3.3 Review and possible adaptation of laws, policies, regulations and institutional frameworks affecting aquaculture

The collection of relevant information and the review of policy and legal frameworks will need to be undertaken. The need for different levels of planning in order to identify aquaculture zones or sites, to designate aquaculture management areas, and to manage or overcome social conflicts such as competition for space and conflicts of interest and environmental considerations necessitate the following:

• a clear and efficient institutional framework with clearly defined competencies;
• clear policy and legal frameworks and rules and regulations that govern development and management of aquaculture, including, for example, access use rights and duties; and
• encouragement and empowerment of the aquaculture sector to self-regulate where appropriate.
The policy and legal frameworks for sustainable aquaculture must be based on the law of the sea, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 (UNCLOS) and international environmental law as well as various soft law instruments (Table 5 and Annex 1). There is also a need for a review of different areas of national law and administration frameworks that may relate to or have an impact on aquaculture activity. For example, spatial and area management requirements may exist in legislation relating to the authorization and conduct of commercial or development activities, public works, zoning and planning, public health and environmental legislation. A review of these legal frameworks in the scoping phase will help determine whether they need to be strengthened to include aquaculture development. In countries where there is no legal framework for aquaculture, which sets out the main requirements for aquaculture management including spatial planning and management in one legislation, appropriate legislation may need to be developed.

There has been an increase in effort in the development of enhanced national policy, legal and institutional frameworks for aquaculture administration in the last decades with the expansion of the sector. A corresponding growth in environmental consciousness is also being noted in the increased number and breadth of environmental considerations in policy, regulations and management.
The FAO fisheries National Aquaculture Legislation Overview (NALO) Web page (www.fao.org/fishery/ nalo/search/en) includes legal fact sheets for 61 countries. A list of legal issues for sustainable aquaculture planning and management, adapted from the NALO fact sheets are presented in Table 5.
Institutional analysis should cover both formal and informal institutions (FAO, 2010). Formal institutions are those such as government departments or agencies that typically have a legally defined role and structure. Informal institutions are those such as business, social or family networks or associations.
The latter in this group also have structure and sets of procedures, although they may have no legal or written basis. In essence, institutional analysis requires that a specific set of questions be addressed, including: What are the rules? Who decides, and how is this done (process and decision criteria)? Who implements what rules, and how? How and when is progress assessed? and What are the relationships between different institutions (both formal and informal)?