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The symposium on Interactions between Social, Economic and Ecological Objectives of Inland Commercial and Recreational Fisheries and Aquaculture, was organized in conjunction with the Twenty-Fifth Session of the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission (EIFAC) in Antalya, Turkey, from 21 to 24 May 2008. The symposium objectives were: 1) To review the wide range of socio-economic and ecological interactions between fisheries and aquaculture and the roles of various stakeholders with respect to these interactions. 2) To identify where future research should focus and propose measures to decrease interactions that compromise sustainable development and management, and promote interactions that contribute to sustainability. 3) To provide information to policy and decision makers to contribute to the general awareness of trends in socio-economic and ecological interactions within and between the sector and other rural sectors. 4) To facilitate dialogue between scientists, researchers, fisherfolk, aquaculturists and policy and decision makers on the motives, interactions and interests of stakeholders. 5) To advise EIFAC on appropriate management and development measures and tools for inland fisheries and aquaculture in Europe. This Occasional Paper in conjunction with a special issue of Fisheries Management and Ecology represents the proceedings of the symposium. The symposium made considerable progress towards understanding the interactions between ecological/environmental and socio-economic/governance objectives for fisheries and aquaculture. There was a broad recognition that inland fisheries and aquaculture need to shift from a sectoral view where they are treated in isolation to an integrated, multidisciplinary systems view.