Aquaculture is currently the fastest growing food production system for developing, low income and food deficit countries (LIFDCs), which boast the highest annual aquaculture growth rate (10% per year) since the 1970s, compared to the 3.7% per year rate for

developed countries [21] and [22]. There are marked geographical differences in aquaculture production, however, and PICTs have BEZ235 datasheet experienced significantly slower growth rates than most other areas [23], [24] and [25]. Sustainable aquaculture as a tool for development, incorporating environmental, economic, nutritional and social considerations, is increasingly considered to have great potential to help meet the global requirements of fish for the future, and contribute to future food and nutrition security [25], [26] and [27].

While improved management of coastal fisheries in the coral reef ecosystems of the Pacific is widely recognised as being essential to secure the benefits of capture fisheries [1], [4] and [28], it has also been recognised this website that increased production from aquaculture will be necessary to meet the fish food needs of the region in the future [1] and [28]. Demand for fish from aquaculture will increase as supplies from capture fisheries, particularly from inshore reefs, become increasingly unreliable, as seen, for example, in recent fish-supply demand scenarios in Solomon Islands [28]. Imbalances between supply and demand for fish in many PICTs are expected to be exacerbated by the external drivers, such Acesulfame Potassium as fuel prices and climate change, to which these nations are particularly vulnerable [29]. Solomon Islands is one of the PICTs where future shortfalls in food fish production are projected, with contributing factors including population growth and development, degrading coral reef fisheries, long travel times to and from fishing grounds and fishing access rights [1]. Recent calculations suggest coastal fisheries will not supply the fish required for future food security, with all projected shortfalls,

greater than 4000 t per annum by 2030 [1] and [28], raising critical questions about the future supplies of the most significant animal food source. The Solomon Islands Government, through the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR), is responding to predictions of shortfalls in fish to meet food security needs through three principal policy endeavours: (1) improved coastal resource management; (2) increased tuna allocation to the domestic market, and (3) development of aquaculture opportunities [30] and [31]. In 2009 and 2010, a study was undertaken by WorldFish, MFMR and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) to analyse the demand and potential for development of inland aquaculture in two provinces [32].