Ecosystem approach to aquaculture

The FAO has released new Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fisheries on the Ecosystem approach to aquaculture (EAA). The EAA is a strategy for the integration of the activity within the wider ecosystem such that it promotes sustainable development, equity and resilience of interlinked social-ecological systems. As such, the focus is not what is done, but rather how it is done. The main objective of these guidelines is to assist countries, institutions and policy-makers in the development and implementation of a strategy to ensure the sustainability of the aquaculture sector, integration of aquaculture with other sectors and its contribution to social and economic development.