical System of Classification adopted by FAO for
fishery statistics fishing gears are grouped into fourteen categories according principles of
capture and sub-grouped according structure of the fishing gear, leaving scope for further
additions in future. Primary categories include surrounding nets, seine nets, trawls, dredges, lift
nets, falling gear, gill nets and entangling nets, traps, hooks and lines, grappling and wounding
gear, harvesting machines, miscellaneous gear, recreational gear and gear not known or not
specified (Nedlec, 1982). Surrounding nets; the fish are surrounded not only from the side but
also from bellow, allowing them to be caught over deep water. Trawl nets, these are operated by
dragging or towing the flexible net through the water by fishing craft. Traps these are passive
gears sets in the water and catches the fish which trays to pass through. Hooks and lines Fish are
enticed by edible or artificial baits or lures to become caught by a hook or spike and held by the
line. The classes are characterized by the various principles of fish capture, and each class is

24 | P a g e
subdivided into gear types characterized by the structure of the particular fishing gear and the
method of its operation. In Ethiopia Beach seine, Seine net, Gill net, Cast net, Hook on line,
Long line and Traditional gears (trap, spear, scoop etc.) exists in different technical
characteristics. The most common fishing gear and method of catching are the following:

Gill net: it is a piece of netting placed in the water. The fish get either gilled, wedged or
entangled. A gill net can be either surface or bottom net. The ratio between the total floatability
and the total sinking power determines whether the net is surface or bottom gill net. Selection of
the mesh type depends upon the shape of the target fish species. Gill nets are made of netting
twine, which nowadays is usually made with synthetic fibers. Single fibers are assembled
into single yarns. Several such yarns are then either twisted or braided together to produce the
netting twine.There are several kinds of synthetic fibers, with varying chemical compositions.
The strength of netting material depends on the yarn and thread thickness. If the netting twine is
made of one yarn only, it is called monofilament. Its thickness is designated by its diameter (in
mm).

Gill net fishermen come to fishing grounds in the morning to set their gears and return the
following morning to collect their catch (24 hours fishing time some times more).

Beach seine and seine net: it is a bag/sack with two wings. It is set from the boat and dragged to
the shore, where the fish is entered to the cod end. The beach seine has a bag or cod end, two
wings and ropes. When the seine is dragged the wings lead the fish towards the cod end where
they will accumulate. Typically, a beach seine is set from a boat, and then dragged towards the
shore where the fish are removed from the cod end. However, it is often used to encircle a certain
area and taken into the boat without ever being dragged to the shore. This procedure is repeated
several times until they harvest enough fish.

Hook on line designates a wooden stick with a line attached to it and at the bottom of the line, a
hook. The hook is baited and fish, usually Tilapia, are caught as they eat the bait. Contrary to the
long lines, the fisherman keeps paying attention to his gear. When he feels the time right, he will
pull up brusquely the line and hook to increase the chance to catch the fish. It is the simplest

25 | P a g e
form of fishing requires only a line and a baited hook. Hook on line fishing is inexpensive and
easy. A wide variety of sizes and types of hook can be used, allowing very selective fishing. The
catch is live and of high quality. This fishing gear is more appropriate for catching tilapia,
Oreochromis niloticus, species.

Long line is made up of a main line with snoods attached, on each stood is placed hook. The bait
is placed on the hook. Long lines are unwatched lines with multiple hooks. They can be used at
the surface, suspended in the water column or fixed near the bottom. Catfish, Clariasgariepinus,
is the major target fish for long line fishery.

Long fishing and staying time and the time lapse between capture and arrival at landing sites is
very long (an average 2-4 hours) without any efficient cold chain system. Gill net and long line
fishermen come to fishing grounds in the morning to set their gears and return the following
morning to collect their catch (24 hours fishing time). Beach seines are deployed in the afternoon
and the catches are collected and brought to the landing site in the morning. Long line fishermen
come to fishing grounds in the morning to set their gears and return the following morning to
collect their catch (24 hours fishing time some time more).

In some part of the country, they used spears. The spear is used to spear the fish after the
fishermen have spotted it. They used two different type of metal spears for hunting and fish.
Their designs are different to suit the targets. The spear has a length of 1-2m, of which 20-40cm
is the sharp point.

In riverine fishery they usually use Cast nets. The net is cast over fish and catches them by
closing on them as it is withdrawn. Its use is normally limited to shallow waters. These nets are
cast by hand only. The nets are cast from shore, in waist-deep water or from rocks. Some
practice is needed for handling this gear effectively. Casting calls for perfectly coordinated
movements of body, legs and arms.

26 | P a g e
4.1.4 Capture fishery production system

Fishing in the majority of water-bodies of the country is practiced as both artisanal and
commercial level. However, the artisanal fishing using (reed and papyrus boats) is being
replaced by motorized boats. In general, four types of fishing production system can be classified
based on fishing technologies(gear and fishing crafts): 1) the motorized gill net (mesh sizes 10-
12 cm) fishery based in Bahir Dar and now expanding into 10 bordering Woredas; 2) the
traditional reed-rafts-gillnet (mesh size 6 to 10 cm) around the lake and mainly in the Southern
part; 3) the traditional reed-rafts-gillnet ( mesh size 10 to 12 cm) around the lake; 4) the chase
and trap fishery (mesh size 6 to 9 cm) based in the southern part of the lake. The traditional reed
boat fishery is still important for remote areas of the lake. Reed-boats normally carry only one
fisher and catch is collected early morning. The catch from this fishery is sold at small markets in
the village and used for household consumption. They target mainly tilapia fish species. The
recently introduced motorized fisheries mainly target bigger markets. This fishery method uses
engine boats with 100 m long gillnets of 10-14 cm stretched mesh size. The motorization
program was accompanied by the organization of the fishers into an association and
subsequently with technical training in net-making, fish processing and engine maintenance. The
motorized boats are mainly steel boats. There are about 25 motorized fishing boats on the whole
lake, most of which land their catch in Bahir Dar (either directly or via a collector
boat).Although this fishing production characteristics s summarized for Lake Tana by Author, it
can also be applicable in major rift valley lakes of the country with the exception of use of
monofilament fishing gears in Lakes Hawassa, Ziway, Koka, Chamo as well as Lake Tana. The
use of monofilament is a recent introduction I the country which is more come to seen in the past
three years where fishers call it Sudan and Egypt fish gears.

4.2 Aquaculture production

In Ethiopia, the potential to enhance fish production from the aquaculture sub sector is known to
be huge. There is enormous over-ground and underground water estimated over 122 billion cubic
meters and concussive tropical environment to culture warm water fish like the Nile tilapia and
27 | P a g e
African catfish. There are a number of indigenous and exotic fish species widely cultured in
Africa and elsewhere in the world. Among these The Nile tilapia (O. niloticus); African catfish
(C. gariepinus) and the common carp (C. carpio) are most important potential candidate fish
selected for fish farming today. Many research activities conducted by fishery research centers
and Universities focused on these candidate culture fish species. Studies on feed and nutrition
also focused on formulating farm made feeds based on ingredients available from local sources.
Some of the locally available ingredients tested in Nile tilapia feeding experiments include wheat
bran, brewery waste, Noug cake, soya bean; fish meal etc. Theses feed ingredients were selected
because of their availability in local markets and low price affordable by fish farmers.

Despite favourable conditions, the contribution of fish farming/aquaculture to the total fish
production in Ethiopia is very minimal, only 430 MT in 2020 (Figure 7). It has been introduced
into some localities in central, north and southern regions of the country. In addition to
establishing culture-based capture fishery in reservoirs and dams, the research centers are trying
to develop small scale backyard aquaculture. However, lack of input suppliers (fish feeds, seeds)
and high initial investment requiring nature of aquaculture are the major bottle necks for its
development.

500

450 430
400

350
Tons

300

250

200

150

100

50

0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Fig.7. Aquaculture fish production (Tilapia) trends in Ethiopia, 2012-2020

Source: MoA (2021)

28 | P a g e
4.2.1 Culture species

Ethiopian water bodies harbor diverse fish fauna (indigenous, endemic and exotic fish species).
So far above 200 fish species, represented in 12 orders, 29 families and 70 genera of which 40
fish species are endemic and 10 exotics, have been reported from different water bodies
(Shibru&Fisha, 1981; Golubstov& Mina, 2003; Redeat, 2012). Presence of candidate
aquaculture fish species such as Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), African catfish
(Clariasgariepinus), Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and Trout (brown & rainbow) species is a
big milestone for the development of aquaculture in the country. Well established Trout species
in Bale highland rivers, a cold-water fish species, gives an opportunity to utilize highland water
bodies for the development of aquaculture. Ornamental fish species such as Carassius auratus –
Goldfish and other potential indigenous candidates are additional potential to develop
commercial aquaculture that will create employment opportunity for several people including
under graduates and graduates who are looking for jobs after completing their university studies.
In addition to finfish, presence of shellfish (crustaceans, mollusks) in the water bodies in
Ethiopia and the country’s diverse freshwater ecoregion are in favor of developing shellfish
aquaculture.

It is obvious that for the success of aquaculture, quality fish seed and feed are the critical ones.
Fish fries have to get live foods in their early development stages which are critical for their
survival and later stage development. The diverse planktonic organisms, macro-invertebrates and
aquatic plants (live and/or processed) can be used as starter fish foods and is an option for
aquaculturists. A microalga of great economic potential with high nutritional benefits to humans
like Spirulina, which is renamed as Arthrospira, is another un-exploited aquatic resource in the
country. The presence of Spirulina in great abundance was reported in previous studies
conducted in major river systems (Harrison and Hynes, 1989; Cumberlidge, 2009) and in Rift
Valley lakes Aranguade, Chitu and Kilotes (Kebede and Ahlgren, 1996). There are technologies
that can be used through adaptation for mass production in the indoor and outdoor facilities for
human and animal uses Apart from the direct use of algae for human and animal uses.

29 | P a g e
Candidate culture fish are selected due to their biological features such as fast growth, short food
chain, efficient conversion of food, ready acceptance of compounded feeds, good table quality,
disease resistance, ease of breeding in captivity, early maturation, high fecundity, tolerance to a
wide range of environmental parameters, etc. The four widely cultured fresh water fish in the
world include grass carp, silver carp and Nile tilapia. Among these top 10 species items, Nile
tilapia and common carp are the two most popular species farmed in countries in 2017, followed
by two carp species: grass carp and silver carp.

Today, three aquaculture candidate fish species are selected for aquaculture production in
Ethiopia. These include the two indigenous fish, the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and
African catfish (Clariasgariepinus) as well as the exotic common carp (Cyprinus carpio). They
are chosen for fish farming because of their biological features and tolerance to environmental
factors. Until recently, these culture fish species are collected from wild which could be one of
the factors for slow growers under controlled system. Moreover, there is a high risk of
transferring diseases and transfer of exotic species or strain into receiving water bodies.
Therefore, the research on selecting better growing strains should be intensified and expanded.
The current research based on selection and crossing of Nile tilapia strains have to be rigorously
studied (KassayeBalkaw and Gjeon, 2012).

4.2.2 Production/farming system

Attempts of fish culture in Ethiopia started in the 1970s by introduction of some exotic fish
species for food production such as carps (Cyprinus carpio-common carp,
Ctenophryngodonidella -Grass carp, Hypopthalmichthys molitrix -silver carp;Tilapias -Tilapia
zilli and salmons -Salmo trutta –brown trout, Salmo gairdneri -rainbow trout. Together with the
exotic fish species, culturing of some indigenous fish species mainly Oreochromis niloticus –
Nile tilapia is being practiced since long times. The main fish culturing practice is pond culture
with extensive and semi-intensive type of management. The common type of aquaculture
practices by fish farmers is fish farming in earthen ponds usually not more than 100m 2 areas.
The research centers are demonstrating the importance of integrating fish farming with other

30 | P a g e
agricultural activities mainly with vegetables along with the existing irrigation schemes which
will optimize resource utilization both water and land (Getinet et al. 2015). Most of manmade
water bodies and some lakes in Ethiopia were stocked with fish fingerlings from rearing ponds
of National Fishery and Aquatic Life Research Center, the then Sebeta Fish Culture Station a
pioneer fish culture station. Culture based capture fishery is another common type of fish
farming practice exercised in most manmade water bodies, mainly large reservoirs. Recently
some aquaculture technologies like mono-sex, poly- culture, cage culture and Integrated
Aquaculture-Agriculture are under popularization by research centers and universities both on-
station and on-farm.

Aquaculture is an increasingly diverse industry with an ever-growing number of species cultured

and production systems available to professionals. A basic understanding of production systems
is vital to the successful practice of aquaculture.Much of the success of aquaculture production
relies on the advancement of aquaculture technologies, including culture systems such as pond
culture, cage culture, flow through/race way, pen culture, integrated fish farming, recirculating
aquaculture system (RAS) etc.

Among the different culture systems pond culture system is more practiced in Ethiopia than the
rest of culture systems used in many parts of the world. Cage culture and pen culture have been
practiced through the BOMOSA project which lasted from 2006 – 2009. At farmers level there
has been attempts to produce fish west Shoa and south west Shoa through technical support
given by Sebeta National Fisheries and Aquatic Life Research Center. There are reports of pond
fish production in some localities of Amhara Regional State, Oromia Regional State and
Southern Regional States at farmers back yard.

5. Fish post-harvest management

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5.1 Fish post-harvest loss in Ethiopia

Fish, being an extremely perishable foodstuff, needs careful treatment in handling and processing
both from public health aspects and improvement of the welfare of fishing communities.
Immediately after the catch, a complicated series of chemical and bacterial changes begin to take
place within the fish. If these changes are not controlled, the fish quickly become spoiled due to
bacterial contamination and autolysis (Huss, 1994). The main reasons for post-harvest losses in
Ethiopia are the non-selective character of the gears, inadequate handling facilities and delay
between catch, collection and distribution (Yaredet al., 2006, 2013). The fisher men use four
types of gears: beach seine, gill net, long line and hook and line. They use planked canoes and
reed crafts for fishing. The harvested fish are exposed to direct sun and wind. The hygiene of the
boats is also poor. On landing sites, the fish are dumped on the ground where they are sold to
buyers. At no stage in this chain the fish is protected from direct sun and wind. There is no
proper fish handling and preserving facilities both on boat and landing sites. Long fishing and
staying time and the time lapse between capture and arrival at landing sites is very long (an
average 2-4 hours) without any efficient cold chain system. Gill net and long line fishermen
come to fishing grounds in the morning to set their gears and return the following morning to
collect their catch (24 hours fishing time). Beach seines are deployed in the afternoon and the
catches are collected and brought to the landing site in the morning.

In Ethiopia there are significant post-harvest losses due to inappropriate handling, processing and
storage. A research finding on post-harvest losses in different lakes of the country indicates high
levels of losses both in quantity (material or physical losses) and quality (mostly due to spoilage)
of fishery products. Some reports indicated that, physical and quality postharvest losses in Lake
Ziway at landing sites alone are estimated at 23 % and 28 % in Lake Hashengie (Yaredet.al.,
2006, 2013) (Table 2). The main reason for discarding fish due to size is the non-selective
character of the gears. Due to the small size of the mesh this gear is not selective and can harvest
all size of fish including very small size fish, which has no market at landing sites. The permitted
mesh size of the gear is 10 cm for gill net and 8 cm for beach seine.

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Although the extent of the problem varied from place to place, the country as a whole is losing
significant number of fish annually through post-harvest losses. This is a massive economic and
nutritional waste, which a country like Ethiopia already in danger of protein malnutrition could
ill afford. The improvement of facilities from the point of production until it reaches the
consumer is vital.

Table 2. Percentage yield of gutted and filleted fish in four Lakes (Yared et. al. 2006;
2010, 2013)
Product type Gilgel Gibe (%) Ziway (%) Hashengie (%) Koka

Tilapia fillet 26-29 25-28 32-36 29-33

Tilapia gutted 71-75 72-76 74-78 78-80

Catfish fillet - 48-54 - 40-44

Carp gutted - 78-82 80-84 82-86

5.2 Fish handling and processing

The harvested fish are exposed to the direct sun in the boat. Even the simple method of
evaporative cooling by covering a wet cloth or plants is not practiced. There is no use of ice in
this country at any stage of fish transportation. At landing sites fish are dumped on sandy
beaches or fall to the ground for sorting and marketing. In general, fish handling in Ethiopia is at
a low point and has remained stagnant. In spite of these short comings, the rural population close
to landing site can enjoy quality fresh fish since little time is wasted from capture to
consumption. The quality problem is felt at the larger population towns (Addis Ababa etc,) to
which fresh fish are transported over considerable times and distances from the fishing grounds.
The means of transport are open pick-ups, Isuzu trucks, public transport cars, donkey back, caret
(gari) equipped with plastic boxes without ice.

