Aquaculture is a diverse and multibillion dollar economic sector that uses various strategies for fish production. The harvesting of wild individuals from very early stages in the life cycle to large mature adults for on-growing under confined and controlled conditions is one of these strategies. This system, referred to as capture-based aquaculture, is practised throughout the world using a variety of marine and freshwater species with important environmental, social and economic implications. The need to evaluate the sustainability of this farming practice in light of its economic viability, the wise use of natural resources and socio-environmental impacts as a whole has been extensively discussed at national, regional and international levels.

In 2004, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched a project entitled “Towards sustainable aquaculture – selected issues and guidelines” funded by the Government of Japan which included a thematic component on the use of wild fish and fishery resources for aquaculture production. The objective is to produce a set of technical guidelines that would assist policy-makers in developing informed and appropriate capture-based aquaculture regulations that would take into account the use and conservation of the aquatic resources exploited.

This publication contains technical information prepared in support of and background material for the “FAO international workshop on technical guidelines for the responsible use of wild fish and fishery resources for capture-based aquaculture production” held in Viet Nam in October 2007. The first draft of the technical guidelines on capture-based aquaculture was produced during this meeting. This publication contains two parts. Part 1 consists of two reviews on (a) environmental and biodiversity and (b) social and economic impacts of capture-based aquaculture and Part 2 consists of eleven species review papers. Both marine and freshwater examples have been reviewed and include finfish (mullet, bluefin tuna, European eel, cod, grouper, yellowtail, Clarias catfish, Indian major carps, and snakehead and Pangasiid catfish), crustaceans (mud crab) and molluscs (oyster).