Nigeria Faces Growing Fish Supply Gap Despite Rising Demand

Nigeria’s fish production continues to fall well short of national demand, leaving the country heavily dependent on imports and exposing persistent challenges within its fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

The concern was raised by the Sea Empowerment and Research Centre (SEREC) in its latest Mid-Year Maritime Security and Blue Economy Bulletin. According to the organisation, local fish production has failed to keep pace with increasing consumption despite ongoing government initiatives aimed at expanding the industry.

SEREC estimates that Nigeria requires about 3.6 million metric tonnes of fish annually, yet domestic production remains between 1.2 million and 1.6 million metric tonnes. The resulting shortfall of more than two million metric tonnes has forced the country to rely extensively on imported fish to meet local demand.

The report warns that the production gap extends beyond food security, placing additional pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves while limiting the fisheries sector’s potential to generate employment, improve rural livelihoods and contribute to non-oil export earnings.

According to SEREC, several long-standing challenges continue to hinder growth in the industry. These include the rising cost of fish feed, limited access to affordable financing for fish farmers, inadequate cold-storage and processing facilities, significant post-harvest losses, illegal and unregulated fishing, and the increasing impact of climate change on aquatic resources.

To address these issues, the organisation called on the Federal Government to step up investment in commercial aquaculture, establish more hatcheries, modernise fish processing and cold-chain infrastructure, and improve access to credit for operators. It also urged authorities to strengthen enforcement against illegal fishing while introducing policies that attract greater private-sector investment into Nigeria’s blue economy.

As one of Africa’s largest fish-consuming nations, Nigeria stands to benefit significantly from closing the production gap. Experts believe that boosting local output would reduce the country’s dependence on imports, conserve scarce foreign exchange, create thousands of jobs across the fisheries value chain and enhance national food security.