This study follows the EU funded Fisheries governance project (2014-2018) and the Fish trade project (2013 to 2018), that have contributed significantly to identification of the major policy issues, barriers, opportunities and priority actions for harmonization of four trade policies in four regions of the continent (West, Central, East and Southern). This study included the fifth corridor “North Africa” to obtain a complete story of Africa fish trade. The study which was conducted between July and December, 2018 included a consolidation of five reports which were prepared by five regional experts from the five corridors.

Results of the study have shown that relatively low value species of sardines and Horse mackerel are traded throughout the continent. It was also interesting to note that the Central Africa corridor acts as a “sink” for most species including tilapia and Nile perch from Eastern corridor.

The species that are traded in high volumes point to a possible huge contribution of inter and intra-regional trade to food and nutrition security. Challenges such as poor infrastructure, access to finance, un-gendered policies and poor tracking of fish trade, keep haunting the improvement of fish trade in Africa. It is thus recommended that a comprehensive Africa wide study on the role of fish trade on food and nutrition security be undertaken to enhance policy direction. Other recommendations include: upgrade of fish trade infrastructure, improved access to finance, review of policies to make them gender sensitive and establishment of centralized Africa Union fish trade tracking system.