Aquaculture needs more governance to be sustainable

Aquaculture provides about the same amount of food globally as wild caught fisheries or the egg sector, yet questions remain about the sector’s environmental and social impacts.

In this new study, a consortium of more than 30 aquaculture experts suggests five areas that can guide research agendas and policy making.

“Good governance is critically important for ensuring that aquaculture does not cause more harm than benefits,” said co-author Professor Dave Little, Aquatic Resource Development at University of Stirling. “However, current knowledge and practices related to aquaculture governance currently lack a set of unifying topics and sustainability goals.”

Professor Little highlights the sector’s rapid growth over the last two decades as a key reason why policy and research have failed to keep up.

“Concerted governance efforts can help move the sector beyond fragmented technical questions associated with intensification and expansion, social and environmental impacts, and toward system-based approaches that address interconnected sustainability issues,” he said.

The five priority areas for research and policymaking are setting sustainability transformation goals; cross-sectoral linkages; land–water–sea connectivity; knowledge and innovation; and value chains, says the paper.

The research titled ‘Aquaculture governance: five engagement arenas for sustainability transformation’ was published in the journal Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability.