31. This agenda item identified the elements of good aquaculture legislation. It was noted that there is no single model of ideal legislation that will encourage the emergence of a sustainable commercial aquaculture industry. However, experience in both developing and developed countries indicates that successful aquaculture legislation must deal with a list of issues and adopt solutions from a limited range of possibilities. The aquaculture law of an individual country must provide the operator with a secure right to conduct aquaculture operations, to the property on which the fish farm will be located, to water of the necessary quality and to the produce. It must also establish control over the industry through a permit or licence system which will provide the basis for ensuring the environmental sustainability of aquaculture by examining the suitability of the proposed location of fish farms and the potential environmental effects of their operations. The legislation should subject proposals to an environmental impact assessment when the operation threatens to have the potential for serious environmental harm. Environmental supervision must extend to controls over the use of exotic species, products from modern technology including genetically modified organisms and to any water quality concerns created by the proposed project.
32. The Workshop further noted that difficulties lay often in how to establish a legal framework conducive to sustainable commercial aquaculture. Such difficulties may be reduced or overcome when a legal framework is prepared with the involvement of stakeholders from the private sector, including financial institutions, communities, fish farmers and allied industries.
33. In order to encourage the development of a commercial industry, the system should ensure that environmental goals are met without imposing unnecessary costs on applicants. For this, it was recommended that Malawi and Zambia adopt a single window approach for the numerous approvals usually required for an aquaculture operation and screen initial applications so that only those that present a significant risk of environmental harm are subjected to a full environmental impact assessment. In addition, the two countries could consider the creation of a single agency to promote aquaculture and to monitor the progress of applications through other government departments.
