APFIC - Report of the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts in Rural Aquaculture. Bangkok, Thailand, 20-22 October 1999.

This is the report of the meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts in Rural Aquaculture of the Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission held in Bangkok, Thailand from 20 to 22 October 1999. Rural aquaculture contributes to the improvement of the livelihoods of the poor and to food security in areas where it is traditional practice. It has significant unfulfilled potential, particularly in areas where wild fish have declined recently with a widening gap between supply and demand of fish. Generic technologies exist for rural aquaculture so major constraints to its expansion are social and institutional. Poor farming households need to be specifically targeted and provided with institutional support to enable them to farm fish, although, for rural aquaculture to be sustainable, it has eventually to function as a private sector activity. An analytical framework is required to learn from past experience as there has been limited multiplier effect of successful projects. The establishmen t of regional networks would accelerate the contribution of aquaculture to rural development.