Oysters and communities: aquaculture starts with people –
Along the Keiskamma Estuary in Hamburg, Eastern Cape, oysters are doing more than growing in the water. They are helping a coastal community build skills, create economic opportunities and turn local natural resources into the foundations of a sustainable business.
At the centre of this story is Siyazama Aquaculture Primary Cooperative, a 25-member community cooperative that includes young people, women and people living with disabilities.
After years of experience and experimentation in community aquaculture, Siyazama is now reaching an important milestone: its oyster nursery is ready to harvest and supply an identified market.
But the significance of the initiative goes far beyond the oysters themselves.
It offers a practical example of a different approach to aquaculture development: community ownership, technical capacity, sound governance, market access and environmental stewardship are developed together.
The name Siyazama means “we are trying.”
From aquaculture project to community business
Siyazama is not new to aquaculture.
The cooperative has a history of both oyster and dusky kob farming in the Keiskamma Estuary. In 2015, the Hamburg aquaculture project reached an important commercial milestone when more than 260 farmed dusky kob (Argyrosomus japonicus) were harvested, demonstrating that community-based aquaculture could produce for commercial markets.
Today, the cooperative is entering a new phase centred on oyster nursery development.
Blue Life Hub spoke with Morena Khashane, aquaculturist and Technical Advisor/Partner to Siyazama, who is leading the technical and strategic development of the initiative through MK Enterprise (Pty) Ltd.
His work spans oyster production and nursery planning, infrastructure and procurement, training and capacity building, resource mobilisation, market development, partnerships, business planning and environmental sustainability.
For Khashane, however, establishing an oyster nursery is only one part of the challenge.
“Equipment does not create a business by itself. We need trained people, proper management, production systems, markets and good governance.”
That distinction is crucial.
Too many development initiatives risk measuring success through infrastructure delivered, equipment purchased or production capacity installed. Community aquaculture requires a longer-term perspective.
A functioning farm is not necessarily a functioning enterprise.
Putting communities at the centre
The ambition at Siyazama is therefore not simply to produce oysters. It is to develop a commercially viable enterprise owned and managed by the community itself.
Community members are not intended to remain passive recipients of development assistance. The objective is for them to become owners, operators and decision-makers with the skills and institutional capacity required to manage the enterprise over time.
This changes the meaning of capacity building.
Technical knowledge about oyster production remains essential, but it must be accompanied by financial management, governance, accountability, market development, business planning and the ability to make informed commercial decisions.
The ultimate objective is independence.
“The real measure of success will not simply be how many oysters we put into the water. The real measure will be whether those oysters generate sustainable income for the cooperative and its members.”
This is where community aquaculture can become a genuine instrument for local economic development.
An oyster value chain can generate opportunities well beyond primary production, including processing and packaging, marketing and sales, transport and logistics, environmental monitoring, tourism, catering and hospitality, and the creation of new small businesses.
For women and young people in particular, these interconnected activities can open pathways not only to employment, but also to entrepreneurship and leadership within the local blue economy.
More than an oyster farm
The longer-term vision for Siyazama extends beyond aquaculture production.
The cooperative has the potential to connect oyster farming with eco-tourism, gastronomy, environmental education and local enterprise development.
Oyster farm visits, tasting experiences, educational programmes, youth activities and nature-based experiences around the Keiskamma Estuary could create additional sources of income while strengthening the connection between the local economy and the health of the coastal ecosystem.
This integrated approach also highlights a fundamental principle of sustainable blue economy development: environmental protection and economic development do not have to be competing objectives.
As Khashane puts it:
“The environment is not an obstacle to development. The environment is the foundation of our development.”
For coastal communities whose livelihoods depend directly on healthy ecosystems, this relationship is particularly tangible. Protecting the estuary is not an external environmental requirement imposed on economic activity; it is part of protecting the productive asset on which that activity depends.
Building resilience through ownership
Community ownership also changes the way resilience is understood.
A resilient aquaculture enterprise needs more than infrastructure capable of withstanding environmental pressures. It needs people capable of managing change, solving problems, maintaining productive assets, accessing markets and making collective decisions.
That requires strong institutions at community level.
For Siyazama, the transition from a development-supported initiative to a financially sustainable cooperative will therefore depend on its ability to generate revenue, compensate its members, maintain infrastructure, strengthen markets and reinvest profits into future growth.
Khashane describes the ambition simply:
“I want to reach a point where Siyazama does not have to ask, ‘Where is the next grant?’ Instead, the cooperative should be asking, ‘How do we grow the business?’”
That shift — from grant dependency to enterprise development — may ultimately be one of the most important measures of success.
A model that can travel
The initiative has benefited from the support of WWF South Africa, the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC), SANParks and the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme, alongside the technical leadership provided through MK Enterprise.
The next challenge is to strengthen partnerships with government institutions, development organisations, investors, funders and aquaculture industry actors capable of helping community-based oyster aquaculture reach greater scale.
But scaling does not necessarily mean reproducing exactly the same project elsewhere.
The more valuable lesson may be the approach behind it: start with local environmental potential, build technical capacity, strengthen community governance, identify viable markets and ensure that communities retain a meaningful role in ownership and decision-making.
Again, the name Siyazama means “we are trying.”
What is emerging along the Keiskamma Estuary, however, is about more than trying.
It is about demonstrating that aquaculture can become a platform for jobs, skills, entrepreneurship, community ownership and sustainable coastal development — provided that the people who live alongside these resources are placed at the centre of the process.
As Khashane says:
“I want Siyazama to become a story that other communities can look at and say: if they could do it in Hamburg, we can do it too.”
Perhaps that is the larger story growing alongside the oysters in the Keiskamma Estuary.
Author’s Note
In 21 years of professional experience across Europe, Africa and Latin America, I have had the opportunity to observe closely the evolution of aquaculture and, above all, its relationship with the communities that live around it and depend on it.
Siyazama stands out as one of the most compelling examples of inclusive aquaculture I have encountered throughout my career. What makes it remarkable is not only the production of oysters, but the way aquaculture becomes a vehicle for community ownership, skills, dignity, entrepreneurship and long-term economic opportunity.
Above all, this project gives tangible meaning to equity. Equity is a fundamental pillar of the FAO’s Blue Transformation and, I believe, must also be a guiding principle for all of us working across fisheries, aquaculture and the wider blue economy. Sustainable development cannot be measured only in tonnes produced, economic returns or technologies deployed. It must also be measured by who participates, who has a voice in decision-making, who owns the opportunities being created, and who ultimately benefits from them.
For me, this is what sustainable aquaculture should ultimately be about: not simply producing more, but creating lasting and equitably shared value, with communities at the centre — Orazio Albano.
Oysters and communities: aquaculture starts with people
