The opportunities exist to establish fish farms using new technologies that increase yields while reducing the amount of water needed. Aquaculture and hydroponic projects will be structured to act as Centre Farms to much smaller satellite farms which would be established by smaller communities and third party farmers.  The main Centre Farm will have the processing facility to transform the fish and vegetable produce also supplied by the satellite farmers.  The Centre Farm would guarantee the market outlet for these products, thus relieving the third party farmers form the cost of marketing.  This would multiply the effect of the central investment, develop a new efficient farming technology, build capacity in vegetable farming amongst new farmers, further enhance food independence in KZN and create further employment.

The stocktaking and diagnostic exercise revealed that the economic outlook for marine aquaculture over the next twenty years is exceptionally positive, and that real prices for high value fish will rise in response to increased demand. This is in response to a projected decline in the supply of high value fish from the harvest fisheries. South Africa should therefore actively harness its potential to increase marine aquaculture production and maintain market share in the high value fishery sector. Marine aquaculture is based on intensive production technologies with high input costs. Therefore the marine aquaculture sector will be based on the production of high-value products.
 

Although very difficult to reliably project, since estimates have to be made on the basis of assumptions fraught with uncertainty, indicatively the South African marine aquaculture industry could grow at a sustained annual rate of between 9% (the global average growth rate of aquaculture) and 20% per annum depending on the level of public sector support provided. Estimates suggest that over the next 20 years, total production might increase from the current 2,000 tons per annum, to a conservative 10,000 tons (low range projection) or an optimistic 60,000 tons (high range projection). In terms of employment, a marine aquaculture industry producing 60,000 tons of products per year would create a considerable number of skilled jobs. The indicative magnitude is probably in excess of ten thousand jobs directly on-farm. This number can probably be doubled if the services sector employment and a multiplier effect are factored in. The indicative growth estimates are well within the environmental capacity for aquaculture, but zoned access to both sea and land based sites is required.