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There are no regulations governing quality and standards of fish to be sold for human
consumption. This is evidence at landing sites where the quality of fish is mixed. In extreme
cases spoiled fishes are also sold in the landing sites. There is no regular supervision from the
government side and the extension service (awareness creation, training, follow up etc) is very
poor. The lack of serious demand for good quality fish tends to encourage carelessness of the
fishermen and processors.

6. Fish technology dissemination

Inland fisheries in Ethiopia are entirely artisanal, nearly 45,000 fishers were employed in the

primary sector with 30 percent employed fulltime, in addition to nearly 700 people engaged in

aquaculture. Most fishers operate with basic rafts made of papyrus or scirpus. Some wooden

canoes are found on large water bodies such as lakes Chamo, Abaya, Ziway and Tana. Motorized

canoes are found on Lake Tana and other lakes including Lake Chamo where there are mostly

used for fish collection. However, when we take into account marketed surplus, the fishing

activities that are being practiced in major rift valley lakes (Ziway, Koka, Hawassa, Langano,

Abaya, Chamo and Turkana) and Lake Tana can be viewed as commercial fishing.

When we see the fish production technologies, most of them conducted by the national fisheries
and aquatic life research center (NFALRC) are of fish farming or related basically categorized as
feed, breeding and pond management technologies with few outreach studies conducted on fish
health. Most of the technologies and research trials are related to Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis
niloticus). As it is a commercially important fish species. Yet, some of the major candidate fish
species for research in Ethiopia are:

1. Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

2. Tilapia (Tilapia zilli)
3. African catfish (Clariasgaripinus)

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 4. Common carp (Cyprinus Carpio)
5. Crucian carp (Carassiouscarassius)
6. Gold Fish (Carassious Auratus)

Fish production technologies, especially with respect to aquaculture are of feed and culturing
techniques or pond management system. There are yet no technologies related to the
development of improved fish breeds with better growth performance, given the current state of
demand for fish growth in aquaculture.

Dissemination of existing fish related technologies is a prime area of concern currently lacking
coordinated action at farm or fisher’s level. Poor extension and dissemination of existing
technologies is due not only to peculiar nature of the commodity itself but also absence of multi-
actor platform for action to support the process of technology transfer. A piece meal approach to
technology transfer is one area of concern calling for change. To do so, an integrated system of
small-scale aquaculture development i.e., involving livestock and horticulture or other crops as
sub components seems to be an inevitable option.

Extension and technology dissemination efforts are currently biased against capture fishery as
the system is influenced by many uncontrolled externalities and challenges. The main challenge
in fish production from inland capture fishery as stated most of the times is poor management of
aquatic resources. Proper fishery management technologies are available at research centers but
the conventional approach to dissemination of technologies does not work due to the problem of
“tragedy of the commons” which exists among the fishing community. One approach to solve
such problem is to empower the fishing community and provide legal ownership of fishing sites.
Since there is no rule and regulation issued for the operationality of fishery related laws and
policies, working on different platforms of actors concerned from policy to grassroots level are
mandatory and can help support capture fishery related technology dissemination. Successful
policy discourse at higher level followed by assignment of duties at middle and lower level of
government structure and participatory approach to problem solving and community
empowerment at grassroots level can help come up with a solution for regulatory related

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challenges. Ones these systems are well structured and in place (functional) it would pave the
way for disseminating fishery related technologies.

Major Challenges for Technology dissemination

From aquaculture extension viewpoint, the major challenges facing the effort for technology
dissemination are:-
 Poor nutrition awareness of farmers regarding fish
 Absence of institutional support and multi actor platform for technology dissemination
The capture fishery sub-component faces the following challenges basic for technology
dissemination:
 Implementation gaps in fishery legislation and laws with the absence of local regulation
 The problem of “Tragedy of the commons” which is against the intention of capture
fishery related technology dissemination

The above ones are key challenges hindering the development of fishery and aquaculture in
Ethiopia which can be categorized as institutional and community related. Other challenges are
extensions of these and can vary from location to location. For Instance, from the experience of
small-scale aquaculture in South west and West Shewa zone of Oromia region, challenges
specific to the site have already been stated (Yared et al., 2018). These challenges for
aquaculture research and development can be grouped into four as Institutional, Technological,
Economic and Social. From a review of experiences in pilot project areas of NFALRC, the
following diagram was obtained summarizing the challenges to aquaculture research and
development.

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 INSTITUTIONAL
Lack of extension support and training
Absence of relevant expertise on aquaculture
Limited research, information and institutional capacity in the area
Absence of organizational structure to support aquaculture

ECONOMIC
Absence of effective fish feed and feed ingredients
Lack of fish seeds (fingerling supply)
Absence
GENDER, AWARENESS, ATTITUDE AND ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF AQUACULTURE of year round water supply for most smallholde
fish strain of Nile Tilapia for pond culture Absence of a well organized market linkage, structure and valu
and effective fish feed to help the fish grow; especially for Nile Tilapia Lack of funding (public finance)
High cost of inputs for aquaculture development

SOCIAL
Lack of Adequate awareness about fish, or aquaculture among the target community
Limited involvement of the private sector in the business
Gender bias towards the activity

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According to the primary information generated by NFALRC in aquaculture related events,
farmers are currently calling for change on the state of fish farming in their surroundings. For
instance, they highly emphasized issues like promotion fish farming (advertisements) to attract
new consumers as well as encourage other farmers to start the same; access to sustainable source
of fish fingerlings and support to multiply the same in their ponds, availability and accessibility
of fish feed nearby and continuous extension support and follow-ups. To come up with
additional challenges in the overall economy of fish farming and those related to fish feed. The
research extension team of socio economics directorate at NFALRC has designed a model
integrated fish farming system to be implemented by progressive farmers in some NFALRC
intervention areas. In addition, new ways of using commercially important fish species such as
tilapia in the form of soup (dish) is also planned. In the meantime, small fish would be farmed
and supplied to the market giving farmers the opportunity to market their produce more than one
time in a year. This leads to making farmers more profitable with a carefully planned price at a
reasonable margin multiplying itself for more profit. This kind of technology transfer strategy
harnesses the natural reproduction and multiplication tendency of Nile tilapia under a stressful
management condition and others in fish farming. In this case, expected challenges are fish size
uniformity and assignment of price for each. Currently, this strategy for enhancing fish farming
activity is at concept level, which requires its own extension approach/s which bases the food
systems thinking to an intervention and technology transfer in the fish farming context.

Regarding the newly suggested integrated fish farming approach by the extension team, which is
also commodity specific, management intensity, understanding of holism in the overall resource
management in the farming system and efficiency of production both within and among farmers
could be the expected challenges. To revert or at least minimize those challenges, efforts will be
made through intensive training, demonstration and behavioural changing exercises such as
Gamification. Efficiency of production attained through this process would then be linked to the
market created through innovative dish preparation with fish following the food systems
perspective in the fishery and aquaculture value chain. The integrated fish farming model
presumed to improve the overall fish farming efficiency as well as other farming system
components is shown in the figure below:

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Fig.8.Suggested Model of IAA for small scale fish farm efficiency

To achieve so, farm level fish seed multiplication in addition to finding alternative sources of
fish feed are primary targets for technology transfer by NFALRC. In response, fish
multiplication trials have already been commenced on two model farmers in south west Shewa
zone at Woliso and Wonchi, who could serve as potential sources of fish fingerlings for the
future. Linking those farmers with Zonal bureaus of agriculture and private sectors formally
requesting NFALRC for those fingerlings is an emergent strategy for aquaculture technology
transfer at NFALRC. This would continue until government and the private sector eventually
take over as shown in the 2009 national aquaculture development strategy of Ethiopia (NADSE,
2009). Regarding fish feed, a new technology of commercial standard is under development by
NFALRC. Yet, issues like accessibility and affordability are prime questions yet to be answered
when it comes to technology transfer.

7. Fish marketing and consumption

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 7.1 Value chain actors

This section summarises fish value chains in Ethiopia by reviewing previous value chain studies
conducted in major highland (Lake Tana) and rift valley lakes (Koka, Ziway, Chamo and Ziway)
of Ethiopia. Overall, various types of market operators are involved in the value chain including
collectors, wholesalers, retailers (roadside/vendors, hotels and restaurants) and consumers.
Brokers serve as the main bridge between fishermen and wholesalers. Collectors hold a central
position in fish marketing and dictates fish price setting and volume of supply. Most of the
brokers or collectors operating at the landing sites are not licensed and restricting access of other
licensed wholesalers from directly buying from cooperative members. In general, it is safe to say
that the marketing system is unregulated which in turn has created a safe haven for illegal fishers
and unlicensed traders to operate freely.

With regard to value addition, brokers add value by making fillet, storage and transport to other
neighbouring regional towns and supply to hotels. Because of poor capacity of traders to make
long distance trading coupled with the small size of the fish owing to overfishing (such as Lake
Hawassa), the movement of fish products to other regional markets such as Addis Ababa is
limited. Hence, reducing fish consumption in major regional and deficit markets such as Addis
Ababa. With rising in income and economic development, fish consumption is expected to surge
in the Ethiopian food consumption basket. Thus, the need for an efficient marketing system is
indispensable in order to enhance production reallocation from producing and surplus to deficit
areas of the country, thereby increases fish consumption intake and improve the wellbeing of
fishermen and other market intermediaries involved in the value chains.

7.2 Marketing practices

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Grading system is rarely practiced in fish marketing in Ethiopia. It was reported that about 40%
of fishers do not apply any grading system when supplying their fish in bulk (see Table 3). This
figure is somewhat much higher than other neighbouring countries, Kenya (16%), Somalia (7%)
and Uganda (all fishers applied grading system). Fishermen first graded the catch based on
species where in most lakes except Chamo fish preference is for Tilapia, Barbus and Catfish,
while in lake Chamo it is for Nile perch, Bagrus and Tilapia in that order.

Table 3. Grading parameters in fish marketing (%)

Marketing actors Grading criteria
No grading
Size Quality Origin
Fishermen (n=229) 19 66.7 14.3 40
Traders (n=29) 42.6 20.2 37.2 0
Retailers (n=18) 42.9 14.2 42.9 0
Overall average 20 30 10 0
Source: Adapted from FAO (2013)

Size, origin and quality of harvested fish are the main criteria valued by fish market actors in
Ethiopia. The most valued criterion is freshness as reported by the majority of fishers (70%).
Fishers do noy pay much attention on the size of fish catch as there is no rule enforcing it and not
prohibited in Ethiopia by law. As a result, only 20% of the fishermen said they care for the size
of fish harvested which is incomplete contrast with other African countries that have established
minimum harvested size system in place. In countries such as Kenya and Uganda where there is
a minimum size of fish allowed to be caught, size is more important criterion implemented by
fishermen. More than 40% of fishermen in these two countries reported they consider size as
important criterion as it will determine not only selling prices but marketability of their catches.
Lack of rules and enforcing mechanism on fishing gears has become problematic in Ethiopia and
contributing to overfishing in some lakes.

Down the supply chainssuch as traders and retailersplay important weights for size criteria as it
determines price and saleability. Since traders most often sell fish after storage, freshness and
quality criteria are not considered as important parameters by middlemen when buying and

41 | P a g e
selling fish. Rather, traders value size as the most criticalparametersinfluencingmarket price for
the fish, which was not case from fishers’ side. Origin of the fish is also important criteria by
traders after size when buying and selling fish as confirmed by 37% and 43% by traders and
retailers. This is partly attributed to the fact that consumers have developed tastes for fish
products originating from some lakes. For instance, consumers perceive that fish coming from
Lake Tana and Chamo is highly preferred by traders as consumers think they have better taste
and quality, while Lake Ziway products is less preferred because of the fear of pollution caused
by flower factories waste and residues from nearby horticultural farms.

7.3 Value chain mapping and trade flow

The subsequent discussion deals with the various value chains in fish production from major
lakes of Ethiopia. Lakes based discussion is useful as the fish production flows is distinct for
different lakes of Ethiopia owing to fish species harvested, role of fishery cooperatives and
market regulations.

Lake Ziway: The fish supply chain in Ziway encompasses fishermen (legal and illegal),
brokers/collectors, wholesalers, retailers (roadsidevendors, hotels and restaurants) and
consumers. Previously fishers supply harvested fish to cooperatives, however because of unfair
and unhealthy competition from unlicensed traders, the cooperative ceased its operation and now
all fishers supply the whole fresh fish to collectors. The collectors/brokers process in the landing
site by paying 3 birrs for processing a kg of fish.

According to discussion with key informant, about 51% of fishers in Ziway Lake are illegal
while 49% are legal fishers who actively engaged in fishing as full-time job. Most illegal
fishermen work as par-time as they join the fishing business during fasting period (like March
and April, easter fasting time for Christian orthodox) because of high price. Since the illegal ones
only fish during fasting period where fishing becomes attractive, there only concern is making
money during fasting period without considering the sustainability of fish resources in the area

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leading to the use of illegal fishing technologies such as monofilament and suppled to an illegal
marketing route (see Figure 9 below).

Fishermen Illegal fishers

Full time fishers Part-time fishers
(49%) (51%)

Brokers/
Hotels Brokers Hotels
collector
Surrounding area Unlicensed Ziway Ziway

Consumers Wholesalers Retailers

Ziway Ziway Ziway

Wholesalers Hotels Consumers

AA Ziway Ziway

Hotels &
Consumers
supermarket
AA Ziway

Consumers
AA

Fig.9. Fish value chain actors and production flow of Lake Ziway
Source: Author’s own sketch from field observation

Brokers/collectors serve as the main bridge between fishermen and wholesalers. Collectors hold
a central position in fish marketing in Ziway and dictates fish price setting and volume of supply
in the area. Most of the brokers or collectors who operate in the landing site are not licensed and
restricting access of other licensed wholesalers from directly buying from cooperative members.
These collectors supply the processed fish to wholesalers in Ziway, where they usually have a
supermarket and then marketed mainly to local hotels and consumers. In time of good production
time, wholesalers in Ziway tend to supply the fillet fish in higher level market like to regional
wholesalers such as Addis Ababa with a capacity of supplying about 100 kg of fillet fish to
Atikilt Tera, Piasa market in Addis Ababa on a daily basis.

Lake Hawassa: Owing to the widespread use of illegal fishing gears such as monofilament (see
figure 10 below), fishers experiencing a substantial decrease in volume and size of harvested

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fish. According to discussion with fishers1, they reported before three years where monofilament
were not widely used, fishers on average used to get 150 whole fish per trip which has now
reduced to 70 to 80 fishes per trip.

Fig
.10. Monofilament net in Amora Gedel landing site, Hawassa Lake (on 18th of March, 2021)

Supply chain actors in Hawassa Lake consist of fishermen, cooperative, collectors or brokers,
retailers and consumers (see Figure 11 below). All fishermen supply to the cooperative in whole
fresh form and then the cooperative supply mainly to brokers, hotels in Hawassa and roadside
retailers at the landing site (soup & raw fish meat). Side selling of fishers to other traders other
than the cooperative is prohibited and it has penalty of 500 birr. The cooperative supply 90% of
the whole fish to brokers and 10% to hotels and consumers. Brokers add value by making fillet,
storage and transport to other neighbouring regional towns’ hotels. Because of poor capacity of
traders to make long distance trading coupled with the small size of the fish and well-established
1
Group discussion with fishers were made in March 2021

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local consumer consumption habit (soup and raw fish meat), the movement of fish products to
other regional markets such as Addis Ababa is almost non-existent. There is also enormous
number of individual consumers demanding fish products in the area. These fish demand has
been met by road side women retailers who mainly prepare soup and raw fish meat to local
consumers and visitors in the landing site such as Amora Gedel.

Fishers
Legal_whole fish

Cooperative
Add value (fillet)

Road side
Brokers Hotels
retailers add value (fillet,
Landing site (2%) storage+transport (90%) Hawassa (8%)

Consumers Hotels Consumers

Local & vistors other urban
Other urban towns
towns

Shasheme
Hawassa Yirgalem Dilla Yirgachefe Alaba W/Genet
ne
80% 10% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2%

Fig.11. Mapping of supply areas and volume of production flows of Lake Hawassa

Note: the box in the orange colour is representing volume of transaction and value addition
Source: Author’s own sketch from field observation

Lake Koka: Both illegal and legal fishers operate in Lake Koka. Legal fishers organize in
cooperative and supply to collectors at the landing site. The collectors restrict regional
wholesalers to get in touch with fishers and cooperatives directly. The illegal fishers also supply
to collectors without adding any value. Illegal fishers can join the cooperative anytime by paying
2000 birr membership fee. The local collectors process the fish and supply to retailers, most
cases hotels, in Adama, Mojo, Debreziet, Dukem and Addis Ababa. Wholesalers from Addis
Ababa rarely come to collect fish from local collectors because of lack of consistent fish supply.
About 10 to 15 collectors operate in fishing business in Koka (MetoAleka landing site). The
collectors possess up to 3 refrigerators each having a capacity of storing 300 kg for two weeks.

