The main objective of these guidelines is to assist countries, institutions and policy-makers in the development and implementation of a strategy to ensure the sustainability of the aquaculture sector, integration of aquaculture with other sectors and its contribution to social and economic development.

An ecosystem approach to aquaculture is a strategy for the integration of the activity within the wider ecosystem such that it promotes sustainable development, equity and resilience of interlinked social-ecological systems. Being a strategy, the ecosystem approach to aquaculture (EAA) is not what is done, but rather how it is done. The main objective of the guidelines is to assist countries, institutions and policy-makers in the development and implementation of a strategy to ensure the sustainability of the aquaculture sector, integration of aquaculture with other sectors and its contribution to social and economic development.