The need was exposed this Thursday by the Secretary of State for Fisheries, Esperança Costa, who participated in the Angola-China Business Forum in the field of Agriculture and Fisheries, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held by video conference.
The official stressed that Angola favors, in cooperation with China, the construction and maintenance of the ship, stressing that the national fleet represents about 55 percent of the total and that "I would like" to see it increase.
Esperança Costa also said that the Government of Angola chose as fundamental areas of cooperation in the fisheries sector for cooperation with China, continental and marine commercial aquaculture, informing that the country has "excellent conditions for this practice".
"We are available so that Angola and China, in terms of projects among our businesspeople, can develop this area of aquaculture, where we choose the major issue of the feed issue. Hence the need to develop projects that also identify the implantation of factories. of feed, so that production costs are reduced with regard to the production of aquaculture resources ", he said.
With regard to mariculture (production of marine organisms for food and other products in the open sea), also considering high technology and the investments involved, the Government considers that it should be developed mainly by the private sector, stressed the Secretary of State for Fisheries.
According to Esperança Costa, the main objective is the application of modern technologies, in the creation of larvae for environmental restocking, as well as the improvement of potential species for mariculture, for the production of fish larvae, for the production of mollusk larvae. , of crustaceans, with a view primarily to domestic consumption, but also favoring exports.
The provinces with potential for mariculture are Namibe, Benguela, Bengo, Zaire, Cuanza Sul and Luanda, said the minister, recalling that the country has 1650 kilometers of coast and prioritizes the exploitation of living aquatic resources.
The development of scientific research was "another great need that the country has" pointed out by Esperança Costa, who also listed the difficulties in the issues of fish processing, cold storage and the development of necessary and appropriate laboratories.
