Fisheries and aquaculture provide essential nutrition, support livelihoods and contribute to national development. However, the sector is facing significant challenges in maintaining its crucial contribution to these areas. Increasing global demand for fish and aquatic foods, ocean acidification and climate variability and change only adds to these challenges.

Climate-smart fisheries and aquaculture require:

- Improved efficiency in the use of natural resources to produce fish and aquatic foods

- Maintenance of the resilience of aquatic systems and the communities that rely on them to allow the sector to continue contributing to sustainable development

- Effective ways to reduce the vulnerability of those most likely to be negatively impacted by climate change.

The ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) and the ecosystem approach to aquaculture (EAA) are the underlying approaches to developing climate-smart fisheries and aquaculture.