A revolution without people? Closing the people–policy gap inaquaculture development

Failure of the blue revolution is a global risk. The international problem is that there is a gap in knowledge exchange between the aquaculture industry, policymakers trying to support aquaculturedevelopment and people who depend on aquaculturefor a job and/or food source. Thus, governments and international organizations promoting aquacultureas the solution to improving food security, nutrition and income are failing to optimise production of natural aquatic resources. We identify a “people-policy gap”, and suggest that this is an understudied constraint, which needs to be overcome before worldwide food securitycan be achieved from aquatic environments. We argue that this gap leads to uneven distribution of benefits, a disconnection between benefits and local needs, and detrimental effects on human health and food security, all of which can have negative repercussions on human communitiesand ecosystems. In order to address this need, we present an analytical framework to guide context specific, policy-relevant assessments of the social, economic and ecological dimensions of aquacultureon a case-by-case basis. The framework is designed to make best use of existing data and scientific tools for decision-making. In conclusion, we argue for: equal consideration of ecological, social and economic issues in aquaculturepolicy-making; pre-emptive identification of likely social impacts; integration of people- and context-specific social framing conditions into planning and policy review; addressing the social disconnection between global consumption and production; and, encouragement of creative combinations of theories and methods to assess and interpret the social dimensions of aquaculturein multiple contexts.