45 | P a g e
Apart from processing (fillet) and storing, the collectors also transport the product using a
refrigerated truck that can carry 15000 kg and pay 2 birr per kg for transport. Hotels from
Debreziet are the main customer of fish collected by local collectors, accounting 85% of the
traded daily catch (Figure 12 below). These hotels purchase about 200 kg of harvested fish from
traders on a daily basis. Most of the traders are not licensed and operate using traditional post-
harvest and transportation equipment’s such as suck and donkey. Lack of consistent supply and
unavailability of electricity to store the harvested fish at the landing siteare some of the major
bottlenecks hindering fish marketing in lake Koka.

Fishers Illegal fishers

Local
Cooperative
collectors

A.A
Local Hotels
wholesalers
collectors (95%)
(5%)

Debreziet Nazreth Dukem

Supermarkets Hotels Mojo (5%)
(85%) (5%) (5%)

Consumers Consumers Consumers Consumers Consumers Consumers

Fig.12. Value chain actors and fish production flow of Lake Koka
Note: The broken line is the illegal fishing route
Source: Author’s own sketch from field observation

Lake Chamo: As to Lake Ziway, there is no entry barrier for fishers in Lake Chamo. Instead,
there is reserved fishing and landing sites for registered fishing cooperatives. Owing to the
presence of illegal fishers/non-cooperative members who use non-selective fishing gear, the
catch per day has dwindled over time. As per cooperative officials, members used to supply 7-8
quintals of whole fresh fish five years ago per trip, but this has decreased to 2 quintals in 2021.

46 | P a g e
Apart from the use of non-selective fishing gear, the absence of enforcing regulation on buffer
zone reduced the water level, which has resulted in low fishing population.

The regional ministry of trade dictates who should trade with the fishery cooperatives limiting
direct fish marketing practice of the cooperative. Fishery cooperatives are only supplying to
wholesaler and retailers that are assigned by the regional ministry of trade. On average, the
cooperative supplied 100 kg of fillet fish to traders on a daily basis. It was noted that about 48%
of fishers in the study area are believed to be illegal fishers and supply to unlicensed and licensed
traders. The presence of forest creates a safe haven for illegal fishers to operate freely in the lake.
Because of the absence of product tracing, the licensed traders mix the product they get from
cooperatives and illegal fishers and supply to hotels in Arbamich and Addis Ababa and to other
regional markets (see Figure 13 below). Wholesalers, on average, purchase 200-250 kg of fillet
fish daily from cooperatives and supply to their customers either to regional wholesalers or to
hotels in Addis Ababa (Gensis), Hawassa (Gezahegn resort) and Arbmainch (Paradise & tourist
hotels). They also supply to other hotels located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and
Peoples’ Regional state (SNNPR) like Jinka, Konso, Welayita, Hoseana and Gofa (Figure 13
below). However, their lion’s share of supply goes to Addis Ababa market which is about 50%.
Some of the wholesalers supply directly to regional wholesalers such as Addis Ababa that have
special linkages to big international hotels in the capital city of Ethiopia, the second most
populous country in Africa. Local wholesalers supply on average 150 kg of fillet fish to Addis
Ababa twice a week using a refrigerated track. In most cases, they rent a refrigerated truck for
12 000 birr for a trip. The Nile perch product is specifically marketed to big international hotels
in Addis Ababa (Sheraton and Ghion hotels) and big international tourist destination hotels in
Arbaminch such as Paradise and Tourist hotels. This is because the price for Nile perch is
twofold higher than that of Tilapia. For instance, on mid-March 2021 a kg of fillet Nile Perch
was sold for 180 birr at the cooperative level while it was 90 birr for Tilapia. Wholesalers get
much higher margin when they supply the Nile Perch to hotels in demand with their selling price
of 250 birr per kg. They also get higher profit from selling other fish types such as Tilapia which
they sell 120 birr/kg including VAT.

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 Fishers

Cooperative
fillet & store

Wholesalers Retailers
resident collectors Hotels/supermarket
Regional
Retailers Hotels
wholesalers
AA Gensis in AA Regional markets

International Supermarkets Consumers Jinka Konso Hoseana Hawassa Gofa

hotels AA AA Nile perch

Nile perch
Consumers Hotels Consumers Consumers Consumers Consumer Consumers
Consumers AA AA

AA Consumers
AA

Fig.13. Formal value chain map of LakeChamo

Note: ABM stands for Arbamich
Source: Author’s own sketch from field observation
Illegal fishers

Regional wholesaler
(AA)
Wholesalers
(local resident) Hotels (Arbaminch &
other regional markets)

Fig.14. Illegal fishing route for Lake Chamo

Source: Author’s own sketch from field observation

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Lake Tana: The fishermen supply whole fresh fish to Tana number one fishery cooperative and
then the cooperative adds value (fillet and package) and supply to local hotels and consumers
and to other regional wholesalers in major urban cites in the region and the country (see Figure
15 below). Presence of illegal fishers because of lack of restriction or entry barrier in Lake Tana
is the major challenge mentioned by the key informant. Illegal fishermen use prohibited gears
such as monofilament and supply to local hotels in Bahirdar and to licensed and unlicensed
wholesalers who again supply to hotels in Addis Ababa. The illegal fishers do not use
recommended practices to preserve the quality of fish and supply to local hotels using bajaj
without using ice and mobile refrigerator. The cooperative is unable to implement closure in the
lake for its members because of the illegal fishers who fish during this time. The other problem
mentioned in fish marketing system in Lake Tana is the illegal dried fish smuggling. Collectors
in Wereta, Shedi and AddisZemen dried fish with salt and smuggle it to Sudan which is believed
that daily labourers of Ethiopian in Sudan eat this type of fish.

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 Fishers Illegal fishers

cooperative local hotels Traders

Big hotels in
Local Smuggled to
local hotels AA
consumers Traders (60%) Addis Ababa Sudan (dired
(20%) (Intercontinent
(20%) fsh)
al)

Addis Ababa
(hotels & Dese Kosobere Markos Gondar Hotels Consumers
supermarket)

60% of
20% 10% 5% 5% Consumers
production

Consumers

Fig.15. Formal and informal fish marketing channels of Lake Tana

Source: Author’s own sketch from field observation

7.4 Status of market fundamentals

As agricultural products move beyond the farm gate and commodity markets, the costs of value
addition (transport, processing, packaging, and distribution) become critical aspects in
influencing the retail price of food products. These factors are often influenced by status of
market fundamentals and nature of market structure. The success of agricultural technology
diffusion and adoption depends on the status of market fundamentals such as information and
communication, infrastructure, and institutions. Among the three I’s(including institutions,
infrastructure and information) the role of information technology plays a crucial role in
speeding up the uptake and scaling up of technologies utilization in rural areas. In Ethiopia, the
role of market fundamentals in enhancing fish products mobility from producing or surplus area

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to deficit towns is very limited. Infrastructure facilities like landing sites and road network are
generally very poor to support the production of quality end products and efficient distribution.
Hence, it is very crucial to improve the performance of fish markets by encouraging government
investments on market fundamentals so as to foster fish market linkages and consumption in
Ethiopia.

7.4.1 Fish market information system

In general, fisheries stakeholders, from fishermento retailers have a common complaint about
limited access to fish marketing information. Fortunately, with wide spread use of mobile phone,
fishermen and small-scale traders and processors can nowadays get access to market information
from their contacts such as buyers, traders and other sources.

Fisheries associations can also play a pivotal role in providing their members with updated
market information on trade requirements. However, this is not case in our country as fishery
associations or cooperatives are failed to function properly because of unhealthy competition
from unlicensed traders in Ziway and are no longer in a position to provide market information
to their members. While in other areas such as Lake Chamo the regional trade government rule is
prohibiting associations to look for an external market information and negotiation on selling
price as they have restricted fixed trade outlet. Owing to unavailability of market information
systems fishers rely heavily on market price information they get from traders, particularly in
areas that do not have cooperatives such as Ziway. Though it is an encouraging development,
depending only on market information disseminated by buyers, traders and others is not very
transparent and can lead to biased or asymmetric information that will benefit only certain
players in the value chain (FAO, 2013).

Government in IGAD countries have established different types of market information

system for fish and fishery products. In Kenya, for instance, information on the fish quantities
landed per beach and value per kilogram tothe key fish species is easily provided through

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Electronics Fish Marketing InformationSystem (EFMIS). The system disseminates key fish
market information from about150 fish landing sites and markets. The database of market
information is updated ondaily basis, with information on quantities and prices of fish around the
country. EFMIJreleases market information principally on demand by SMS sent to a special code
and also disseminates synthesised market information through various media, includingradio and
internet. EFMIS monthly Market Bulletin is the summarized price information which is
distributed free by e-mail to over 1,000 stakeholders across the world.

Coming to Ethiopia, there are some efforts for establishing market information systems mainly
restricted to agricultural production and marketing systems. The governments have established
different types of market information system, such as hotline, but mainly focuses on agriculture
products and limited attention is given for fishery products market information. For instance,
wheat farmers in Arsi zone use ATA’s 8028 and good agricultural practice farming information
hotline to get up-to-date information on general farming, early warning information on rust
diseases and other farming techniques. Hence, there could be a possibility to expand the service
and accommodate fish production market information and other services to fishers such as to
access environment related information and prices at the terminal markets.

It is just recently the National Fisheries and Aquatic Life Research Centre (NFALRC) has started
collecting and compiling fish market prices along the fish value chains. The database is
collecting fish prices in five selected lakes for major commercial fish species. However, the data
collection on quantities landed in various landing sites of the different lakes have not been
included in the plan.

7.4.2 Fishery cooperatives

In Ethiopia fishermen cooperatives play major role in fish marketing system and few
of them have full control on the overall supply chain of fish harvested from certain lakes.
Organizations like fishermen cooperatives in Hawassa Lake, barsFish Processing and Marketing

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Enterprises(FPME) from operatingin the area and it is almost in control of the fish harvest,
distribution and sale of the fish fromthe lake. Fishermen cooperatives are exempted from paying
taxes and they have all theaccess to government assistance. Meanwhile the state-owned
company(FPME)used to have monopoly in buying, processing andmarketing of fish, harvested
from lakes in and around the country (FAO, 2013). However, its share in the fish marketing has
been slowly decreasing such as in Tana Lake.

In Ethiopia, fishermen cooperatives in general are poorly organized where only few of them are
taking part in direct marketing with regional wholesalers. Some of them are no longer engaged in
direct fish marketing to other fish deficit consumption areas resulting from unhealthy
competition from unlicenced traders and lack of capacity to do long distance trading. It would
not be overstatement to say that most fishery cooperative are not serving the purpose of
collective action and enjoying economics of scale. One of the reasons for this is the poor
infrastructural facilities such as refrigerated vehicle and deep freezers containers. From the FGDs
with fishers apart from the Bahirdar one fishery cooperative, it was observed that none of the
fishery cooperatives owned a refrigerated truck to transport their product and lack cold room and
state of the art processing facilities to preserve fish and to add value. As a result, fishers do not
rely on the fishery cooperatives to market the product. While some cooperatives like Tana
fishery cooperatives engaged in other fishery related activities such as net making, processing
using standard processing house, packaging and direct fish marketing.

Tana number one fishery cooperative is the dominant cooperative engaged in fish marketing in
the lake Tana. Hence, we reviewed the cooperative performance regarding marketing practices
and challenges along the fish value chains. The cooperative collect fish from four landing sites
located in the four districts in the South Gojam and South Gondar zones. Production is collected
from four districts or landing sites, namely Bahirdarzuria, Dera, Fogera and LeboKemkem.The
cooperative is well placed in terms of applying modern processing and marketing techniques.
With the support of the SNV project, they have possessed their own processing house while
other non-members process in an open field where left over is thrown back to the lake. The
cooperative has also owned a cold room container refrigerator with a full capacity of 3 tons and

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20 deep freezers with each having a capacity of storing and freezing up to 100 kg. The share of
the Tana fishery cooperatives over the total fish catch in Lake Tana is increasing (Table 4).
Table4. Fish collected from its members by Tana No.1 cooperative in Lake Tana
Species Lake Tana
Others
Year Catfish (Key Total total
Tilapia Labeobarbus (dried/discarded)
assa) production
2008 319 924 704 446 527 2703
2009 255 680 142 0 465 2744
2010 279 509 452 393 415 4735
2011 143 156 216 241 204 4112
2012 223 85 142 96 256 6561
Source: Yalew (2012)

Apart from marketing fish, the cooperative engaged in various fishing operations such as net
making, value addition (fillet and packaging) and direct marketing by supplying to international
hotels in Addis Ababa (Elilly and intercontinentalhotels). There was also a time they marketed to
Sheraton hotel. Even the cooperative act as wholesaler by collecting fish, using its own
refrigerated Isuzu track with a capacity of 5 tons, from other lakes (Ashenge&Chamo) and
supply to supermarkets and wholesalers in Addis Ababa like Merkato, AtkiltTrea, Habte
Gorgiesdildeye, Haya hulete among others. In times of good harvest, the cooperative supply as
high as 50 quintals of processed fish within three days to supermarkets, wholesalers and big
international hotels in Addis Ababa. Fish consumption is on the rise in Bahirdar and as a result
substantial amount of fish production which used to be marketed to Addis Ababa is now locally
consumed.

Although some notable fishery cooperativesensuresustainablemarket access, providing assistance

to their members apart from marketing like supporting with credit facility is completely absent.
While in other countries such as Uganda, fishery cooperatives arrange low interest free credit for
their members to further bolster their fishing business. In Uganda, fish trader’s
cooperativesmembers canaccess loan facilities at 2.5% interest per calendar month and this has

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boosted theirbusiness. The interest is much lower than the one charged by money lenders, which
is ashigh as 10% on daily basis. Such area of engagement from the Ethiopian side cooperatives
needs to be strengthened so as to benefit members expand the fishing business. If not, the risk of
becoming non-members and side selling mayjeopardize the sustainability of cooperatives if
farmers failed to get required support for being a cooperative member

The role of collective actions through cooperative pertaining to fish marketing is confronted with
various challenges in Ethiopia. Even in some lakes such as Ziway cooperatives are unable to
function properly because of unfair and unhealthy competition from unlicensed traders. Most
cooperative ceased their operations and now all fishers supply the whole fresh fish to collectors
in Lake Ziway. While in some lakes, the role of government institutions is hindering competition
in fish marketing. For instance, in Lake Chamo, the main supplier of Nile perch product to big
international hotels in Addis Ababa (Sheraton &Ghion hotels), the regional ministry of trade
dictates who should trade with the fishery cooperative limiting direct fish marketing practice of
the cooperative. The cooperatives there only supply to wholesaler and retailers that are assigned
by the regional ministry of trade. All traders should be residents of Arbamich and no regional
traders are allowed to trade with the fishery cooperative apart from the assigned one limiting
competition in fish marketing system. Presence of illegal fishers because of lack of restriction or
entry barrier is also the major challenge. Illegal fishermen use prohibited gears such as
monofilament and supply to local hotels and to licensed and unlicensed wholesalers. The illegal
fishers do not use recommended practices to preserve the quality of fish and supply to local
hotels without using mobile refrigerators. Most cooperatives are unable to implement closure in
the lake for its members because of the illegal fishers who fish during this time. The other
problem in fishery cooperatives is the illegal dried fish smuggling, which is more pronounced in
Lake Tana. Collectors in Wereta, Shedi and AddisZemen dried fish with salt and smuggle it to
Sudan.

7.5. Fish price formation

Fish price is seasonal and fluctuates depending on supply and demand situations, fasting and
non-fasting months and based on operational costs such as fuel price. Price setting mechanisms

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in fish marketing is different from crop production in Ethiopia. In crop production, farmers have
an advantage to smooth out price fluctuations by storing excess outputs during peak seasons and
selling it at lean periods. This inventory holding behaviour allows farmers to get a fair price to
their produce and helps to reduce seasonal price volatility. However, such type of inventory
holding is virtually non-existence in artesian fishing system such as Ethiopia where fishers often
are not equipped well with the required post-harvest handling equipment’s to preserve fish for
long. This has implications on their negotiation power and price received from selling their
catch. Since fish is a perishable product, it requires efficient market linkages both inter-regional
(within) (producers, wholesalers and retailers) and regional with neighbouring countries.It is,
therefore, very important to examine the performance of fish markets in Ethiopia, which could in
turn paint a picture of the functioning of fish products market integrations along the value chains
in the country.

