In the context of the AGIs project, aquaculture governance is understood as a range of social processes and practices involved “in solving societal problems and creating societal opportunities through interactions among civil, public and private actors” (Kooiman et al. 2008, p. 17).

​

Therefore, assessing aquaculture governance is about analyzing the ways in which regulatory systems, voluntary codes and standards, and joint projects and activities are organized around the identification of environmental issues and response to solving problems. Also, key to change is a better understanding of the ability of governments, industry and civil society actors to deal with sustainability challenges within the aquaculture industry. The AGIs allow for such governance assessment by providing an integrated framework, consisting of four dimensions, three cross-cutting principles and 26 specific indicators. See the visual breakdown of our framework below.