The Expert Consultation on the Development of the Sustainable Aquaculture Guidelines was held in Rome, Italy from 17 to 20 June 2019 to come out with a proposal for developing the Sustainable Aquaculture Guidelines to be presented in August 2019 at the tenth session of the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI). The specific objectives of this Expert Consultation were to propose criteria for selecting case studies aimed at providing lessons learned for the development of the Sustainable Aquaculture Guidelines, and methodologies for documenting the case studies, for analysing the case studies to identify the lessons learned, and for developing the Sustainable Aquaculture Guidelines by also making use of existing guidelines. The consultation was attended by 15 experts, one resource person and FAO staff. The consultation was organized into both plenary and group discussions. The Experts agreed on a proposed methodology for identifying and selecting the lessons learned from strategies and experiences of aquaculture development worldwide; a methodology for documenting and analysing the lessons learned; a list of thematic modules; a gap analysis between existing guidelines and needs for new ones, and; an updated roadmap for the development of the Sustainable Aquaculture Guidelines.

In line with the recommendation of the FAO Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI-SCA) made in 2017, as endorsed by the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in 2018, regarding the preparation of the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA), the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division organized, virtually, the second Expert Consultation on the development of GSA from 18 to 22 October 2021. Thirteen experts from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America attended the consultation. They were supported by seven resource persons and the FAO Secretariat. The objective of the consultation was to discuss and review the drafts of the GSA, the accompanying “Action-Oriented Guidance for Transforming Aquaculture for Greater Contribution to Achieve the SDGs: Key Interconnected Actions to Guide Decision-Makers and Practitioners (AOG)”, and the background document used for the preparation of the GSA and the AOG. The consultation significantly improved these three documents and technically endorsed the drafts of the GSA and the AOG. The experts agreed to the next step of submitting these drafts to the next session of COFI-SCA for further guidance.

Aquaculture was excluded from the scope of the guidelines. The Expert Consultation recognized that most of the provisions on procedural and institutional aspects of standard setting, accreditation and certification applied equally to both marine and inland capture fisheries. However, there were some instances where the specific characteristics of inland capture fisheries including culture-based and enhanced fisheries needed to be reflected. Cases in point were the addition of hatchery managers among the interested parties in standard setting or the inclusion of the production of stocking material in the certification of a fishery.

The regional consultation held in Mali, Bamako, on 29–30 November 2019, was organized as a series of regional consultations of the project entitled “Support to global consultations to developing guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture”, which was supported by the Government of the Republic of Mali, FAO Regional Office for Africa and the Korea Maritime Institute of the Republic of Korea. This consultation was the first of a series of regional consultations on the Development of “Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA)”. It aimed to: 1. Share current policies and practices related to aquaculture in the region and inform the African region of the development process of GSA. 2. Review existing regional sustainable aquaculture guidance, and assess potential gaps that GSA could help fill. 3. Develop a list of priority thematic modules, including regional strengths and challenges. 4. Discuss regional case study concepts proposed at the FAO Tenth Session of the COFI Sub-Committee on Aquaculture (SCA) held in Trondheim, Norway on 23-27 August 2019, and identify additional case study topics associated with one or more thematic Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture modules, as outlined by the expert consultation on the development of the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture, held at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy on 17-20 June 2019.

This is the report of the Expert Consultation on the Proposed Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries, held at the request of the 23rd Session of COFI in the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand, from 28 to 29 February 2000. The expert consultation confirmed that the growing importance of aquaculture, including culture-based fisheries, and its interactions justified a focused global intergovernmental mechanism to provide the opportunity for information exchange, discussion and consensus-building among the various parties interested in aquaculture development and to establish an efficient means of advising and guiding COFI and FAO. The consultation concluded that establishment of such a subcommittee would be in line with FAO Conference Resolution 13/97 and that the expenditure of funds for the subcommittee would be justified. They identified the major issues and six key priority areas that need to be addresse, emphasizing that the role of aquaculture for enhancing food security and economic development in FAO member countries was a primary priority.

The Expert Consultation on the Assessment of Socio-economic Impacts of Aquaculture was held in Ankara, Turkey, from 4 to 8 February 2008. It identified the many positive and negative impacts of aquaculture with their far-reaching socio economic implications. While they agreed that multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) as a measurement technique is a suitable method for assessing socio-economic impacts of aquaculture, experts recognized that other methods such as the costs benefits analysis (CBA) could also be used depending on circumstances. They recommended that case studies be carried out in a certain number of developed and developing countries on assessing the socio-economic impacts of aquaculture using AHP, CBA and another technique in order to test and compare the applicability and results of these methods. They also suggested developing a user guide on the implementation of these methods and build capacity in developing countries in using them, and identified other needs for future work in socio-economics of aquaculture.

This catalogue aims to improve the dissemination and outreach of FAO’s knowledge products and overall publishing programme. By providing information on its key publications in every area of FAO’s work, and catering to a range of audiences, it thereby contributes to all organizational outcomes. From statistical analysis to specialized manuals to children’s books, FAO publications cater to a diverse range of audiences. This catalogue presents a selection of FAO’s main publications, produced in 2021 or earlier, ranging from its global reports and general interest publications to numerous specialized titles. In addition to the major themes of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, it also includes thematic sections on climate change, economic and social development, and food safety and nutrition