Looking at the co-movement of fish prices, producer prices have shown stable growth over the
past five years. Selling prices of fish also one indicative factor for showing consumer
preferences. Most consumers prefer consuming tilapia species. As a result, the market price for
Tilapia is higher than other fish prices. For instance, as shown in below figure 16, Tilapia
producer price has been consistently higher than other two widely catch species in Lake Ziway,
African Catfish and common carp. Relying on the average 2020 producer price, it was observed
that fishers in lake Ziway sold a kg of filleted Tilapia for 38 birr, while the other species were
sold with 30 birr. Catfish is usually not preferred by Ethiopians, who consider its appearance as
not appealing and it is not normally brought to market as a whole fish. Therefore, once itis
landed, the fish is filleted, packed in plastic bags and sold in major cities. To give
betterperception to consumers, Bahir Dar fishermen changed its name to ‘Kay Assa’,
meaning“red fish” as the flesh of it appears to be red in colour. This has added considerable
valueto the fish and today, it is consumed widely. Catfish is sometimes cooked mixing with
tilapiain restaurant to maximize the profit margins, who claim to sell tilapia dishes. Anecdotal
evidence suggests that fish ‘Goulash’ and ‘Cottlet’ fish dishes in most hotels in Addis Ababa are
using catfish fillet.

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 45
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2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

O.niloticus Cat fish C. Carp

Fig.16. Trends of different fish species price (fillet) at fishermen level (2015-2020)

Fish price trend comparison along the value chain shows that wholesale and retail traders in
Addis Ababa are getting the largest share of the final price. As depicted in Figure 17 below the
fish retail prices in Addis Ababa at AddisuGebeya was 56% higher than producer prices in Lake
Ziway. This huge price difference could be explained by the unavailability of cooperative in
Lake Ziway to enhance fisher’s negotiation power when it comes to selling prices. In other lakes
such as Lake Tana where there is strong presence of cooperative in marketing enables selling
prices to show no such significant variations between cooperative and traders. As illustrated in
Table 5 below, the price margin is almost the same for most important commercial species such
as Tilapia.

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 Table 5. Fish selling price difference between cooperative and traders (birr/kg),
March 2021
Fisher’s price Cooperative selling price Traders Price
Species
(Whole fish) Whole fish Fillet Fillet index
Tilapia 60 120 200 220 1.10
LabioBarbus 6 25 35 70 2
African
15 - 55 70 1.27
Catfish (fillet)
Note: Catfish is only sold in fillet form as it is not used for consumption in the area

120
Tilapia_producer Addisu Gebeya_retail price Kera_retail price
100

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2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Fig.17. Nominal fish selling price comparison between producer (Ziway) and retail market (Addis
Ababa)

In general, open negotiation is the common approach for setting selling prices in Ethiopia though
this has been influenced by many factors. For instance, a study commissioned by FAO (2013)
reported that 91% of survey fishermen in Ethiopia relied on open negotiations when setting
prices (see Table 6). However, in practice, traders and retailers have a better negotiation power

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for several reasons. Firstly, fishers who are not cooperative members depend on price
expectations based on fish harvest availability as there are no developed market information
systems on fish price. These types of fishers negotiate selling price after harvest usually at
landing sites which are not well equipped with necessary facilities for fish preservations such as
electricity. In this situation, traders’ take advantage of this information gaps and shortage of
capacity and set prices knowing that fishers cannot keep the perishable products. This is more
common during peak production seasons. Secondly, although cooperative is believed to have
well organized to influence negotiation power in setting selling price in their favour, they are
also not devoid of facing challenges. Most of the time cooperatives set the price jointly together
with traders. However, the presence of illegal traders who supply to traders with low running and
administration costs implicitly lowering the negotiated price. Thirdly, with the absence of trade
regulations, most lakes landing sites are dominated by very few local retailers and traders who
are bullying and forcefully evicting licensed traders coming from other areas. This trading
practices is restricting access of more traders’ and limiting competition. As a result, the few
traders have the opportunity to form cartels and provide lower price for fishers.

Table 6. Price setting along the fish value chains, (%)

Marketing actors Open Fixed based on Decided by Decided by
negotiation agreement buyers buyers
Fishermen 91 9 0 0
Brokers 5 78 0 16
Individual processors 12 21 67 0
Traders 9 91 0 0
Retailers (restaurants) 0 0 0 100
Overall average 20 30 10 0
Source: Adapted from FAO (2013)

It is worth mentioning that in some lake such as in Lake Chamo, government institutions are
hindering competition in fish marketing. The regional trade authority has the power to allocate
traders to negotiate with cooperatives and dictates who should trade with the fishery cooperative.

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The cooperatives only supply to wholesaler and retailers that are assigned by the regional
ministry of trade. All traders should be residents of Arbamich and no regional traders are allowed
to trade with the fishery cooperative apart from the assigned one limiting competition in fish
marketing system. Lake Chamo is the main supplier of commercially important Nile perch
product to big international hotels in Addis Ababa (Sheraton &Ghion hotels). Thus, it obviously
restricts the freedom of fishers to sell to any buyer offering a better price.

With regard to payment practices, the mode of transactions for cooperative members is based on
credit basis while non-cooperative members preferred to sell in cash. Most traders on the other
hand settle their trading by cash. However, in some lakes such as Koka licensed traders buy on
credit from cooperative members showing the presence of trust among value chain actors(see
Table 7).

Table 7. Mode of payment in fish marketing (%)

Marketing actors Cash Credit Both
Fishermen (n=229) 13 83 4
Traders (n=29) 100 0 0
Retailers (n=18) 100 0 0
Source: Adapted from FAO (2013)

7.6. Capture fisheries production cost

Fish production season varies across different lakes in Ethiopia. In Lake Tana for instance, fish
production reaches its peak level during hot season especially July to September. Also catch
level per fishing effort is rewarding as well during February and May, which is above the mean
production level. The cost of production also moves in tandem with the production season where
costs of production is low and fishing becomes a profitable venture during peak production
season. On the other hand, fishing production dropped during windy and rainy seasons.
Consequently, fish producers, particularly commercial fishers stopped fishing as it is costly to
engage in fish business during these seasons.

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Costs of production of fishing differs considerably depending on production seasons, fishing
technologies (gears, boats type), consumption habits (fasting and non-fasting seasons) and
market outlets, among others. Yalew (2012) provides a simple calculation of fish production
costs during normal season on lake Tana by taking into account a single fishing trip. The costs
examined for the analysis were variable costs (labour, transportation, fuel costs) and opportunity
costs (for own labour, boat and fishing gears). Costs for processing and marketing were also
investigated to provide insight about the production costs and gains for value addition (gut and
fillet). The breakdown of costs and profitability analysis were given in Table 8. As per the
analysis, a single trip during typical production season with 20 gillnets of 10 cm mesh size and
100m long is expected to harvest 100 kg of whole fish of Tilapia fish per day. Apart from the
fishing gears, labour, fuel for motorized boat and boat rental costs are incurred. When we take
into account all these costs, the costs of fish production up to the landing site for a fisher is 650
birr or 6.50 birr per kg of whole fish. The cooperative collect fish from different landing sites
using its own boat and labour. In order to collect the fish from fishers, the cooperative again
incurs additional 80 birr costs for fish collection using motorized boat, fuel and labour.

The fishermen supply whole fresh fish to the cooperative and then the cooperative add value
(fillet and package) and supply to local hotels and consumers and to other regional wholesalers
in major urban cites in the region and the country. From the fish collected in a single trip (100 kg
of whole fish), it is possible to get 32 kg of filleted fish (Yalew, 2012).The costs for value
addition including transportation to the cooperative processing house, filleting and packaging
could cost 26 birr, making the total costs to 756 birr for 100 kg of whole fish or 32 kg of filleted
fish. Using the study time selling price, which was 65 birr, a single trip during normal production
season could make a net income of 1324 birr. However, if we take into account the current
cooperative selling price of Tilapia, which is 200 birr, a single trip of fish could generate a
decent income of 5644 birr. Of course, this calculation did not consider the inflation for other
variable costs. It was observed that fishers could generate more income when they sell a
processed fish (1324 birr) than whole fish (520 birr). The extent of benefit by engaging in fish
processing could enable fishers to fetch 155% more income than simply selling in fresh form.

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 Table 8. Costs of production for a single trip, the case of Lake Tana

Cost item Unit Quantity Unit price Total price Remark

(a) Fishers’ production costs
Labor No. 2 100 200
Gillent No. 20 9 180 A gillnet can be used for 2 years
Fuel Litre 12.5 20 250
Boat rental Day 1 20 20 The rental cost for a motorized bota was 600 birr
Sub-total cost (a) 650
(b) Cooperative collection cost
Labor Man-days 0.1 100 10
Fuel Litre 30 20 60
Boat rent Day 0.5 20 10
Sub-total cost (b) 80
(a) Value addition
It was assumed that 36 kg filleted could be
Filet makers No. 32 0.5 16
extracted from 100 kg of whole fish
Packaging No. 32 0.3 10
Sub-total cost (c) 26
Total costs (a +b+c) 756
The cooperative was sold kg of filleted fish with
Cooperative selling price 65 65 birr at the time of the study (2012). Now the
selling price skyrocketed to 200 birr per kg
Gross income (65*32) =2080
Gross margin per a trip (2080-756) =1324

Source: Adapted from Yalew (2012)

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7.7 Costs of production for aquaculture

Cheffo and Yami (2018) examined the profitability of fish farming in Ethiopia by taking the
result of eight progressive fish farmers from NFALRC fish farming project pilot areas,
Wonchi and Illugelan districts of Oromia region. According to the authors, fish farming could
be categorized into four major production stages; pre-stocking, stocking, input application
and harvesting. On the basis of their study, the main cost component of the farming activity
was for labor, which comprises 78% of the total production cost. Labor is a crucial factor for
small scale fish farming since it is demanded in all the stages of production. For instance,
labor is needed for land clearing, pond preparation, preparing inlet or outlet and fish
harvesting. The main reason why labour has become an important cost component in the
project areas is because the fish farming households could not organize family labour as
majority of them have children who are not old enough for pond digging and the fact that
their wives are burdened with household chores (Yared et al., 2018). Hence, they were forced
to hire additional labour from outside whose wage rate ranges from 100-120 birr per day.
This, according to the qualitative information generated from the fish farmers, may also go to
the extent of inviting lunch and dinner during their operational time (ibid). This finding was
found contradictory with the general assumption

The second most important cost component was fish feed, accounting 14% of the total cost.
The other remaining cost components were assigned for purchasing fish fingerlings and
material costs for equipment’s (axe, hoe, & shovel) and the like.
 Table 9. Cost structure of aquaculture production in Ethiopia, 2018
Cost in Proportion
Cost component
ETB2 (%)
Land clearing for axe purchase 15.6 0.06%
Shovel purchase for land clearing & pond preparation 247.6 0.96%
Labour for land clearing 18.2 0.07%
Pre-stocking Labour for pond preparation 19070 74.06%
Hoe purchase for preparing water canal 81.3 0.32%
Labour for labelling pond and wall preparation 607.6 2.36%
Labour for preparing water canal 244.4 0.95%
Labour for preparing inlet and outlet 115.6 0.45%
Labour for lime, gravel and sand application 62.5 0.24%
Labour for stocking 18.8 0.07%
Stocking Transport cost 12.5 0.05%
Initial fingerlings 1092.4 4.24%
Fish feed 3664.9 14.23%
Lime purchase 345.5 1.34%
Input application Fish feeding in daily base 10 0.04%
Water change on weekly base 43.1 0.17%
Pond weeding once in two weeks 63.6 0.25%
Harvesting Catching the fish once in 4 months 36.9 0.14%
Total cost 25750.5
Source: Cheffo& Yami (2018)

Fish farmers differ on their harvest of fish per annum depending on the size of pond. The
pond size (Table 10 below) of the respondents varied from 200 meter squares to 676 meter
squares. The mean size of the pond was 367 square meters with mean harvest of tilapia fish
of 2,076.6 kilograms. Thus, the average yield obtained per square meter was 5.66 kilogram.
The minimum return from culturing tilapia was highly associated with the size of pond. The
return from 200 square meters was 47,280 ETB. The highest return was 159, 800 ETB on the
pond size of 676 square meters. Operational costs associated with the size of pond which
valued 51,020 ETB and 15,899 ETB for 676 and 200 square meters, respectively. This asserts
the fact that average return from fish farming in the project areas is directly proportional to
size of the pond. This is true for areas with similar level of management and context and may
not always be true for others.

2
ETB stands for the Ethiopian Birr; 1 USD= 27.25 ETB in May 2018 (www.nbe.gov.et)

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 Table 10. Pond size and average harvested yield of Tilapia
Total Fixed
Whole fish Operation Cost Total Cost Price of Tilapia Benefit-Cost Benefit cost ratio
No. Pond size cost (ETB) Return/ ETB
Yield (ETB) Whole/ ETB/kg
fishers (M2) (D=b+c) (F=a*e) (F-D) (F/D)
(kg) (a) (b) (c) (e)

1 247 1404 18 050 17 469 35 519 35 49 140 13 621 1.38

2 330 1876 17 395 19 614 37 009 40 75 040 38 031 2.03
3 260 1478 21 140 15 989 37 129 30 44 340 7 211 1.19
4 200 1182 15 899 11 413 27 312 40 47 280 19 967 1.73
5 676 3995 51 020 62 154 113 174 40 159 800 46 625 1.41
6 600 3546 41 895 59 713 101 609 35 124 110 22 501 1.22
7 250 1478 17 794 15 002 32 796 30 44 340 11 544 1.35
8 370 1654 20 645 21 218 41 863 40 66 160 24 297 1.58
Average
Mean= 2077 Mean = 1.49
=367

Source: Cheffo& Yami (2018)

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The benefit cost ratio of all respondents was positive and above one. The mean value of benefit
cost ratio was 1.49, indicating that a onebirr investment in aquaculture would resulted in a profit
of 1.49 birr. The authors concluded that fish farming in the project areas was economically
viable in a small-scale. This had clearly indicated the fact that it gives about half (49%) more
return to the money invested on fish farming provided there is consistent market and existing
technologies/inputs/ are used. However, their results should be interpreted with care as the
farmersnot allocated most of the costs incurred for the operations. All the costs related with fish
farming starting from land clearing, pond preparation, fingerlings provision, filling water and
lime applications were fully supported by the National Fishery and Aquatic Life Research Center
(NFALRC). Compared with the results from some other studies, the benefit-cost ratio of the
current one is higher than the smallholder fish farming in case of Zambia (Kapembua&Samboko,
2017), China (Phiri & Yuan, 2018) and Nigeria (Yemi &Deji, 2012) but lower than that of a
study conducted in Oyo state, Nigeria, which is 1.69 (Ashley et al., 2017) and 1.9 (Tunde et al.,
2015).

7.8 Role of women in fisheries

Traditionally, fishing is considered a male-dominated activity. The reason could be due to the
laborious nature of fishing (Ezike& Adedeji, 2010; Ume et al. 2013; Mohammed et al. 2015).
The same is true in Ethiopia. For instance, in Tendaho reservoir the real reason why women
refrain from fishing is due to the timing of the activity.Owing to high humidity during the
daytime, fishermen fish at night and this is not conducive for women. However, there is
significant participation of women in fish processing and marketing. In Lake Hawassa, for
instance, women are involved in retailing business. Because of poor capacity of traders to make
long distance trading coupled with the small size of the fish and well-established local consumer
consumption habit (soup and raw fish meat), the movement of fish products from Hawassa to
other regional markets such as Addis Ababa is almost non-existence. There is also enormous
number of individual consumers demanding fish products in the area. These fish demand has
largely been met by road side women retailerswho mainly prepare soup and raw fish meat to
local consumers and visitors in the landing site such as Amora Gedel. Women who participate in
fish retailing in Lak Tana sell on average 20-30 kilograms on a daily basis, however, the majority
of them (90%) threatened to respond the average daily selling for fear of tax allocation (Cheffoet
al, 2018).
The roles of women in fishery cooperatives are also very vital in some lakes such as Lake Tana.
Of the 208 members of the Tana No. I fisher’s cooperative, 11 members are female fishers.
Females are part of the cooperative because any household who lives within the seven-kilometre
radius from the lake can join the cooperative as he/she perceives familiar with fishing. In most
cases, female fishers are not fully engaged in fishing and they either shared out the work to other
labor called ‘Kenja’ or their son will do the fishing. Member females collect the harvested fish
from boat to processing unit. They sort out the fish based on size, fish species, physical
appearance (healthy or spoil). After that they take the record of weight as well as number
targeting daily market for local inhabitants and wholesalers. In addition to these, they actively
involved in value adding activities particularly on filleting. While filleting, the time spent for a
kilogram of Tilapia can took an average of 25 minutes which is better than male members of the
cooperative demanding 30 minutes per kilogram of a similar fish type. After filleting, women
actively involved in cleaning the filleted fish by taking maximum care and packed the final
product with plastic bags.

