European aquaculture is recognised as having great potential for countering the negative development in many peripheral areas of Europe. Aquaculture provides opportunities in both rural and coastal areas, either as freshwater or marine activities, and has fulfilled many of the objectives identified.

Aquaculture in Europe is growing (an annual average of 6.3 % since 1994) and both its economic contribution and the numbers employed are rising. It is the wish of the European Commission that aquaculture in the Union should increase its rate of growth to 4 % pr year and provide an additional 10,000 jobs by 2008.
European rural zones have been characterised by economic stagnation because of the declining importance of fisheries and agriculture in modern industrial economies. The number of employees in both sectors is in general decline and aquaculture gives an opportunity for economic development and re-employment. People formerly employed in traditional fisheries  have been identified as having opportunities for re-employment in coastal aquaculture, according to the European Commission (European Commission: “A Strategy for the Sustainable Development of European Aquaculture” September 2002).  

Aquaculture can thereby counteract the disturbing de-population of rural areas that the declines of traditional workplaces have caused. The Scottish Office documents in a report published in 1999 that aquaculture stopped the decline of rural populations for the first time in the last century (The Scottish Office: “The Economic Impact of Scottish Salmon Farming”, March 1999). This is partly due to the fact that aquaculture can provide year-round employment when compared to the tourism industry that can only offer seasonal opportunities. Aquaculture thus represents a real alternative to urban migration for young people in search for a job. Additional tangible benefits include the improvement of rural infrastructure and services that economic activity and jobs bring.

Elsewhere in the world, aquaculture plays a similar role in rural development and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations actively promotes different forms of aquaculture for food security in the poorer areas of the globe.
With capture fisheries close to maximal capacity, fish farms will have to shoulder an increasing burden in the effort to feed the world's poor and hungry.
The major portion of global aquaculture production actually occurs in developing countries (90% of the total) and Low-Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDCs - 81% of the total), where annual sectoral growth has been more than double that of the developed countries. When one also recognises that the major contributor is the small, family-managed fish farm, one can understand the global importance of aquaculture for the rural and coastal societies and its important role in the general stabilisation of rural areas, both in terms of economy and population.

For more information on aquaculture in the developing countries, see the websites of the FAO  and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific [NACA]