After the Second World War, an ambitious fish farming project was set up in the Congo by the Belgian colonial government on the basis of scientific reports indicating the state of fish resources. The aim was to feed the indigenous population, especially in rural areas considered to be the poorest, and to make economic production profitable, which could contribute to the well-being of the Congolese workers. By placing this project in the long history of sustainability, this article presents the main economic and socio-environmental issues regarding food and the use of fish resources that drove this project, as well as the measures put in place by the authorities associated with the experts to respond to them. The last part provides and discusses arguments that allow for the evaluation of the extent to which the fish farming project met the conditions of interconnected economic, social and environmental sustainability, as defined by the concept of sustainable development.