For decades, aquaculture has advanced on the strength of technological innovation, production efficiency and evironmental monitoring. Yet in a contexto f more demanding communities, increasingly stric regulation and finance that is ever more aligned with sustainability, these factors are no longer enough. Today, the sector’s future depends on its ability to demonstrate – with verifiable data – the value it brings to the societies in which operates.
Three tools have become essential for this new pase: the Social Licence to Operate, Social Life Cycle Assessment and the Social Return on Investment. Together, they form the tripod on which the social and economic legitimacy of modern aquaculture rests.
The Social Licence to Operate is neither a document nor an administrative procedure, but rather the explicit or implicit acceptance of a community towards an economic activity. In aquaculture, this permission is particularly senstivie, as it affects the landscape, employment, water use and people’s perception of the territory.
Coastal and rural communities today are more active, influential and better informed. And when they feel an activity does not benefit them – or worse, excludes them – the reaction is immediate: protests, political pressure, moratoria, legal challenges or prolonged social opposition.
The Social Licence to Operate has therefore become an intangible yet critical asset: projects are delayed or halted, companies lose reputation, regulatory costs rise and access to finance becomes more difficult. For this reason, the social licence is not managed through corporate communication – though many still try – but through genunine engagement, clear evidence of local benefits and full transparency.
Social Life Cycle Assessment helps understand social impacts from beginning to end, evaluating, among other aspects, working conditions, health and safety, gender equality, contributions to local employment and interactions with vulnerable communities.
The third pillar is the Social Return of Investment, which measures social impat in monetary terms and quantifies communitiy cohesion, improved employability, rural population retention and the reduction of inequalities.
Producing more and better is no longer enough; aquaculture must also demonstrate its contribution to social wellbeing and the sustainable development of the territories in which it operates.
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