The aquaculture sector is uniquely placed to complement production from the stagnating capture fisheries sector and it has advantages in terms of controllable production characteristics. However, aquaculture poses undeniable economic, environmental and social challenges which may be poorly evaluated or inadequately addressed within current policy frameworks. In such cases, the sustainability of future operations may be compromised. Issues that may constrain the sector development and performance are among others the business environment (e.g. competing uses of land and water; introduction of new technologies to improve the overall economic efficiency of aquaculture to better exploit natural conditions) and administrative and regulatory structures that create constraints rather than underpin further aquaculture developments (e.g. regulation of access to resources; environmental prescriptions).