Fig. 18. Women role in fish value adding activities (Bata Kebele landing site, Lake Tana)

Studies repeatedly conducted in Annua zone of Gambella region indicated that women are
involved in fish processing and value addition activities in addition to gear maintenance,
counting hooks for daily consumption, collecting the catch and selling such as filleting and
cooking. Preparation of all the necessary facilities and equipment for the fishing activity is also
the duty of Women in the region. In almost all cases, they don’t do the fishing activity.

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Checking the availability and sufficiency of available equipment for fishing is the main part of
women’s role in upstream fishing activities. Hence, it can be stated that they play a supportive
role when men do the actual fishing. Generally, women’s role in artisanal fisheries of Gambella
region is basically availing all the necessary facilities for fishing, gear maintenance, collection of
fish harvest, post-harvest processing including, drying, filleting and the like, cooking and
marketing (finding market and selling). On average, women spend half of the time spent by men
in the artisan fisheries. The time spent by women in the artisanal fishery activities of Gambella
is however variable among married and widowed women. Yet it is lower for married Vis a Vis
the widowed despite a difference of one hour. Women’s role is also governed by a shared
decision making in what to sell and not to sell, which is contrary to what is most commonly
observed. Women’s role in fish marketing is not entirely dominated by them as there is also
involvement by men.

Yet, the overall quantity of fish supplied by women in women headed households is less than
that of men in male headed households. This is attributed to the involvement of fishing activities
by the youth under women heads of the households and the difference their physical endurance
to the fishing activity itself matters. Difference in the type of fish and fishing gear used by men
in male headed households and the youth under women household heads also have the share of
the variability observed in total fish catch. Women conduct all the post-harvest processing and
marketing activities with the youth in case they are available. In case youth are not available,
they do it on their own.

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Fig.19. Fish Marketing at Itang, Annual zone of Gambella Region

Overall, the involvement of females in fisheries activities is relatively low and it is estimated
around 10% of the total employment, who are mainly involved in downstream activities like
processing and retailing activities. In Uganda, women engagement in the fisheries sector is by far
higher than that of Ethiopia, which is 40%. This is because apart from engaging in artisanal fish
processing, there is huge employment opportunities for women to take part in industrial fish
processing. In artisanal processing value chain in Uganda, females play a significant role,
especially inprocessing of freshwater pelagic species such as sun drying, smoking and deep
frying. In the industrial fish processing, females are placed in sections like trimming and
packaging, which require extra care since the product is in the final stage of processing (FAO,
2013).

There is significant scope for enhancing women’s role in fish processing and marketing through
addressing some of the observed challenges in fish retailing such as lack of processing shade and
preservation techniques. The fish marketing activity practiced by women, in most cases, are in
open market without using ice or any preservation techniques (see figure 20 below). Women
retailers in Lake Tana, Bahirdar sell in a very poor infrastructure which is liable for spoilage. The
setup of open market lacks waste disposal area which most left over of the fish can be discarded;
lack of processing shed which can serve for value adding activities. Resultantly, they are forced
to sell their production by low price if the time goes to afternoon after 11:00 PM which they

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suspect total daily bankrupt because of fear of spoilage owing to humidity in the afternoon. The
standard of selling is very rudimentary as the majority of them sale whole fish of tilapia and
other species just by visual judgment having irregular price of 45-65 birr per a pile of 4-5 fish
near to a kilogram weight. The selling whole fish by visual judgment can affect the daily profit
of women due to missing the standard measurement.

Fig.20. Fish marketing activity (fish open market in Bahir Dar)

7.9 Fish consumption

Fish consumption culture and habits vary considerably in Ethiopia and differs from region to

region. It is mainly influenced by accessibility to major water bodies such as the Rift valley lake

areas have well established preference for fish consumption. In Afar areas despite the availability

of various water bodies with the potential for fish production, fish consumption was constrained

with cultural practices. This has been slowly changing with promotion of the importance of fish

consumption and nutritional benefits to elders and in particular to clan leaders (Yami, et al.

2019). The poor marketing infrastructure and lack of traders’ capacity to use cold chain is also

contributing for inefficient market linkages and product reallocation from surplus to deficit areas.

As a result, fish consumption is highly concentrated in production areas. The national per capita

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fish consumption is the lowest as compared to other IGAD countries average of 4 kg/capita/year

and way below Africa and world average of 9.3 and 18.4 kg/capita/year (see Figure 21 below),

forthe same reasons mentioned above. It is, therefore, imperative to develop an alternative fish

production source such as aquaculture apart from the capture fishery sub-sector.

0.2

Fig.21. Per capita fish consumption (kg/year) across IGAD countries

Source: Authors’ modifications using FAO data (2013)

Based on the nationally representative Household Consumption Expenditures Survey (HCES)

conducted by CSA, it was estimated in 2011 that 13.4 percent of consumption expenditures of an
average Ethiopian consumer was devoted to Animal Source Foods (ASF). Out of this
expenditure, 42% was used for dairy products, 40%for beef, and 12% for sheep and goat meat.
Expenditures on other ASF products (including poultry and fish) are relatively minor.

Despite the country has an estimated fish production potential, the national per capita fish
consumption is very low, being a mere 0.2 kg. Historically, Ethiopians are meat eater as a result
beef is the dominant source of animal protein all over the country. Average consumption levels
of meat were around 5 kg per year per adult equivalent, based on these HCES data from 2011.
This is relatively low, but not out of line for a country with GDP levels of Ethiopia (Msangi,

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2016).Fresh fish is consumed mainly in areas surrounding the Great Rift Valley, south of Addis
Ababa, which contains a system of small- to medium-sized lakes.Fish consumption is seasonal
and is highly influenced by supply factors. Most often, fish is sold in fresh, chilled, frozen and
cured forms. Though varying from place to place the majority of landed fish is gutted and fillted
at the landing sites. About 73% of the total fish landed is marketed fresh in nearby markets and
the rest reaches distant consumers either chilled or frozen (26%), or dried and smoked (1%)
(FAO, 2003-2015).

1%

26% 73%

Fresh Chilled/frozen Dried/smoked

Source: FAO (2015)

7.9.1 Preference and frequency of consumption

Most consumers prefer consuming tilapia species. As a result, the market price for Tilapia is
higher than other fish prices.Catfish is usually not preferred by Ethiopians, who consider its
appearance as not appealing and it is not normally brought to market as a whole fish. Therefore,
once it is landed, the fish is filleted, packed in plastic bags and sold in major cities. To give better
perception to consumers, Bahir Dar fishermen changed its name to ‘Kay Assa’, meaning “red
fish” as the flesh of it appears to be red in colour. This has added considerable value to the fish
and today, it is consumed widely. Catfish is sometimes cooked mixing with tilapia in restaurant

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to maximize the profit margins, who claim to sell tilapia dishes. Anecdotal evidence suggests
that fish ‘Goulash’ and ‘Cottlet’ fish dishes in most hotels in Addis Ababa are using catfish fillet.

In an effort to examine the frequency of fish consumption, Yami etal. (2019) interviewed 40
urban dwellers consumers from major big towns in the Afar region such as Logia and Semera.
The main consumers of fish products in the study areas were staff of Semera University, local
community, and long-haul truck drivers. When it comes to the frequency of fish consumption,
around 82.5% of consumers reported that they regularly consumed fish, while 17.5% did not.
The main reasons mentioned for not consuming fish was a lack of a consistent supply followed
by personal reasons such as disliking the taste of fish(Figure 22 below).

Fig.22. Reasons for not consuming fish

Source: Yami et al. (2019)

Concerning fish consumption, the average amount of time that fish has been eaten is seven years.
Some consumers have been eating fish for 40 years. Other consumers working as lecturers in
Semera University grew up in areas where fish consumption was considered a staple food such
as Arbaminch. It was observed that consumers purchased 0.64 kilogram of catfish per week with

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predominant consumers buying 0.5 to 1 kg per week (73% of respondents). Only 9% of
respondent bought more than one kilogram per week. In between the two extremes, 18% of
consumers purchased less than 0.5 kilograms of fish per week (Table 11 below). Most of the
consumers purchased fillet catfish from the cooperative shop in Logia town (70%), and prepared
a meal at home, while 30% of the consumers consume prepared catfish meals at hotels.

Table 11. Place of purchase and quantity purchased per week

Indicators Freq. Per cent

Fish shop 23 70
Where do you buy fish products?
Hotels 10 30
<0.5 kg 6 18
Quantity purchased (kg) 0.5-1 kg 24 73
>1 kg 3 9
Source: survey result

Regarding consumers preference about fish products, 53% of consumers said they would like to
buy fillet catfish which was available at the cooperative shop. Consumers would appear to rate in
importance prepared fish, boneless (32%), fresh (12%) and clean (3%) (Figure 23).

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Fig.23: Criteria for fish purchasing
Source: Yami et al. (2019)

Many respondents in the study areas believe that fish products from a reservoir and farmed fish
do not test well like marine fish. In order to verify this belief, consumers were asked their
preferences about packed and fresh fish while purchasing fish products. And the 91% of them
revealed that they prefer to purchase fresh fish than packed fish products (Table 12 below). This
result is against to the widely held view that consumers in the study areas are attracted by
imported canned marine fish products from Djibouti.

Table 12. Consumer preferences towards fish packaging

Indicator Freq. Percent

Fresh 30 91
Do you prefer packed or fresh fish? Packed 3 9
Total 33 100
Source: survey result

Consumers ranked lack of enough supply of catfish and fear of risks of the perishability of the

product as the most serve constraints of fish consumption in the study areas. It is interesting to

note that income and high fish prices appear to be rated as unimportant bottlenecks for

purchasing and consuming fish products by consumers (Table 13 below).

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 Table 13. Factors hindering fish consumption, percentages (N=40)

Most Not a
Constraint Sever Moderate Low
sever problem

Supply shortage 47.5 22.5 12.5 2.5 15.0

Perishability 32.5 20.0 10.0 12.5 25.0

Income shortage 7.5 17.5 7.5 12.5 55.0

Lack of a refrigerator - 10.0 10.0 20.0 60.0

High price - 12.5 15.0 32.5 40.0

7.9.2 Link between income and fish consumption pattern

In this section we examine the link between fish consumption and income using the Living
Standards Measurement Study (LSMS), World Ban dataset. Analysing this link will shad lights
on the spatial distribution of fish consumption as well as provides evidence as to which income
groups prefer consuming fish compared to other animal-source foods.

Previously Ethiopian food consumption basket is mainly dominated by cereals consumption and
was considered less diversified (Hassen et al. 2018). Over the past two decades this has been
slowly changing as consumers are spending more on expensive but nutritious animal source-
foods and protective (fruits and vegetables) foods as compared with cereals. This is expected in a
transforming economy food system such as Ethiopia. In a transforming food system, a number of
distinguished food consumption patterns are expected with increasing in income and economic

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development: (1) processed and ready-to-eat foods take off; (2) cereals become less important;
and (3) the share of high-value crops such as fruits and vegetables, animal products such as
diary, beef and fish in food consumption basket increases.

The share of animal source-foods in the food consumption basket of an average Ethiopian
consumers has increased over the past two decades, while on the flip side, cereals contribution
has come down considerably (see table 14 below). On the basis of the results of Hassen et al.
(2018), the richest people consume consistently spend more on animal source foods. On the other
hand, those people in the first wealth quintile (poorest), spent more on cereals, with its share of
expenditure declined for animal products. The food consumption expenditures for cereals for the
poorest quintile make up 37.7% while it is slightly lower for the richest quintile (32.2%). As for
livestock products consumption, higher consumption expenditure is noted for the richest
quintiles of 4 and 5, which is 20.4% and 13.2% respectively. On the other hand, the poorest
quintile has allocated a small fraction of their income for the consumption of animal products,
which is only 7.9%.

Table 14. Share of food consumption expenditures by wealth quintile/poverty quintile

Food item Q1 (poorest) Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (richest) Total

White teff 1.1 1.6 2.2 2.7 4.1 2.5

Mixed teff 1.3 1.9 2.5 3.0 3.6 2.6

Red teff 2.0 2.5 3.2 3.0 1.9 2.6

Injera 2.6 2.6 3.0 4.3 9.1 4..7

Total teff 6.9 8.6 10.8 13.0 18.8 12.4

Wheat 6.6 7.0 8.0 8.4 7.9 7.7

Barley 3.2 3.3 2.9 2.3 1.3 2.5

Maize 13.5 11.1 9.4 6.3 2.5 7.8

Sorghum 7.4 6.8 6.5 4.9 1.8 5.1

Five major cereals 37.7 36.8 37.6 35.0 32.2 35.5

Other cereals, pulses & oil seeds 15.7 17.2 17.2 17.3 15.5 16.6

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Vegetables, fruits, roots & tubers 22.9 21..4 18.9 19.4 17.4 19.7

Animal products 7.9 9.0 10.0 13.2 20.4 12.9

Other foods 15.8 15.6 16.3 15.2 14.5 15.4

Total food 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Source: Hassen et al. (2018) using the 2011 HICES survey result

While this result is in agreement to the above economic principles in transforming food systems,
the results do not show which animal source products is exhibiting increasing consumption trend
with income since the result is not disaggregated by type of livestock products. Here we
decomposed the livestock products consumption and income link using the LSMS 2015/16
World Bank data with special focus on fish consumption.

Analysis by wealth category or poverty quantile using weekly average household’s fish
consumption is displayed in Figure 1 below. From this result, we can infer that those consumers
in the middle income and higher income categories consume more fish, which is quintiles 3 and
4. Surprisingly, richest individuals consume less than any quintile group. The plausible
justification is that because of inadequate understanding of fish consumption as well as a lack of
supply in major fish consumers markets, better-off individuals tend to consume more other
animal products than fish.

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When we consider the per capita consumption at national level disaggregated by wealth quintile
and gender (Figure 2 below), the emerging results here is that women consistently consume more
fish than men at national level and their consumption level also decreased as we move from the
poorest (quintile 1) to richest quintile, which is quintile 5.

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Region wise comparison using weekly fish consumption level indicates that in some region there
is high fish consumption such as Gambella (Figure 3). Not surprisingly, an average household
consume 9.4 kg of fish per week in Gambella, which is the highest as compared with any other
region. The next fish consuming region following Gmabella is SNNPR at 4.77 kg a week
followed by Tigray, Amhara and Oromia regions with consumption amount of 4.75, 4.6 and 2.14
kg per week, while major urban cities such as Addis Ababa and Diredawa has reported low fish
consumption level at 0.7 and 0.5 kg per week. The same is true when we take into account the
per capita consumption level of regions (Figure 4 below). This result indicate that fish
consumption has largely been concentrated in major producing areas with the link with big urban
towns such as Addis Ababa and other deficit cities (Diredawa, Somali and Harari) are weak
seemingly because of an inefficient marketing system and linkages.

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The spatial distribution of fish consumption also corroborate with this assertion as fish
consumption is the highest in areas home to major water bodies.

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The spatial distribution of fish consumption level results generated from the LSMS data is
somewhat in line with the geographical distribution of water bodies in Ethiopia as displayed
below. Fish consumption difference is also evident and significant in other countries where
consumption is usually higher in coastal, riverine and inland water areas. Fish consumption per
week exceeds 7kg in the central part of Ethiopia, South, South-west, western and in the northern
parts of Ethiopia. As displayed in the below figure 24 which shows the map of major lakes and
rivers in the country, those areas that show higher consumption can be found in the Southern
regions close to lakes Abaya and Chamo, in the Western part such as Gambella region, which is
blessed with many rivers including Baro and Alwero. In the norther part, higher fish
consumption is observed in areas close to lake Tana. Fish consumption is also the highest

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exceeding 7 kg per week in the central part of Ethiopia which is home to the country’s rift valley
lakes such as lakes Koka, Ziway, Langano, Shalla and Hawassa.

