This review covers aquaculture development in Latin America and the Caribbean Region. Current norms and market conditions tend to discourage the participation of small-scale farmers in this industry, implying that there is a need for governmental help in providing technology and technical assistance to these producers including management, market and marketing, financial aspects, logistic, etc. that commonly become the soft spots that have made past support efforts fail for most part.

This review covers aquaculture development in the Near East and North Africa. The main driving forces responsible for the expansion of the sector have included an increased public health awareness and interest in fish products, the passing of enabling policies driven by the need for consolidating domestic fish supply, compensating for declining capture fishery landings, strengthening the livelihood of rural communities and supporting food security programmes.

This review covers the status and trends in aquaculture development in North America including the nations of Canada and the United States of America. It is organised by thematic areas including the social and economic background of the region; resources, services and technologies; aquaculture and environment; markets and trade; contribution of aquaculture to food security, social and economic development; external pressures on the sector; the role of shared information, research, networking and governance.

Global aquaculture has not grown evenly around the world. There are marked intra and inter-regional and country variations in a number of areas, such as production level, species composition, farming systems and producer profile. This presentation reviews patterns in global aquaculture development, including regional development, species cultivated, industry composition, research effort, trade and governance issues. As the sector further expands, intensifies and diversifies it should make efforts to address sustainability in a transparent manner.

Plenary discussion of the regional and global aquaculture reviews presented at the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010.