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19-21 April 2021: LEGN delivered a regional workshop for selected countries in Asia to review and validate the Aquaculture Legal Assessment and Revision Tool (ALART). This tool sets out a methodology to systematically analyse and assess national legal frameworks for aquaculture in order to identify potential gaps, weaknesses and issues for revision/reform, and to identify possible approaches for their revision or reformWorld aquaculture production has now  surpassed that of capture fisheries and thus adequate and harmonizied legal frameworks for aquaculture, covering a range of subjects such as land and water tenure, spatial planning, environment, biosecurity, animal and plant health and production, food safety and quality and biosafety are fundamental for the sustainable development of the aquaculture sector.

Over 60 coutry representatives from fisheries and aquaculture authorities, environment authorities, and legal departments of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, participated in the workshop. Presentations were given on the aquaculture  project (GCP/GLO/979/NOR ‘Improving Biosecurity Governance and Legal Frameworks for Efficient and Sustainable Aquaculture Production’ funded by Norway), the ALART itself, and on the preliminary assessment of national legal frameworks for aquaculture in these countries conducted by national consultants using ALART. Participants also engaged in practical group exercises, through which they interacted with each other virtually and tested the use of selected sections of ALART. They also shared their findings  and provided valuable feedback to improve the legal diagnostic tool. A similar regional workshop which will include more countries is planned for June this year