Aquaculture issues addressed by the Conference on Aquaculture in the Third Millennium and embodied in the Bangkok Declaration constitute a comprehensive set of guiding principles for NACA member countries. The declaration made no clear distinction between commercial aquaculture and small-scale aquaculture, which is generally practiced as an on-farm food production activity. Aquaculture was seen as a promising activity leading to economic prosperity, greater employment opportunity, food security, and poverty eradication. The member countries, development agencies and private sector concerns were requested to implement the measures embodied in the declaration as a means of aquaculture development into the next millennium.
Adopting aquaculture or any other agricultural activity as a means of food or commodity production naturally depends on a great many factors. Food-producing countries, particularly those in the developing world, face numerous and complex international issues arising out of globalization. Apart from the commitments which they have made to the various international trade instruments and which they must strive to honour, the heavy burdens of debt may force these governments to adopt production policies meant to provide them with certain benefits. Most of these policy alterations, such as withdrawal or increase of certain subsidies on farm inputs, tax incentives, provision or withdrawal of price insurance, change in charges for irrigation, or even currency devaluation under the pretext of promoting export, can have a devastating impact over the technical promotion of aquaculture. The impact of shrimp aquaculture is recognized largely as a trade opportunity, and claims of success have received a mixed response in view of the resultant environmental and social chaos it creates. The promotion of aquaculture technology is unlikely to succeed where socio-economic conditions are not ripe, making an exclusively technical intervention an unpromising strategy.
The success of aquaculture promotion has been left undefined, although economic and social improvements have been implied as important indicators of progress. All economic activities, including aquaculture, impinge on the environment to a certain degree, and certainly all economies rely to a certain extent on the use of natural resources. The third Christian millennium will certainly see more fervent claims made by a variety of economic activities on finite natural resources, particularly land and water; aquaculture will be further squeezed between these increasingly pressing economic needs.
Intensive capital investment is a major factor preventing small farmers from adopting aquaculture as an exclusive food-production activity. Fish is normally kept where water is stored, with or without care and feeding. This informal aquaculture is largely practised and its production goes largely unreported. Promotion of informal aquaculture could lead to a more efficient use of water and other on-farm resources for food production. It is a venue for participatory research to make a network out of the traditional extension systems. The experience accumulated by FAO through numerous projects in Africa and Asia could be used to promote informal aquaculture as a means of food security and poverty alleviation. Options for collaboration with ICLARM and NACA are given.
The high value and export potential of its products make aquaculture a priority area for development in many countries. In massive investment using modern technology that keeps operations going round the clock, commercial aquaculture needs to keep its good image as an environment-friendly food-producing sector offering safe products to consumers. Targeting high-income consumers, commercial aquaculture contributes little to food security, general employment, or poverty alleviation. In future, it will have to compete with other food and development sectors for finite natural resources, and more regulatory measures will be introduced. During the coming decades, the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishery and the guidelines under the UNCED Agenda 21 would make it convenient for member states to evolve national policies that work under their particular socio-economic and political environments. FAO could cooperate with SEAFDEC in the promotion of the code of conduct in the region.
