Understanding and enforcement of aquaculture legislation
National governments need to make policies, laws and regulations specifically for people who want to develop and promote responsible aquaculture practices. Existing administrative and legal systems may need to be adjusted to meet these needs by describing privileges and responsibilities and how laws, regulations and orders are communicated to everyone in a way that can be understood and enforced.
A general responsibility of Government should be to work with people and groups in civil society to promote environmentally sound and sustainable aquaculture that is well coordinated with rural, agricultural and coastal development plans and activities and raise awareness of the general public so they understand the many benefits of aquaculture to themselves and others.
Advance evaluations of genetic affects
One of the big concerns about aquaculture is biodiversity. Genetic changes can be caused by introduced species, domesticated species or species that have been genetically modified by aquaculture breeding programmes or other technology. Negative affects from changes in the genes of a species can include:
contamination of the gene pool of a native species through hybridization;
less suitable native species (e.g. smaller size, poor taste, lower market price) or the complete loss of a species, and
change in the mix of native species caused by competition, predators or damage to the native habitat.
The risk of these negative affects can be estimated in advance if people think about:
the possibility that a cultured species will escape into the natural environment;
the chances of an escaped species being able to survive in the natural environment;
if the escaped species can breed with other fish, and
the ability of the genes of the escaped species to transfer to native species.
Aquaculture development and planning
An aquaculture development plan should describe the responsibilities of all the people concerned and should suit the needs of the area by taking into account the local social and economic conditions.
The plan should also describe how people can participate in the planning process, help put the plan into action and help enforce the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries they develop and adopt.
Responsible use of land and water resources and acceptable levels of impact on the environment
Government agencies can make suitable environmental impact assessments before setting up aquaculture farms with procedures in place to measure water use, effluents, use of drugs and chemicals and other farm activities that might affect nearby water and land. Environmental assessment and monitoring is an important area for cooperation between government agencies, researchers and fish farmers, but procedures should be flexible to fit different types of operations. Aquaculture activities need be located in places that are physically suitable for sustainable production, are economically and socially suitable, prevent or minimize conflicts with other people and respect nature reserves, protected areas and critical or sensitive habitats.
Government agencies need to ensure that the privileges and needs of the aquaculture sector are recognized and respected by other users of land and water resources and that aquafarms are not in danger from environmental problems caused in other sectors.
Zoning or site regulations need to consider plans for regional development and river basin or coastal area management. Zoning often requires cooperation and capacity building in areas such as: assessing and monitoring resources, planning use of resources across different sectors, environmental accounting, conflict resolution and getting stakeholders to take part in the decision - making processes.
Institutional capacity for aquaculture
In most cases, the institutional arrangements that governments use to develop and support aquaculture come from forestry, fishery and other natural resource management agencies. These arrangements are useful for dealing with biological, marketing and food quality issues but governments need to strengthen links between aquaculture and related agencies such as rural development, irrigation, tourism and health. Aquaculture and fishery experts need to find ways of taking part in making economic and legal policy and regulations for water management.
Promoting appropriate development and technology while ensuring the livelihoods of local communities
Proposed aquaculture development projects may not be given enough careful thought in advance, because many countries do not have a lot of experience in the aquaculture sector. Government officers working together with aquaculture experts, fish farmers and investors should think carefully about the possible benefits and consequences of aquaculture projects to make sure they will help increase the food supply and improve economic and social conditions in rural communities without any serious negative impacts.
Expanding food production is one of the main ways of increasing food supply and income for people living in poverty. The livelihoods of poor people living in rural communities depend on their being able to produce food in a number of ways. Some of these ways may include land and aquatic farming, fishing and use of forest products. The need for food production to expand, intensify, specialize or diversify often comes into conflict with traditional practices.
