Tunisia has a Mediterranean coastline of 1,350 km with a national maritime domain of 80,000 km2 and 105,200 ha of lagoons. In 2024, over 10 million tourists visited the country, many of them looking to eat seafood. While Tunisia has long been a country of sailors and fishermen, aquaculture is a small but growing industry, accounting for 13% of total fishery production value and 3,000 direct jobs. Aquaculture is increasingly important to alleviate pressure on wild-caught fish stocks in Tunisian waters. There are 42 aquaculture farms in the sea and 30 freshwater operations that include tuna fattening, emerging algae cultivation, marine finfish, shellfish, and shrimp farming. These operations generated over USD 123 million in revenues in 2024 compared to USD 112 million in 2023, according to a recent USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service report.

Production

Tunisia’s aquaculture production rose from 14,613 tons in 2015 to 23,003 tons in 2024 (Table 1). The leading products in terms of quantity and value are seabass, seabream, and meagre, with the expansion of floating and submersible cage operations. The Ministry of Agriculture projects that production will reach 35,000 tons in 2030. While growth has been fluctuating, Tunisia’s fisheries and aquaculture experts concluded the aquaculture sector’s potential future growth is around 9 percent annually.

Currently, there are roughly 57 companies involved in aquaculture production and they are related with:

• Shellfish farming: production remains very limited and only 4 companies out of 16 are still active. The decline is mostly due to loss of adequate habitat from environmental degradation such as pollutant runoff and warming seawater from rising average air temperatures.
• Bluefin tuna fattening: 3 export-oriented companies operate in this sub-sector with their production totally exported to Asian markets.
• Marine fish farming: 20 companies. Production relies heavily on imported fry and feed.
• Inland fish farming: 30 companies. Main species are mullet, carp, and pikeperch.

Most shellfish production is concentrated in northern Tunisia, particularly in the Bizerte governorate’s lagoons, using both breeding tables and floating lines.

The primary marine aquaculture production area is in the Monastir governorate, along Tunisia’s eastern shore. Marine aquaculture is practiced using modern and innovative techniques, whether in concrete facilities with a density of 60 kg/m3 or in floating cages on the high seas. Fry are imported for seabass and seabream production, while bluefin tuna are imported for fattening.

Inland aquaculture is mostly practiced in the Beja governorate, producing freshwater fish, including thinlp mullet (Liza Ramado), common carp (Cyprinus Carpio), zander (Stizostedion Lucioperca), and flathead grey mullet (Mugil Cephalus). Inland aquaculture consists of incorporating alevin in dams, some of which are imported and others of which are bred locally.

Industry points to ineffective disease controls and poor feed quality as causes for below-average performance within the aquaculture sector. Industry also indicates the sector is not well organized in terms of value chain integration, relying exclusively on middlemen to get aquaculture products from the farm to the marketplace.

Table 1. Tunisia Aquaculture production (tons), 2015 – 2024. Credits: Ministry of Agriculture and FAS Tunis Research.

Consumption

Per capita consumption of fishery products coming from both aquaculture and wild catch was 12 kg in 2024 compared to 10 kg in 2014. There is a large disparity between coastal and interior regions, where per capita consumption is only 2 kg. The domestic demand for aquaculture products is likely to grow 10% annually and be driven largely by lower availability of wild catch fishery products and lower purchase prices for consumers.

Trade

The largest seafood export markets for Tunisia (including wild catch) are Europe, Japan, Indonesia, and Canada. During the 2024, the value was USD 276 million compared to USD 175 million in 2020.

Likewise, Tunisia mostly sources seafood from Europe, India, and Senegal, where values in 2024 were USD 109 million in 2024 and USD 74 million in 2020.

Policy

Development of the aquaculture sector in Tunisia remains far below its potential, and the government’s goal is to support its growth to relieve pressure on wild catch fish stocks. The government’s plan includes the following:

• Implementing environmental standards and biosecurity protocols
• Implementing efficient integrated diseases management
• Supporting private investment in aquaculture projects by subsidizing 7 to 25 percent of the project cost plus tax savings
• Introducing new species, such as shrimp and seaweed

Aquaculture in Tunisia is a strategic sector with strong growth potential. However, sustainable development will depend on managing environmental risks, technological innovation, and strengthening export markets.

Opportunities for U.S. feed and rendered products

The development of the aquaculture sector in Tunisia relies heavily on the availability of quality fish feed. U.S. corn, soy, dried distillers’ grains (DDGs) and corn gluten meals are already critical in the formulation of fish feed in Tunisia and still have good growth prospects. Tunisian fish feed absorbs all U.S. corn gluten meal exports into Tunisia, estimated at 5,000 tons per year, 12% of the U.S. DDGs (estimated at 3,000 tons per year), one percent of U.S. corn exports (estimated at 9,000 tons), and 0.5 percent of U.S. soybean exports (estimated at 4,500 tons per year). However, according to the report, Tunisian producers face higher costs than competitors in Turkey and Greece, since they cannot use rendered poultry products in feed. Allowing these products could lower production costs, improve affordability and competitiveness, and create new opportunities for U.S. rendered product exports.