Piloting commercial catfish farming in Angola The long war (1975 until 2002) has thoroughly ruined Angolas food production systems. Therefore food prices in Angola are still very high. The project partners strongly believe that high end fish production for the local market is a very profitable business opportunity under the actual circumstances.The applicant is Aquaculture Innovations from South Africa and the local partner is Consulam Lda. The catfish farm will be erected at 55 km north of Luanda. The company will start a HACCP certified fish production, processing and packing line to produce fresh, gilled catfish for the Luanda market and smoked catfish for inland sales.As this project responds to a basic need of the society, especially the smoked catfish will act as a cheap form of protein for the poor part of the population.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The product itself with high quality certified hygiene standards will be beneficial to the middle and lower classes of the society. At the moment, they depend, for a large part, on the protein from imported frozen products, which in general are really dangerous as power outages occur every day in Luanda.The fish will be stunned before killing by an electrical device, so slaughtering will be done in a humane way.The outgrowers' scheme is in the first place a social activity, to give unemployed rural poor a way to make some money and have some protein for the family.The personnel of the fish farm will learn a valuable trade, which gets them more opportunities at the labour market.The recirculation system is a non-polluting method of fish farming.The catfish, as any other fish crop can escape from the fish farm but presents no harm as it is an indigenous species in Angola.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsOutside Luanda there are few formal jobs. The workers in this project will get higher salaries than usual in the rural areas. After a probation period, the employees get a formal labour contract which is also rare in the rural areas. The training in the HACCP and other techniques will enhance the employability of the personnel.•	Innovation / Transfer of knowledgeApart from a small cage type fish production system of Tilapia, no fish production is known in Angola. The Recirculation Aquaculture System is completely new. The liquid smoke used in a mechanical smoker is also new to Angola, where fish is normally smoked over a smothering fire. This modern system gives a product with a better and more stable quality.•	Chain effectsAs a test, 10 outgrowers will benefit from training and imputes. As the fish feed are imported, no local cereals will be bought.The fish vendors will profit from this project.Fish farming in general brings down the retail price of fish as it is a much more efficient production technology compared to fishing in a situation with depleted natural fish stocks.•	Impact on the sectorThis project can set a standard for professional fish farming which is non-existent in Angola. The actual fish farming is either small scale artisan pond based fish production or some cages with Tilapia in natural stream or lake operations. Especially the recirculation techniques are more efficient and less polluting. The HACCP certification also sets a standard for other businesses to start up.•	EnvironmentSeveral environmental dangers exist with fish farming:-	The escape of exotic species, conquering the natural environment. The Clarias species used in this farm are not exotic to Angola.-	Needing high protein fish feed of wild fish origin (1 kg of farmed salmon costs actually 5 kg of wild caught fish). The catfish is one of the rare fish species that can live and grow without animal protein intake. As this type of fish feed is much cheaper, the joint venture will use this.-	Polluting the halieutic environment with high quantities of fish droppings. In the recirculated system, manure is filtered out and can be used on farmers' fields. The fish farm is never into contact with natural waters.-	An EIA will be conducted before the project will take off.•	Position of womenThe project will employ 50% women which reflects the population built up. With the 10 outgrowers only 2 will be women.	•	Impact on food safetyWhen the price of fish goes down because of aquaculture, fish becomes even more available for poor people who in general lack proteins.•	Impact on waterThis project, by opting for the recirculation system, will use very little quantities of water in relation to the production level. Very little water is spoiled or polluted. The project wants to start up a catfish farm in the small town of Caxito, with a total production of 288,000 kg catfish, to be sold as fresh gilled and vacuum packed fish for the Luanda customers and partly as smoked fish for inland sales.