Fig.24. Major lakes and rivers in Ethiopia

Source: Adapted from Tesfaye & Wolff (2014)

Looking at the weekly fish consumption by region which is further disaggregated by income
category, the analysis produces a mixed result (Figure 5). In some region such as Gambella
where fish is a means of livelihood, fish consumption shows little variations across the different
wealth quintile. In Tigray and Oromia regions, those in the middle-income category consume
more fish than the richest and poorest quintile, while those in the better-off group, that is quintile
4, consume more fish in SNNPR. Conversely, consumers in the poorest quintile consume more
fish in the Amhara region. In urban cities, such as Addis Ababa, though the weekly consumption
volume is very low, the results illustrate fish is mainly consumed by the richest income group.
The same pattern of fish consumption was noted when we take into account per capita
consumption of regions by wealth quintile (see Figure 25 below).

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Figure 26 below illustrates fish consumption difference between rural and urban towns. This
graph shows difference in fish consumption along the poverty quintile for urban and rural towns.
Overall, the findings substantiate our earlier results that fish consumption is mainly consumed by
rural areas or major producing areas as compared to urban areas. Fish consumption is almost
uniform in rural areas with the exception of female consumers; middle-income females consume
more in rural areas than the poorest quintile. When it comes to urban areas, it is evident that
those in the middle (quintile 3) and better-off (quintile 4) consumers consume more than the poor
quintile.

As compared with other animal products, fish is preferred by many consumers in Gambella,
SNNPR, Tigray, Amhara and Oromia. Consumers in these regions consume more fish than other
animal-source foods such as beef, poultry and mutton (see figure 27 below). These could be
attributed to the availability of lakes, rivers and reservoirs in these regions as compared to other

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areas of the country. In contrary, major big urban cities such as Addis Ababa, Diredawa consume
other livestock products especially beef, where its consumption is superior to fish consumption.

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7.10. Trends of fish import and export

As a result of the mismatch between rising demand and scarce supply, Ethiopia has been a net
importer of fisheries products. Ethiopia has been a net importer of fish and fisher products.
Ethiopia imported 437 tons of fish products over 2014 to 2018, with a peak of 134 tons in 2017.
Import showed a gradual decrease over the past three years and reached 61 tons in 2018.

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Fig.28.Import of fish products, (in quantity, ‘000 kg), 2014-18
Source: Authors’ calculation based on Customs data

Fig. 29. Import of fish products, (in value, ETB), 2014 to 2018
Source: Authors’ calculation based on Customs data

In terms of value, Ethiopia spent 77 million ETB for the import of fish products over 2014-2018.
It mainly imports fish from South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Tanzania and
Somalia. These five countries constituted90 percent of imported fish products in 2014. South

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Africa and the United Arab Emirates alone contributed 64% of fish exports to Ethiopia in 2014.
In a similar vein, the United Arab Emirates and Sweden took 81% of the share of imported fish
products in 2018. Although the volume is small, Norway, Kenya, Italy, Netherlands, China,
Yemen and Uganda are also other trade partners for processed fish products to Ethiopia.

Fig. 30. Country of consignment and share of import quantity in 2014

Source: Authors’ calculation based on Customs data

Looking at the country of origin of import in 2018. The UAE & Sweden took 81% of the share
of imported fish & fish products in 2018.Though the volume is small, Norway, Kenya, Italy,
Greece, Netherlands, China, Yemen & Uganda are other trade partners.

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Fig.31. Country of consignment and share of import quantity in 2018
Source: Authors’ calculation based on Customs data

7.10.1 Imported fish products

Frequently imported fish species/products include sea bass, salmon, hake, Nile perch, shrimps,
tuna and cured, frozen, fillet and fresh fish. As illustrated in table x, Ethiopia imported salmon
and hake from SA, while the United Arab Emirates were the main supplier of Nile perch, sea
bass, tuna, and shrimp. On the other hand, in 2014, Ethiopia imported crabs, lobsters, dried
squid, tuna, and tiger prawns from Tanzania.

In terms of volume of import, hake and Nile perch were the two most widely imported fish
species and products, which constituted 35% and 14% of the total fish import in 2014. Pricewise
comparison showed that although its import share is negligible, sea bass was the most expensive
fish products with a median import price of 1104 ETB per kg in 2014, while a kg of nile perch
and hake was imported at a median price of 106 and 122 ETB per kg, respectively.

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 Smoked; 1% Tuna ; 1% Crab; 1% Fillet fish ; 4%
Shrimps; 7% Fresh fish ; 1%
Sea bass ; 3% Frozen fish ; 5%

Salmon; 7%

Others ; 21% Hake (35%)

Nile perch ; (14%)

Fig. 32. Imported fish species and products (%), 2014

Source: Authors’ calculation based on Customs data

Ethiopia mainly imports salmon and hake from SA, while the United Arab Emirates is the main
supplier of Nile perch, sea bass, tuna, and shrimp. On the other hand, in 2014, Ethiopia imported
crabs, lobsters, dried squid, tuna, and tiger prawns from Tanzania. Generally speaking, sea food
is one of the super foods that can fight cancer, loaded with protein and has low fat content as
compared to other animal protein. Studies indicate that fat is one of the contributing factors for
prostate cancer in most adult male. Frequent consumption of red meat and high fat dairy products
contributes to fat accumulation and hence escalates the chance of being a victim of prostate
cancer. In contrast, wide consumption of fish such as salmon which has omega-3 fat can serve as
protection for prostate cancer.

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 (a) Salmon fillet (b) Sea bass

(c) Hake fillet (D) Baked shrimp

Fig.33. Sea food available in the Ethiopian market

7.10.2 Import price

Pricewise comparison showed that although its import share is negligible, sea bass was the most
expensive imported fish products with a median import price of 1104 ETB per kg in 2014, while
the import median price for a kg of Nile perch and hake was 106 and 112 ETB, respectively.

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 Table 15. Fish import price
2014 2018
Country of consignment Quantity Share Country of Quantity Share (%)
(kg) consignment (kg)

Uganda 3 570 3% Netherlands 700,5 2%

China 4 190 3% China 869,99 2%
Yemen 4 660 3% Greece 1085,3 3%
Somalia 7 300 5% Italy 1152 3%
Tanzania 11 412 9% Kenya 1238 3%
Germany 12 400 9% Norway 1691,32 4%
United Arab Emirates 43 067 32% United Arab 23046,08 56%
Emirates
South Africa 43 259 32% Sweden 10051,25 25%
Zimbabwe 760 2%
Others 4 114 3% Others 200 0%

2014
Type of fish/product Quantity Share (%) Median
(kg) price/kg Nile perch & hake: 106 & 122 ETB
Hake 41179 35 112
per kg
Nile perch 16352 14 106
Shrimps 8309 7 293
Salmon 7965 7 265
Frozen fish 6200 5 37
Fillet fish 4399 4 147
Sea bass 3361 3 1104
Fresh fish 1694 1 243
Tuna 1580 1 152 Sea bass: expensive imported fish
Craps 903 1 105
products with a median import
Smoked 662 1 383
Others 24833 21 42
price of 1104 ETB/kg in 2014
Note: Import price is CIF without import duty
Source: Authors’ calculation based on Customs data

7.11. Cross-border trade

With a total production of more than 787,000 metric tons in 2010, the fisheries sector in IGAD
member countries are viewed as crucial sectors for contributing to food and nutrition security
and foreign exchange earnings. In relation to this untapped potential the IGAD member countries
acknowledge the importance of cross-border trade and there are ongoing efforts to formalize this
trade. Regional trade is largely conducted informally by small-scale traders across borders. Due

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to its informal nature, it’s difficult to precisely estimate the value of its trade. The products
traded are mainly dried, salted and smoked fish and a limited numberof fresh fish and second
grade frozen fish (Dejen, 2021).

Uganda is the largest fish exporter among IGAD countries, followed by Kenya and Somalia.
Exports of fishery products from Uganda and Kenya alone accounted for 97.5%, valued at
US$176 million in 2009. The exports from other IGAD member countries are minor and mainly
engaged in cross border trade for their traditional fishery products (FAO, 2013). The main
reasons for illegal trade practices or cross-border trade are better demand and prices offered by
the neighbouring markets (FAO, 2013). Informal cross border trade is also mainly carried out on
the sea in order to skip red tape such as taxes and tariffs and by pass government regulations
(Dejen, 2021).

Regarding the regional trade flow, Uganda ana Kenya are the leading country in terms of fresh
water exports to Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and
Rwanda (see Figure 34 below). While Somalia is the main exporter of marine products to Kenya,
Djibouti and Yemen. Dried, salted and smoked by-products of Nile Perch such as frame, skin
and head are exported from Uganda to DR Congo and the western part of Kenya. Imported
frozen fish from Djibouti is re-exported to Ethiopia to cater hotels, restaurants and supermarkets
(Dejen, 2021).

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 Fig. 34. Trade flows of fishery products in East Africa
Source: FAO (2013)

Considering the geographical proximity of the Amhara region to Sudan through Metema border,
some amount of the produced fish from lake Tana is being exported to Sudan. In most cases, this
export is undertaken informally through local collectors and traders (see Figure 36 below).Dried
fish which is mostly small size and those that died during transportation from landing sites to the
processing unit is mostly exported to Sudan. Fishers applied rudimentary fish processing
technologies such as open-air using salt.Mostly dried fish prepared during rainy season does not
well dried and traders add salt and damped in a store until it is sold (FAO, 2013). As result, this
poor drying technique has led to lower quality dried fish and sold with a lower price compared to
well salted air-dried fish. The sun drying activity of fishers and collectors could last for 3-6 days
on average(Cheffo, 2017). After losing relative moisture, local collector packed the fish with
very thin sticks for aeration (see Figure 35 below). The wholesalers of dry fish buy the packed
fish on a kilogram base and the price ranges from 70 to 95 Ethiopian Birr (the price refer the

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May 2016). In addition to this, wholesalers sell their product by transporting to areas nearby
boarder of Ethiopia and Sudan relatively by higher price as compared to fishers and collectors.

Fig.35. Sun drying method for fish exporting to Sudan

Source: Cheffo, (2017)

EASTERN TANA
SOUTHER TANA NORTHERN TANA WESTER TANA
(Fogera, Libo
(Bahir Dar, Zegie, (Gorgora & the (Alefa district & the
Kemkem, Gondar
Northern Achefer) surrounding) surrounding)
Zuria)

ENFRANZ &
METEMA WORETA CHAUHIT CHAUHIT KUNZLA& DELGIE
MAKSEGNET

SUDAN -GEDARIF METEMA CHAUHIT CHAUHIT METEMA

METEMA

SUDAN -GEDARIF METEMA SUDAN-GEDARIF

SUDAN -GEDARIF

SUDAN -GEDARIF

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Fig. 36. Informal dried fish marketing channel to Sudan
Source: Author’s modification based on Yalew (2012)

Dried fish marketing has become an attractive business for fishers especially for illegal traders.
As illustrated in Table 15, around US$ 1.7 million income was obtained from fish export to
Sudan between 2007 to 2012. However, most of the formal export was through the Fish
production and Marketing Enterprise which has now stopped exporting. Thus, the informal
cross-border export was not accounted for in this calculation in the Table 16.

Table 16. Dried fish export trends to Sudan

Year Quantity Export value (US$) Price (US$)
2012 6426 323 150 5
2011 5316 265 800 5
2010 5676 293 250 5
2009 3652 278 143 7.6
2008 3513 333 928 9.5
2007 3347 200 828 6
Total 27 930 1 695 099
Source: Adapted from Yalew (2012)

There are some reports indicating the presence of informal cross-border trade for Nile perch and
other fish caught from the Ethiopian part of Lake Turkana (formerly Rudolf) to Kenya and
Uganda, while fish harvested from Gambela and Benishangul Gumuz smuggled to South Sudan
(FAO, 2013). Although the country reapedgood amount of money from fish export, the illegal
cross-border trader of dried fish is posing a threat on existence of fishers’ cooperatives. Because
of the attractive nature of dried fish export, most cooperative fishers in Woreta and Infranz (see
figure 36) areas are illegally supplying their harvest to local collectors and illegal traders.
Resultantly, the Tana No.I fishery cooperative has now stopped direct fish marketing or reduce
the frequency of trip to other markets because of lack of sufficient fish supply from its members
from these fishing areas. Since undersized fish is mainly targeted for the dried fish export, this
wouldalso have significant negative impact on fisheries resource management.

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 8. Policy and Regulatory Framework

Considering agriculture to serve as an engine for the growth of the economy, the government
developed consecutive national development plans such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Program
(PRSP-1995-1999), Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP-2000-
2004), Plan for Accelerated and Sustainable Development to End Poverty (PASDEP 2005 –
2010), which also adopted the goals and targets laid out in the Millennium Development Goals
(MDG). Based on the lessons learned and the country’s long-term vision to become a middle-
income country by 2025, Growth and Transformation Plans, GTP I (2010-2015) and GTP-II
(2016-2020) have been adopted and implemented. All those development plans were focused on
the commercialization of smallholder agriculture through specialization in agricultural
commodities that have high demand in local and export markets. However, these developmental
plans did not provide a specific framework for the sustainable development of aquaculture (being
one of the commodities that could contribute to income, employment, food and nutrition
security) in the country. They were not comprehensive and did not provide guidance to the
development of aquaculture, neither at national nor at regional level. Until recently fish has not
been talked of as key commodity for federal investment area. The latest overall development
policy for Ethiopia (PASDEP/GTP I, 2010; GTP II, 2015) have made fish a food security and
nutritional item with Government making deliberate efforts to promote and support increased
fish production.

According to the new 10-year National Development Plan (2021 – 2030) of Ethiopia, the target
is increasefish production from the current fish production of 59,000 tons to 247,000 tons with
13,000 tons projected to come from rural aquaculture development by the end of 2030.However,
fisheries and aquaculture sub-sectors are also constrained by weak institutional capacity, lack of
properly documented and coherent policy, poorly organized fishermen’s associations, the lack of
a reliable data collection system, the remoteness of fishing areas, the lack of basic infrastructure
and equipment, the degradation of natural resources and the limited funds to implement the
country’s strategies, plans and legislation.The responsibility for fisheries and aquaculture

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management is with regional governments with some oversight at Federal level by the Ministry
of Agriculture. The Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) prioritizes fisheries. Also,
both the National Strategy and the Development Plan for Aquaculture acknowledge the
indispensability of the sector, though implementation has been a challenge.

The progress both in growth and development of aquaculture (fish farming) system itself could
not move in a faster pace as expected and hence its contribution in the livelihood improvement
and economy of the country is insignificant. Very recently, through the support of the
Agricultural Growth and Development (AGP) program, the government of Ethiopia tried to
consider aquaculture as a potential sub-sector and start to invest interms of establishing hatchery
facility and building the capacity of human resource. The development of aquaculture in (rural)
Ethiopia is still entangled with many impediments of which scarcity of technology and inputs;
lack of policy framework and its practicality; and poor institutional arrangement and/or
integration are the expected ones.

Recognizing the danger posed on most water bodies of the country, a National Fisheries
Proclamation was ratified by the Federal Parliament in 2003. It provides broad guidelines related
toresource conservation, food safety and aquaculture. This document puts considerable emphasis
onregulation, permits and the role of the fishery inspector. It is intended that the regional
administrationshould then use this as a broad framework within which their own proclamations
are developed.The NationalProclamation relies heavily on regulatory measures (command and
control) and the role of the fisheryinspector.After the Regional Fisheries Proclamation,
implementation guidelines should be developed. At anational level, guidelines have now been
developed and submitted to the council of Ministers. It issurprising that it is still not endorsed at
a federal level where it affected the timely development of theRegion Guideline.The Bureau of
Agriculture and Rural Development is mandated to the control and implementation ofthe fishery
resource.The critical problem at this moment is that there is no any enforcement mechanism for
the existinglegislation.Moreover, there is no any guideline, legislation or licence requirement for
aquaculture investment inthe region as well as at Federal level.

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Nevertheless, marketing issues, role of fish traders is not clearly indicated in the proclamation.
This has led to enforcement gap for handling illegal fishing and marketing practices observed in
the country. Furthermore, the transportation facilities have also not given due attention in the
proclamation which is critical for consumer health and food safety. Consequently, many of the
problems seen in the fish resource management in the country is the lack of a comprehensive
policy instrument to enforce regulations in the fishery sectors.

