World Aquaculture Magazine - March 2021

30 MARCH 2021 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG strategies and interventions of international and regional development players in the fisheries and aquaculture organizations they studied. The main constraints facing the implementation of an Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture was “legislative and regulatory issues, ineffective interagency integration and coordination, financial constraints, lack of human resources, and an ambiguity in the perceived benefits of these approaches by administrators and producers alike” (Brugere et al. 2018). As one of the teammembers who developed the EAA, the Brugere et al. (2018) analysis is accurate for all of the international and local jurisdictions where I either work or live. I see no adoption of the EAA guidelines at any farm, industry, agency, government or non- governmental organization at any of the scales we had hoped to affect in the Americas, EU-27 and Scandinavia, where I have been most active over the last decade. Full development, promotion and use of the EAA as an overall foundation concept for the future of aquaculture has been virtually absent from the FAO leadership, member states, other partners in governments and industries throughout the world. This is in stark contrast to the years of well-funded work done throughout the world to advance the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries that was adopted unanimously by 170 member countries in 1995. The Code was promoted as a “foundational document that set out globally agreed principles and standards for the use of fisheries and aquaculture resources, including through regional mechanisms and cooperation, to ensure sustainable use of aquatic living resources in harmony with the environment” (FAO 1995). Recently, the FAO celebrated the 25th anniversary of The Code. There was good cause for this celebration as its key concepts have affected much change. FAO (2020) stated that over 90 percent of fisheries management plans implemented by member countries for marine and inland capture fisheries are in accordance with The Code. In contrast, FAO (2020) mentions the EAA only in passing. The EAA is not mentioned in the FAO (2020) decadal assessment of the important “development of international legal, environmental and management instruments.” During the 10+ years since the EAA there has been a rise of numerous and well-funded aquaculture certification organizations making similar (and sometimes very costly) EAA/sustainability assessments for multiple audiences. As an aside, 15 years ago in World Aquaculture magazine, we called for aquaculture professionals and industries to pay attention to this rise (Stickney et al. 2004). Roheim (2009) estimated that the number of sustainable seafood guides/ cards internationally grew to approximately 200. The cacophony of standards and guides has confused consumers, agencies and industries everywhere. Certifications have replaced government scientific agencies, burdened farmers with the need to comply with various competing standards and stymied the development of government legislation and legal frameworks to govern the future of aquaculture. FAO (2019b) has technical guidelines for sustainable aquaculture in development but these are not aligning fully with the EAA as the overall vision, as was done for The Code. The overuse and degraded state of nearly all of the world’s aquatic ecosystems, combined with public concerns about adding any “new” uses or sources of aquatic pollution to already overburdened natural and human systems requires aquaculture and societies to radically transform. The ecosystem approach to aquaculture could be the key organizing paradigm to accelerate the social contract for aquaculture worldwide, as it can ensure aquaculture is a net gain to humanity. For planetary survival in the Anthropocene (Costa- Pierce 2016), a major reordering of global to local food policies and accelerated institution-building and funding are needed urgently to prioritize the rapid, widespread expansion of ecological aquaculture, and for developing fully the FAO ecosystem approach to aquaculture. Notes Barry Antonio (aka “BCP”, “Pierce”) received a Ph.D. in Oceanography and Aquaculture from the University of Hawai’i and an M.Sc. in Zoology and Limnology from the University of Vermont. Currently he is the Henry L. &Grace Doherty Professor of Ocean Food Systems and ProgramCoordinator of the Graduate Program in Ocean Food Systems, School of Marine & Environmental Programs, University of New England in Maine, USA, and President/CEO of the Ecological Aquaculture Foundation LLC. He is a recent recipient a Knut &Alice Wallenberg Professorship from the Swedish Royal Academy of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Gothenburg where he serves as a senior advisor to the Director of the Swedish Mariculture Research Center (SWEMARC). Previously, he was the Sea Grant Director for two programs: Rhode Island Sea Grant and Professor at the University of Rhode Island, and the Mississippi- Alabama Sea Grant Consortium at the University of Southern Mississippi. BCP has lived and worked, lived and loved aquaculture and its communities of practice in numerous Asian/Pacific, African, Latin and North Atlantic nations. He has been a WAS member since the 1970s and served two terms on the WAS Board. This article includes excerpts from his upcoming book titled Radical Aquaculture to be published by 5mBooks. As a personal note toWAS members, I feel this is a special time we are sharing together. Globally and locally we all are embroiled in the urgency for racial justice, immigration reform and environmental restoration in the midst of a global pandemic. I have learned so much during this time, about the injustices done to many and our Earth, especially from the youth, as I hope you have. This learning has affected deeply my family and the ones I love throughout the World. Personally this has made me to return, proudly, to my real, full, immigrant name of my ancestors, leaving my “deadnames” behind. I dedicate this article to all the beautiful souls struggling to make such radical transformations to themselves, to societies locally and globally, and worldwide for the restoration of Mother Earth. References Bardach, J. 1997. Sustainable Aquaculture. Wiley and Sons, NewYork. Bardach, J., J. Ryther andW. McLarney. 1972. Aquaculture. The Farming and Husbandry of Freshwater and Marine Organisms. Chichester, NewYork. Beveridge and Little. 2002. The history of aquaculture in traditional societies. In: Ecological Aquaculture: The Evolution of the Blue Revolution, ed. B.A. Costa-Pierce, pp. 3-29. Oxford: Blackwell Science. Bookchin, M. 1962. Our Synthetic Environment. Knopf Books, NewYork. Bookchin, M. 1982. The Ecology of Freedom. AK Press, Chico, CA. Brugere, C., J. Aguilar-Manjarrez, M. Beveridge, and D. Soto. 2018. The ecosystem approach to aquaculture 10 years on—a critical