Smart Strategies for Sustainable Aquaculture Development in Morocco: Regulatory Framework, Organizational Innovations, and Socio-economic Implications

Abstract

International conventions on the law of the sea and obligations for the management of marine living resources are fairly recent (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, known as Montego Bay, 1982). Currently, we see that developing countries are suppliers of fish, crustaceans and molluscs to developed countries, which has an impact on their socio-economic level. Our study aims to recognize the conventions and regulatory texts in force (international and national) that affiliate aquaculture with sustainable development; carry out a socio-economic approach to the aquaculture activities mentioned in Morocco; and summarize the challenges facing the aquaculture sector. Based on the pilasters of sustainability, the cornerstone of the blue economy, there is coherence between regulatory scales, while lack of management skills, dysfunctions due to lack of governance and their impact on the environment condition sustainable development. This requires vigilance during the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). The Decade of Oceanography for Sustainable Development is a decade of the blue economy’s growth with its three pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic and social. When talking about sustainable development, it is important to understand the similarities between the blue and ocean economies in order to enact environmentally sustainable and inclusive public policies against climate change.