8.1 Fish trade regulation (benchmarking)

In Ethiopia, fish marketing and trading practices have not been given due consideration and not
mentioned at all in the policy proclamation. However, the current practices of selling undersize
fish and not getting any penalty for its action has implications on fisheries resource management.
Unlike Ethiopia, other East African countries (Kenya and Uganda) have managed to integrate
policy on fish marketing such as prohibiting marketing of undersize fish. The use of illegal
fishing gears stated in the policy is also prohibited in Kenya. Overall, countries such as Uganda
and Kenya that have active participation in international trade have advanced and complete trade
regulations that monitor its production system and permits quality certification for fish actors
along the value chains (fishermen, traders, processors) so as to comply with requirements from
importing countries such as EU. Kenya, for instance, has different spectrum of fisheries
regulations that target production, marketing and processing of fish. The 2007 safety of fish,
fishery products and fish feed regulation grant the mandate to control safety of fish and fishery
products, during marketing to the Ministry of fisheries. Under the fisheries (prohibitions)
regulation of 2005, the fisheries minister has the provision to control illegal fishing gears. Such
type of trade regulations to effectively monitor fish production and distribution until it reaches to
end users is non-existence in the case of Ethiopia.

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 9. Future outlook analysis

The study has projected the fish demand and supply of the country as well as the import and
export trade components. The projection was conducted for the med-term period up to the year
2025 using 2020 as a base year for demand and supply projections and 2019 for import and
export projection.

Exponential smoothing forecasting technique was used for the projection of the outlook period
because of several advantages. The first advantage is it demands little historical dataset for
estimating projections. This is particularly important for analysing the projection of production
such as aquaculture where there is limited historical data available owing to its recent
introduction in the country. In the exponential smoothing method, only three pieces of data are
needed to forecast the future: the most recent forecast, the actual demand that occurred for that
forecast period and a smoothing constant alpha (α).This smoothing constant determines the level
of smoothing and the speed of reaction to differences between forecasts and actual occurrences.
Secondly, the accuracy of the model is much better than other forecasting approaches (simple
and weighted average moving averages). Finally, most importantly, it gives higher weight for
more recent data as compared to equal ordering of weight for each time periods. It is known that
the future is more dependent on the recent data than the data in the past. Owing to better
estimation techniques and human power, fish production data has been collected in more
organized way in more recent time. The other factor is various reservoirs for hydropower and
partly for fish production is becoming more operational in recent times, which will have an
impact on fish production figures. Thus, allocating greater weight to recent production figures is
important in light of the above justifications.

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9.1 Demand and supply projection

Fish demand and supply projection was conducted by taking into consideration 2.6% annual
Ethiopia’s population growth (World Bank, 2019), 67% fish available for final consumption 3 and
per capita consumption of 12 kg/person/year, which is the recommended annual quantity of fish
consumption (Van Der Knaap, 2020)4.

The medium-term fish demand and supply projection is presented in Table 16. Although fish
production is expected to increase in future, it is still insignificant to fill the huge demand gap the
country is facing. The annual fish production is expected togrow 10% on average during the
outlook period. On the other hand, the projected demand side showed a stagnant growth in the
medium-term outlook periods.

Table17: Fish production outlook, (2021-2025) using exponential smoothing method

3
According to Teklu (2015), Ethiopia loses one-third of its annual production owing to post-harvest losses. Post-
harvest losses occur at different points from capture to marketing, and in some fisheries the level of losses could be
considerable.

4
Even if the country has an estimated fish production of 51, 481 tons annually, national per capita fish consumption
is low at a mere of 0.5 kg per year, whereas the recommended quantity of fish per capita is between 12 and 17 kg
per year. Ethiopians prefer to eat meat, with an average annual meat consumption of about 10 kg a person. This is
due to cultural patterns and to a significant extent, fertile central highlands that allow a considerable level of cattle
breeding.

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 Demand for
% supplied
Year fish (12 Total supply Deficit
Production (tons) from total
kg/capita/year) (millions kg) (millions kg)
demand
in millions
2011 18,058 1082 40.99 1,168 3%
2012 24,057 1113 29.04 1,212 2%
2013 28,754 1145 28.45 1,247 2%
2014 38,412 1177 31.51 1,280 2%
2015 50,204 1210 39.49 1,309 3%
2016 50,580 1243 50.94 1,335 4%
2017 50,528 1277 55.78 1,369 4%
2018 56,253 1311 57.68 1,406 4%
2019 57,564 1345 62.45 1,441 4%
2020 59,431 1345 65.28 1,478 4%
2021 67,712 1,559 67.71 1,491 4%
2022 74,483 1,470 74.48 1,395 5%
2023 81,931 1,457 81.93 1,375 6%
2024 90,125 1,476 90.12 1,385 6%
2025 99,137 1,508 99.14 1,409 7%

120,000

100,000

80,000
Tons

60,000

40,000

20,000

0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Fig. 37. Fish production projection (2021-2025)

Source: Own result

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9.2 Import and export projection

The modest surge in fish production is not near enough to meet even the slowed growth in fish
demand. Although there is considerable upward trend of fish supply during the outlook period,
the increase is just a drop in the oceancompared to the enormous fish demand in the country,
which is further anticipated to rise owing to urbanization, change in food consumption patterns
and rising prices of animal protein (especially livestock and small ruminants). It was observed
that fish production showed an increase from the baseline value of 59,431 in 2020to 99,137 in
2025. Much of the increase in fish production is expected to come from the untapped aquaculture
production and newly constructed reservoirs that are suitable for fish production. Although the
fish farming sub-sector has possessed significant promises for development, it is unrealistic to
assume the growth in the sector could fill the observed mismatch between demand and supply of
fish in the country. Hence, the med-term outlook analysis indicated that much of the country’s
shortfall in fish demand will continue to be filled with imports, shown in Figure 38 below.
Imports of fish is expected to continue for the med-termprojection periods.

900.00

800.00

700.00

600.00

500.00

400.00

300.00

200.00

100.00

0.00
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

Imported fish (MT) Exported fish (MT)

Fig. 38. Fish trade projection (2020-25)

Source: Own result

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It should be noted that such type of standalone projections should be treated carefully as it
assumes other factors affecting fish production and consumption and government policy hold
constant. However, in reality this is not always true and a sounder and more
parsimoniousdynamic sectoral equilibrium models using integrated behavioural equations of the
supply and demand components should be adoptedin future.

10.Investment opportunities in the fishery & aquaculture sub-sector

The review identified three entry points for potential private and publica sector investment areas
in the input, post-harvest and fish breeding.

(1) Since fish handling, processing, and preserving is a fairly broad field that encompasses a
large number of processing techniques, fish species, and fish products across the value
chain, it provides enormous opportunities for investors looking to invest in the fishery
sector. Apparently, fish handling and processing in Ethiopia is at its lowest level and
remains at its traditional stage investing in modern handling, processing and preservation
technologies as well as in new product development will be a profitable venture.

(2) All materials used in the manufacture of fishing gears (twine, needles, floaters and
sinkers) are imported in hard currency from abroad. As a result, building a factory that
produces in the country is also a good and profitable investment idea.

(3) Apart from fishing for food, there is no other use of Ethiopian fish species and
ornamental fishery has not developed yet despite the high fish species diversity in most
river systems and lakes (Tesfaye & Wolff, 2014). This is surprising since ornamental fish
trade generates millions of dollars annually and employs several thousand people
worldwide (Pelicicie and Agostinho, 2005). Moreover, except for the small-scale
ornamental fish breeding and rearing activities in the National Fisheries and other
Aquatic Life Research Center located in Sebeta, which serve mainly as source of the
introduced ornamental fish species (gold fish) and as a demonstration site, no studies

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 have evaluated the potential of indigenous fish species for ornamental fish trade.
Considering the great success of other tropical countries, ornamental fishery would
appear as a possible new economic alternative that could help to reduce the level of
poverty in the country.

11.Challenges

Although the fishery sub-sector in Ethiopia confronted with several setbacks, here we only focus
challenges with regard to technology generation and dissemination (feed and extension),
technology adoption, marketing, utilization and policy support. The challenges on the water
resources in general and fishery resources in particular are strongly related to the growing
demands of humans for resources. The major challenges include land degradation, water
pollution, fish habitat degradation, overfishing, growing water demand for various purposes,
loose collaboration among stakeholders and low enforcement of the fishery development and
utilization policy (Proclamation No. 315/2003). The challenges for the capture and aquaculture
are presented separately as the nature and extent of constraints for the two sub-sectors are
different. Below are the some of the prioritized challenges in the fisherysub-sectors in Ethiopia.

11.1. Major challenges of capture fishery development in Ethiopia

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High population growth and increasing demand for resources: Ethiopia is the second
populous nation in Africa next to Nigeria having over 100 million with a rapid population
growth rate. Thus, the increasing population will require more natural resources and arable land.
Increasing arable land is usually possible only on the expenses of the forest through deforestation
and conversion of grazing lands into agricultural land- which ultimately have an impact on the
hydrology of the aquatic ecosystems and the fish production potential of the lakes. In fact,
deforestation is conducted not only for expansion of agricultural land, but also for charcoal
production. Furthermore, as the population continues to grow at a rapid rate, the expansion of
urban areas continues to pose a significant threat to natural dynamics, resource availability and
environmental quality as the major lakes are situated near to the main cities and towns.

Poor land use and tenure system: Proper utilization of natural resources for sustainable
development can be realized when development is led by proper land use planning and land
tenure system. Due to the rapidly growing population and the lack of proper land management,
conversion of natural vegetation into agricultural land is increasing. Trees are cut down for
construction and charcoal production as an energy source as well as an important source of
income for the local poor. The free grazing livestock population in many areas of the country
accelerates the loss of vegetation cover through overgrazing.

A recent research report on the land use and land cover change of the rift valley areas including
lakes revealed that there is a rapid increase in irrigable land, large scale farming and mixed
cultivation. Between 1985 and 2015 the change result revealed that irrigable land, large scale
farming and mixed cultivation showed 8.4%, 14.9%, and 35.9 % change (Wondwossen et al.,
2017), respectively. Furthermore,open water area of lakes Langano, Ziway and Abijata also
showed remarkable decline in their surface area between the specified time periods.

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High siltation and sediment loading of lakes: Land degradation in the watershed that induced
large scale sedimentation rate was reported by Dagnachew and Tenalem (2006). Specific study
on the sediment loads in Lake Ziway revealed that the inflowing rivers Meki and Katar which
drains from the upper catchment into the lake contributed much of the loads. Based on the model
gross annual sediment loads in Lake Ziway is estimated 2.081 million ton/year of which 41,340
ton/year leaves the lake through Bulbula River. The model further estimated the sediment budget
with average rainfall and the lake will lose 0.106% of its volume annually which means an
annual sediment mass of 2.04 million ton/year will be deposited in the lake (Alemu et al., 2019)
that will have significant impact on the lake’s physical (reduction in volume) and biodiversity.

Overfishing: Similar to many developing countries, aquatic resources are considered as common
pool resources where everybody has open access to utilize the water and the resources therein.
The perception in general is the resources are there and their actions will not affect the water
body as well as its resources. The major reasons for such thought by the immediate users are the
level of knowledge and their attitude about the aquatic resources that make sustainable resource
utilization more difficult. Several study results and reports from most lakes indicated that the
fishing efforts are increasing from time to time irrespective of the carrying capacity of the lakes.
Excessive fishing effort, use of destructive fishing gear types and methods by both legal and
illegal fishers caused overfishing in most of the rift valley lakes. For example, Nile tilapia catch
in Lake Ziway is declining due to overfishing.

In most lakes intensive fishing activity usually occurs during the fasting periods of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church (March – April and August) when fish consumption increases which
incidentally coincides with the peak Tilapia breeding season. Moreover, a recent study confirmed
that the tilapia stock in Lake Ziway is in the state of overfishing (Gashaw Tesfaye & Wolff,
2014). Open access is one of the major problems for the decline in the fish production in Lake
Ziway and many other intensively fished lakes. Fishers are poorly organized and many illegal
fishers’ fish in different lakes. For instance, 51% of the fishermen operating in Lake Ziway are
illegal fishermen (Megerssa et al., 2014). The increasing numbers of beach seine in Lakes Ziway
and Koka, and the recent introduction of monofilament gill nets (destructive) in many water

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bodies should have contributed for the decline in the fish catch of some target species. Moreover,
intensive fishing already resulted in substantial changes in the species composition of the
commercial catches from Lakes Abaya and Chamo pushing the populations of
Mormyruscaschive, Labeohorie and Latus niloticus to the verge of extinction (Golubtsov and
RedeatHabteselassie, 2010).

Water abstraction and destruction of lake shores: Intensive agricultural activities and the
subsequent deforestation leads to catchment degradation due to soil erosion which results in
increased siltation in many lakes (e.g., lakes Koka, Ziway, Abaya, etc). Water is diverted from
lakes for some industrial and irrigation purposes. According to Flower (2011) the water
abstraction for irrigation and industrial activities from Lake Ziway and its sources, the Meki and
Katar rivers, led to a decrease in the level of Lake Ziway and also the volume of Bulbula River
which flows into Lake Abiyata.

Currently, high-input crops like vegetables are grown in the rift valley area (e.g., onions,
tomatoes, haricot beans) and cut flowers (mainly rose’s grown year-round in plastic green
house). Although some vegetables are grown during the rainy season most are grown during the
dry season using the lake water. Apart from small plots of individual open field vegetable and
fruit production systems which are irrigated by pumping lake water, the establishment of large
private farms particularly flower farms use quite large volume of lake water (Fig 1 & 2). It is not
only a reduction in the lake volume but also fish eggs and fries will be sacked with high pressure
pumping that will ultimately reduce the yearly recruits and finally the total fish harvest.

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 July 2019

Fig. 1. Series of big pumps pumping water from Lake Ziway to flower farms

July 2019

Fig. 2 Water from Lake Ziway is drained through canal and is pumped into vegetable farms.

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Pollution:Applications of agricultural inputs (inorganic fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides)
around lakes are growing from time to time following the increasing demand for vegetables.
Most farmers cultivate high value horticultural crops such as banana, mango, tomato and onion
and use motorized pump for irrigating their farms which has reduced the water level. The
agrochemicals residue also causing another concern affecting the water quality.The growing
population and intensive agriculture around many lakes can have serious consequences on the
lake limnology. Several cities and towns which are established near major lakes have neither
waste treatment systems nor proper waste management. The wastes from the households,
agricultural field and industries are discharged directly into the water bodies. Such nutrient load
into the lake leads excessive algal growth. Because of poor watershed management practices
increasing nutrient loads is reported for most water bodies. The rapid expansion of water
hyacinth in many lakes (Koka, Tana, Ziway and Abaya) is an indicator of eutrophication, which
suggests nutrient enrichment in the lake.

Weak extension support: Generally speaking, fisheries and aquaculture are not fully integrated
in Ethiopia’s food security policies and strategies. That is why the growth of the aquaculture
sector has been stagnated despite the abundant and favourable natural resource to grow the
sector. For instance, the aquaculture and capture fisheries sector do not have its own specialized
extension personnel to support ground level extension outreach to farmers. The extension system
is not equally supporting fishery as a priority commodity like crop and livestock. At each district
level, the government has assigned three experts to assist farmers pertaining to crop production,
livestock and natural resources. Unfortunately, because of the lack of expertise in fishery
science, experts who are assigned to work on livestock are forced to work on fishery, with no or
limited fishery background and this lack of experts and segregation of duties between livestock
and fishery has been damaging the fishery extension technology dissemination.

No entry barrier: Absence of entry barrier and regulations leading to the presence of illegal and
opportunistic fishers. This is more pronounced in Lakes Tana and Ziway. Although the problem
persists in Lakes Chamo and Koka it is practiced in rare occasion. While the control is strict in
the case of Hawassa (Amora Gedle landing site) as no illegal fishers are allowed to engage in

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fishing. Most illegal fishermen work as par-time as they join the fishing business during fasting
period because of high price. Since the illegal ones only fish during fasting period where fishing
becomes attractive and there only concern is making money during fasting period without
considering the sustainability of fish resources in the area leading to the use of illegal fishing
technologies such as monofilament and suppled to an illegal marketing route Presence of illegal
fishers because of lack of restriction or entry barrier in is also observed in Lake Tana as
mentioned by the key informant. The illegal fishers do not use recommended practices to
preserve the quality of fish and supply to local hotels using bajaj without using mobile
refrigerator. The cooperative is unable to implement closure in the lake for its members because
of the illegal fishers who fish during this time.

