Site selection and carrying capacity in Mediterranean ... - FAO Sipam

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F. The Adaptive Approach
This guide refers to the importance of learning, anticipation and flexibility in the process of site
selection and site management in view of the dynamic nature of the ecosystem in which the activity is
implemented.
Principle
In aquaculture site selection and site management, the adaptive approach should be
implemented to allow the activity to develop in a sustainable manner in a changing
environment.
Guidelines
The adaptive approach should be implemented in evolving processes like aquaculture site
selection and site management, on a basis of learning, anticipation and flexibility. Reactive
adaptation to change can endanger the sustainability of aquaculture. A long-term strategy is
advisable instead.
Anticipated and unanticipated change involving risk should be addressed at the legal,
ecological, socioeconomic or technological level by means of greater flexibility, in order to
reduce conflict and achieve the sustainable development of aquaculture. Long-term
solutions to mismatches will depend on knowledge and the further development of flexibility to
reorganize the activity in response to changes in factors influencing the aquaculture sector.
Research should be encouraged to allow the aquaculture sector to anticipate change.
Anticipatory research can influence and improve past and future studies on the sustainable
development of aquaculture as well as help the sector to adapt more easily to a particular
change.
Close partnerships among citizens, managers and scientists as well as cooperation among
members of the same aquaculture sector should be encouraged in order to facilitate
adaptation to achieve the sustainable development of aquaculture. Through partnership and
cooperation, knowledge can be shared and extended, by comparing different strategies used to
cope with a given situation. This can speed up learning and adaptation in aquaculture processes.
Effective and rapid learning, adaptation and flexibility should be taken into consideration
to cope with change. Documentation, anticipation, flexibility, comparisons between different
approaches and identification of trigger points are essential for the sustainability of aquaculture.
Learning and adaptation are processes that always evolve over time.
Records of successful as well as failed past studies should be accessible to all stakeholders.
Much can be gained from the creation of a database of retrospective studies on Mediterranean
aquaculture since the ecoregion is the same.
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