Lengthy and complex licensing procedures that Moroccan aquaculture stakeholders are forced to navigate have blocked the sector from achieving its full potential, according to a report from the World Bank.
The organization’s latest private sector diagnostic report for the North African nation estimates that at its full potential, Morocco’s aquaculture industry could attract up to USD 1.96 billion (EUR 1.72 billion) in private investment and generate up to 75,000 new jobs. It also found that even though some reforms within Morocco’s aquaculture sector have helped open up over USD 1 billion (EUR 854 million) in investment opportunities, the sector is still falling short of its ceiling due to bureaucratic red tape.
Examples of red tape holding the sector back, according to the World Bank, include an “inherently rigorous” permitting framework with big gaps between official and actual approval timelines. For instance, Moroccan government estimates state that permitting processes should take between four and 18 months, but investors have reported approval taking between three and four years in some cases.
“Morocco’s framework is broadly comparable to that of other producing countries. However, two considerations are important. First, many comparator countries have mature industries and stronger incentives to limit new permits to manage risks of overcapacity; Morocco, by contrast, is in an early growth phase with ambitious production and export goals, suggesting that its permitting process need not be as lengthy or restrictive,” the report said.
Elsewhere, complex land use rules “limit where and what types of aquaculture support infrastructure can be built,” often resulting in confusion on whether infrastructure, such as hatcheries, depuration and conditioning units, feed storage, cold chain facilities, offices, and water management systems, is acceptable in certain areas.
"To unlock the estimated USD 1.96 billion in medium-term private investment, immediate government priorities would need to accelerate streamlining and digitizing permitting, enforce approval timelines, clarify land use rules for onshore support facilities, bundle marine sites with adjacent land, and issue a pending order to operationalize rendered animal protein use in aquafeed," the World Bank told Seafoodsource.
The organization added that a standardized application template and documentation checklist for potential operators to undergo would help make both participation and investment in the sector more appealing, as would clarifying the mandates of each government agency involved in licensing processes.
Apart from the National Agency for the Development of Aquaculture, which is in charge of promoting and developing the sector in Morocco, several other agencies are involved in the permitting process, including the Regional Investment Center, the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Domaine Public Maritime, the Regional Unified Commission on Investment, and the National Office for Food Safety.
The World Bank said the problem does not lie in a lack of investment opportunities, as the wide range of opportunities identified across Morocco's aquaculture value chain include seaweed, shellfish, fish farming, aquafeed production, and processing, as well as upstream enterprises such as hatcheries, laboratories, feed mills, and technology solutions.
At the same time, Morocco's population is expected to hit 40 million by 2030, and the World Bank estimates the country's domestic seafood consumption will increase to 756,000 tons if current annual per capita intake is maintained at 18 kilograms. Export opportunities also abound, with recent Food and Agriculture Organization research forecasting world production and consumption of seafood will increase through 2034.