Illegal fishing technologies: Widespread utilization of illegal fishing technologies such as

monofilament. This is more common in the majority of lakes. Use of monofilament is being
accepted as normal for both cooperative and non-cooperative members in Hawassa, Chamo,
Koka, and Ziway Lakes, while the net is only used by non-cooperative members in Tana Lake.
The effect of applying the non-selective net on the fishing population is evident on the size and
catch volume in Hawassa Lake as the size of the harvest declines and most of the consumers
only buy soup owing to the small size of harvested fish. The cooperative who refrains its
members from using such gears in Lake Tana is reported decrease of fish production because of
the illegal fishers using monofilament. For instance, the Tana fishery cooperative has now
stopped supplying fish to other regional markets such as Addis Ababa because of the low volume
of production, which is currently supplying around 2 to 3 quintals per day to local customers
which used to supply 50 quintals within 3 days to Addis Ababa market.

Poor post-harvest handling: The problem is witnessed in most of the lakes such as Tana, Koka
and Ziway where wastes after processing are normally disposed into the lakes. In all lakes, post-
harvest practices are conducted in the landing site in open field with few applies standard
shedding for processing such as Tana. As a result, the left over after processing is thrown into the
lake.

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  Unhygienic and in appropriate fish handling, processing and preserving practices along
the market value chain.
 During transport, the fish exposed directly to the sun light and do not use ice or other
cooling mechanism which protect the fish from being spoiled until it reaches to the
consumers.
 The concept of quality and quality assurance is poorly understood among fishermen,
traders and consumers
 Inadequate law enforcement to impose regulations on the technical characteristics of
fishing gear and fishing methods

Picture 1. Fish processing in Lake Ziway

Oligopolistic nature of fish trade: Although cooperatives and fishers have the power to set
price on paper in practice this is not the case as traders’ indirectly influencing price formation of

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fishery cooperatives. Most often fishery cooperatives lack the capacity to engage in direct
marketing because of poor infrastructure or restriction from the government side to get in touch
with other traders. In Chamo lake, for instance, main producer of commercially important fish
species such as Nile Perch and Bagrus, the cooperative is not allowed to contact traders other
than the one assigned by the regional ministry of trade. This is restricting market competition and
the cooperative is forced to set price in consultation with the traders who have access fish
production from illegal fishers with low price. The same is true for lakes Koka and Ziway where
unlicensed brokers forcefully hindering regional wholesalers to trade with the cooperative and
fishers.

Inadequate product tracing: most traders collect fish by combining from cooperatives and
illegal fishers. In some lakes such as Koka and Chamo there is no systematic approach to trace
traders’ production supply route. Anecdotal evidence in Bahirdar suggested the use of normal
public transport for transporting fish production from Bahirdar to Addis Ababa and illegal
smuggling of dried fish to Sudan though Metema border.

Absence of credit: since fishing does not have resource for collateral such as land, fishers are
not well placed to take credit advantage to invest in fishing technologies (motorized boat, nets,
mobile fridges etc). Moreover, fishes are in most cases are poor and landless with limited
financial resource to transform their business. The formal credit associations demand collateral
for providing credit to fishers while the current interest rates are too high for fishers to afford
credit. As a result, fishing is mainly at subsistence level and artisanal and the room to expand it
to commercial level is being faced with lack of support from financial institutions.

Low participation of women: It appears that the involvement of females in fisheries activities
is relatively low which is estimated around 10% of the total employment, who are mainly
involved in downstream activities like processing and retailing activities. Compared to other
IGAD countries, participation of women in fish trading and processing was insignificant. In
Uganda, for instance, women engagement in the fisheries trading and processing is 40% (FAO,

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2013). This is because more processing plants are operational which providing opportunities for
women to take part in industrial fish processing.

Unavailability of market information systems: Fishers rely heavily on the price they get from
traders, particularly in areas that do not have cooperatives such as Ziway. There are some efforts
for establishing market information systems hotline, but mainly restricted to agricultural
production and marketing.

Informal cross-border trade: Dried fish and mainly small sized fish are being exported which
will have implications for future fishery resource management. The absence of marketing and
trade regulations seemingly contributed for the prevalence of informal cross border trade and ill
trading practices in the domestic fish marketing.

Poor grading practices and lack of regulation: It was noted that more fisheries supply to
market without applying recommended grading systems. Especially fishers are less concerned to
important criterion such as size. This is contributing to overfishing in some lakes coupled with
the absence of law limiting minimum size of fish to be caught and weakenforcingmechanisms on
the use of fishing gears.

Absence of water governance: Regrading natural resource management, Ethiopia adopts a

decentralized approach, where the federal government has the power to control and manage
transregional rivers resources while the regional government has the responsibility of overseeing
fishery resources under their territory. However, due to poor water governance and lack of
coordination by various stakeholders working in the natural resources, there is no systematic
management of natural resources and fishery resources in particular. Some countries encourage
community and inclusive participation of communities in fisheries management. Uganda for
instance abolish the command-and-control system and work closely with community using co-
management principle.

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11.2 Challenges of aquaculture research and development

 Limited fish culture technologies: In Ethiopia, one of the most pressing challenges in
aquaculture is the unavailability of efficient and inexpensive farm made feeds for
different stages of fish development. Unavailability of efficient and inexpensive farm
made feeds for potential culture fishes like the Nile tilapia and African catfish. Moreover,
most of the experimental dies so far tested focused on only on fingerlings and grow out
Nile tilapia. Moreover, the commercial feed produced so far again only for Nile tilapia
alone, and the only company producing fish feed is the Alema feed producing factory
based in Debre Zeit. Unavailability of fast-growing fish deed is another problem
hindering the sector. So far there has been few attempts to select better growing Nile
tilapia strain in Sebeta NFALRC and Hawassa.
 Limited human resource (experienced and skilled aquaculture professionals)
 Lack of fish seed multiplication hatchery (private and government)
 Less involvement of the private sector (probably due to less incentive for the sub-sector)
 Poor fishery extension service and
 Less attention to the aquaculture sub-sector
 Lack of adequate awareness and knowledge of fish and Aquaculture
 Gender Bias Towards Aquaculture
 Poor food culture of the urban population residing away from water bodies

12.Intervention options

Sustainable utilization of the fishery resources requires developing appropriate

strategies/measures that will balance ecosystem protection and economic development. Such an
ecosystem-based economic development may not work, if the strategies focused only from the
fishery point of view rather than holistic approaches that include social, economic and
environment aspect and good governance. Responsibilities should be shared among various

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stockholders (governmental and non-governmental organizations, community-based
organizations and associations etc.). Participatory approach allows different stakeholders to take
part in the decision-making processes and share responsibilities.

Promote awareness: Most of the major lakes in Ethiopia are located adjacent to urban areas
where the water resources are utilized by the urban communities along with farmers and other
resource users for different purposes. Multiple interests of different stakeholders pose greater
anthropogenic pressure that would compromise the quantity and quality of the water resources. It
is therefore highly important to raise and promote awareness of the resource users at different
levels. For instance, schools could easily raise the awareness of students by organizing events
through environmental clubs; local communities through their indigenous social structures using
elders; and elites through their professionals’ associations. Main stream Medias and social
Medias can also be used to raise the awareness of people on water resources utilization,
sanitation, environment protection and proper resource utilization.

Limit Overfishing: Overfishing occurs when the fishermen operating in certain water body start
to capture less than the most suitable age and/or size recommended at first capture. Such
recommendations will be generated by the fishery biologist which will give a chance for half of
the fish population to mature and reproduce before they are targeted by the fishermen and hence
will optimizes the yield that can be obtained from a given number of recruits. It is not only the
mesh size and type of fishing gears which should be limited to minimize overfishing but also the
number of boats, number of fishing gears per boat and number of fishermen operating in some of
the intensively fished lakes such as Lake Ziway, Hawassa and Chamo. It is the combination of
all problems mentioned above which led to growth and recruitment overfishing. Therefore, high
fishing efforts should be limited and fishing in the breeding and nursery areas should be banned.

Open access fishing, use of illegal fishing gears including the destructive monofilament gill nets
in recent times and loose and/or absence of effective monitoring and controlling systems are
major causes for illegal fishing activities in many lakes in the country. Although fishers’
cooperatives exist in most fish landing sites, they are generally weak. Cooperatives in most

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lakes are not controlling illegal fishermen and even their members are using destructive fishing
nets and also are fishing within restrict areas like the fish breeding ground. The best option is to
adopt Co-management which will give sense of ownership and responsibilities for the
immediate users (fishers) could be the best option than the traditional top-down approach which
is usually not participatory and effective approach. It should be known that co-management
requires compromise, respect and trust among stakeholders and a commitment to transparency,
empowerment and communication, all of which may take time to develop, especially against a
background of top-down regulation and control.

Develop regulations and directives for the approved policies:Most of the Fisheries
Development and Utilization Proclamations are ratified both at federal and regional levels. For
example, the federal fishery utilization and development policy was ratified in 2003
(proclamation No.315/2003) and the Oromia Region also ratified a proclamation to determine
fishery resource development, preservation and utilization in 2013 (proclamation No 178/2013).
However, regulations and directives that will have great contribution for sustainable utilization
of the aquatic resources like standardized monitoring of lakes, a buffer zone system for zoning
and development regulation, license for fishing and a participative approach to lake management
are still not prepared and approved by the respective institutions at the federal and regional
levels. It is therefore high time to prepare and approve the regulations and directives to ensure
the legality of fishing gears and fishermen so that the fishery resources will be sustained.

Capacity building training: subsequent trainings for fishermen and traders in the areas of
product handing, grading and preservations are important to reduce the substantial post-harvest
loss. The other recommendations in the area of post-harvest include:

 Begin implementing quality control measure and emplace national safety and quality
assurance system and government inspection service bodyto protect consumer health.
.

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  Introduce proper fish utilization, preservation and processing techniques and start
effective training program for fishermen and trader on proper fish handling, processing
and storing techniques.

Credit: Facilitate a credit system for fishers that considers its unique features. Small and
medium enterprises should help fishers, traders and cooperatives to get start up business as
involvement in fish trader is capital intensive and requires investment in areas of cold chain,
deep freezers and transportation truck with cooling facility.

Avail fish market information system: The governments have established different types of
market information system, such as hotline, but mainly focuses on agriculture products and
limited attention is given for fishery products market information. Hence, there could be a
possibility to expand the service and accommodate fish production market information and other
services to fishers such as to access environment related information and prices at the terminal
markets.

Enhancing women’s involvement intrading and processing activities: There is significant

scope for enhancing women’s role in fish processing and marketing through addressing some of
the observed challenges in fish retailing such as lack of processing shade and preservation
techniques. It was observed that most women operate in fish retailing with poor marketing
infrastructure such as lack of processing and marketing shade and preservation technologies.
Hence, any support towards addressing the observed challenges through arranging funds could
enhance women’s role in fishery trading and processing. It was learned that the implementation
of fisheries co-management and the formation of Beach Management Units (BMUs) provide
ideal opportunities to increase the participation of females, in both fisheries’ management and
development in Uganda. National guidelines on BMUs in Uganda now require that at least 3
females serve on all BMU Committees and that BMUs incorporate the concerns and priorities of
females in planning and decision-making. Females also benefit from the training and from
BMU’s activities. Therefore, such best practices from Uganda, especially the co-management

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approach should be adopted and scaled-up to enhance women’s role in fisheries management and
development in Ethiopia.

Controlling illegal cross border trade: The main reasons fish actors engage in illegal cross-
border trade is for capitalizing better market demand and price in neighbouring markets. In
addition, some of the fishery products marketed in illegal cross-border have low market demand
in Ethiopia such as catfish and barbus. Hence, legalizing the illegal cross-border trade by
developing a harmonized regional trade system is essential to foster foreign exchange earnings of
the country. Also, there is also a need to establish local demand for less preferred fish species
through establishing processing factors in order to add value and increase local consumption.

Water governance: developing inclusive and participatory fishery resource management is

essential. Adoption of co-management principle with active participation of local authority,
private sectors, and community would bring responsible fishing and effective natural resource
management in the country.

With regard to aquaculture, several countries have made enormous success in advancing the
aquaculture sector. Egypt for example has produced over 1.5 million tonnes of fish from
aquaculture in 2018 (FAO, 2020). Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania also devised different
mechanisms to develop aquaculture in their countries. Aquaculture stimulus package in Kenya in
2009; Africa fish, Aqua-Spark Fish for good investment facility and the Farm Africa concepts of
aqua shops in Kenya were some of the approaches in those countries. Therefore, to develop
aquaculture in Ethiopia there has to be strong and effective cooperation system among different
partners such as higher learning institutions, research institutes, the private sector and the
government. Unless there are skilled and experienced human resources, timely technology
adoption and generation, delivery of aquaculture inputs particularly quality fish feeds and seeds
and good policies and strategies with effective implementation, aquaculture development will be
rather theoretical than actual practices. The development wing should establish functional
extension system for fisheries & aquaculture that links the research institutions with the
development actors.

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From the research institutes point of view the research should focus on the following major
areas:

 Generating fish seed and feed for small, medium scale and commercial aquaculture: It
was noted that unavailability of efficient, inexpensive and fast-growing fish farm made
feeds is another problem hindering the sector. Therefore, researchers have to make
concerted effort and develop fast growing strains of Nile tilapia and African catfish and
alleviate the constraints in the near future.
 Diversify culture organisms (fin and shell fish, crustaceans, micro algae)
 Adapting and demonstrating fish culture technologies
 Develop aquaculture stimulus package
 Developing research based and fortified dish (recipe) for effective consumption of fish
that supports (considers) the available national fish supply both in quality and quantity.
 Developing and adapting innovative ways of consuming fish to enhance more demand
and facilitate the supply chain.
 Supporting farmers to become self-sustained suppliers of fish fingerlings and
complement the current demand of fingerlings directed to research centers
 Adapt food systems approach to help reduce post-harvest loss and support intervention of
stakeholders
 Human and institutional capacity building (establish state of the art training and research
center)

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References

Alemu O. Aga, Assefa M. Melesse and Bayou Chane (2019). Estimating the Sediment Flux and Budget
for a DataLimited Rift Valley Lake in Ethiopia. Hydrology 6, (1) 1-23.
Dagnachew Legesse & Tenalem Ayenew (2006). Effect of improper water and land resource utilization
on the central Main Ethiopian Rift lakes. Quaternary International, 148, 8–18.
Flower, K.R. (2011). Assessment of Factors Driving Environmental Change for Management Decision-
Making; Abijata Shalla lakes National Park; Project: The sustainable Development of Protected
area System of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Wildlife conservation Authority.
Gashaw Tesfaye and M. Wolff (2014). The state of inland fisheries in Ethiopia: a synopsis with updated
estimates of yield potential. Ecohydrology & hydrobiology, 14: 200 – 219.
Golubtsov, A. S., Redeat Habteselassie (2010). Fish faunas of the Chamo – Abaya and Chew Bahir basins
in southern portion of the Ethiopian Rift Valley: origin and prospects for survival. Aquat. Ecosys.
Health Manage., 13(1), 47-55.
Megerssa Endebu, Alemu Lemma, Tilahun Genet, and Assefa Mitike (2014). Fisheries Baseline Survey:
A Tool to Design Community-based Fisheries Management of Lake Zeway, Ethiopia. In: In:
Brook Lemma and Seyoum Mengistu (Eds) Water Reservoirs in Ethiopia: Ecology and Their
Benefits. Proceedings of the 6th Annual Conference of the Ethiopian Fisheries and Aquatic
Sciences Association (EFASA), AAU printing press, Addis Ababa. Pp 409-449.
Wondwossen Girmay, Bereket Tesfaye, Weldemariam Seifu and Eyasu Elias (2017). Effect of land
use/cover changes on ecological landscapes of the four lakes of Central Rift Valley Ethiopia.
Journal of Environment and Earth Science. 28-45.

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Annex Table 1. Name of contacted fishers and cooperative leaders

# Lakes Names Position Contact address

1 GiremewAsho Fisher
2 WendiyeSelmon Fisher
3 KediroGemechu Fisher
4 NegussieNebi Fisher
Ziway
5 AbeyoWasi Fisher
6
7 Cooperative
Diraro Hora 0942450544
manager
8 Cooperative
manager, Chamo
Tomas 0916877908
fishery
cooperative
9 Chamo Genzebe Gaga 0916185804
10 TsegayeTsafo 0916878128
11 YehaneseTembele 0916854830
12 Trader & hotel
Yewesen 0916854608
owner
13 BedeluDemisse Fishers
Hawssa
14 ChuchThesheti Fishers
15 MerdeYilma Fisher 0910938351
16 Koka Trader
Shemesu 0910747560
(collector)
17 Tana TsegayeMergaw Manger of 0912452475

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 cooperative

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