Aquaculture presents a significant opportunity for Malawi to bridge the fish demand-supply gap, improve household nutrition, create employment and strengthen rural livelihoods. The sector, however, remains underdeveloped and dominated by smallholder producers operating at subsistence and semi-commercial levels. This policy brief highlights critical factors for transitioning Malawi’s aquaculture sector towards commercial production. The analysis demonstrates the potential for improved profitability through cage culture and species diversification, particularly Common Carp. The findings also highlight critical challenges, including a nearly 50% deficit in quality fingerling supply, rising fish feed costs, inadequate investment in production technologies and weak quality assurance systems. The study recommends expanding commercial fingerling and local feed production, strengthening aquaculture extension services, improving access to affordable finance, and scaling viable community-based commercial models. These interventions are essential to unlocking the sector’s economic potential and ensuring a more sustainable and competitive aquaculture sub-sector in Malawi.