Youna Lyons and Cheng Ling Lim from the Oceans Law and Policy Programme of the Centre for International Law, National University Singapore are pleased to release a report titled, “International and Regional Legal and Policy Framework to Marine Aquaculture Activities in Southeast Asia”. This report is a result of an extensive review and analysis, conducted in 2020, of all relevant provisions of international and regional law and policy applicable to marine aquaculture in the Southeast Asian context. The review highlights a large number of substantive recommendations, guidelines and technical documents adopted by or under the auspices of intergovernmental bodies with the global or regional mandate to consider the relevant issues, provide policy recommendations, and share examples of best practices.

Relevant provisions from these legal instruments and documents are organised according to a comprehensive list of key ecological and environmental issues in marine aquaculture management. These are designed to guide states in the adoption of their policy, laws and measures to manage aquaculture activities under their jurisdiction or control. They may also be seen as informing the minimum standards that states would be expected to meet, in order to discharge their obligation to act with due diligence, to protect and preserve the marine environment.

The realisation of this report has been permitted by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), which commissioned the original study, as well as support from the Centre for International Law. Special thanks also go from the authors to Dr Serena Teo for her valuable comments.

Click to download report and appendix.