Résumé
World per capita fish consumption is expected to increase by 2030 with the exception of Africa, due to population growth outpacing supply on this continent. This raises food and nutrition security issues owing to the high prevalence of malnutrition in the region and the contribution of fish to total animal intake in many African countries. Regardless of the strong potential and significant expansion of the aquaculture industry in Africa, mostly based on freshwater aquaculture, it accounts for only ca. 3% of the global aquaculture production. Despite being the second largest continent on Earth, Africa currently has one of the lowest marine aquaculture productions in the world. AfriMAQUA is a research network funded by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) bringing together researchers in the field of marine aquaculture from Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia), East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritius), West Africa (Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire), and France to facilitate scientific cooperation for the development of sustainable marine aquaculture in the continent. This network provides the opportunity to share knowledge, to join research efforts, and to reinforce the capacities of the consortium members around four main topics: 1) life cycle control of species of aquaculture interest, 2) development of high quality and sustainable feeds for cultured species, 3) development of eco-friendly farming systems and 4) improvement of welfare and health of organisms and farming systems.