A quick review of aquaculture development plans undertaken in recent years and in different parts of the world, expose the adverse multi-dimensional impacts of such programs on the environment as well as on national social and economic conditions.
Poor planning and management strategies mainly cause such damage. The economies of small communities in rural areas, in particular, are highly vulnerable to macro trade-oriented aquaculture programs and other related external factors.
Bitter competition for space, resources and human manpower has caused serious environment problems both in developing and developed countries. Rivalry over exploiting an offshore resource and space often causes tension and disputes among the indigenous population and with the government.
Resolving tensions demands direct intervention of governments and policies to make conditions suitable for multi-purpose exploitation of on-shore and offshore areas.
Aquaculture development directed at engendering exports in rural areas interrupts traditional trade regimes in developing countries, to the disadvantage of the majority of the population in the countryside who rely on low-income jobs. Problems could arise from employment of western trade models coupled with full-time employment rather than part-time or seasonal in developing rural communities. Cultural beliefs and the social system entrenched deep within a community can contribute to the success of aquaculture schemes; be it coupled with risks involved in macro-trading aquaculture activities, or community-based micro operations.
When aquaculture projects take place in a highly competitive environment alongside agriculture, commercial fishing, ... etc. access to land and water resources becomes an impossibility for poverty-stricken villagers.
In areas where aquaculture is not a tradition like many regions in Africa and technology is relatively new, transfer of modern ways to the inhabitants is difficult. Given that development theoreticians lack a correct understanding of social values, family structures and value of indigenous knowledge and
technology, such projects mostly end in failure.

The economies of small communities in rural areas are highly vulnerable to macro trade-oriented aquaculture programs.

Also, rural and nutritional models in rustic areas can be deemed as a negative development, like that section of the local population whose traditional jobs have been replaced by low wage jobs on aquaculture farms or factories. Nutritional patterns might also undergo major changes such as women who until recently stayed at home and cooked should now work on farms alongside their husbands.
Successful development programs in a region can be hugely undermined or promoted by local religions and cultural convictions. For example, eating fish is prohibited in Hinduism and Buddhism.

Sustainability
The World Commission on Environmental Development was formed in 1983 with its members comprising a group of outstanding politicians, traders and intellectuals. The aim was to support aquaculture as one of the fundamental steps towards sustainable development.
The concept of sustainable development was first popularized in 1987 by the WCED, also known as the Brundtland Commission.
In the Commission's report, Our Common Future, the WCED defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs".
The WCED expressed concern that conventional development often occurs without regard to environmental integrity or social equity, focusing instead on purely economic gains. They distinguished between quantitative growth and qualitative development. While growth refers to quantitative physical changes, such as the building of roads and construction of buildings, development refers to qualitative benefits, such as the provision of a place to live, a job, and a healthy environment.
Sustainable development seeks to provide for inevitable growth while fulfilling the goals of development in a sustainable way. It pursues ecological integrity and natural resource conservation as well as the satisfaction of basic human needs through quality economic development and social equity.

Caviar exploitation in the two provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran has declined by 69 percent compared to the same period last year.

Social Flexibility
Social flexibility is a determining factor and most influential in aquaculture-related development plans. Should this factor be ignored, all projects will end in failure even though potentials are available at the highest level.
In a healthy aquaculture industry, economic parameters, legal policies, cooperation between public and private sectors, export and import policies and respect for consumer rights each get their deserved attention. If governments accept the present role of environment in development, its positive consequences will definitely apply to aquaculture projects as well.
Sustainability under adequate planning in areas such as natural resources management is tantamount to less energy exhaustion, reprocessing consumer raw materials as well as reduction and/or replacement of raw material stocks.

Characteristics
Aquaculture activities have for long been carried out in and around the Caspian Sea.
The area of the world's largest landlocked water is about 422,000 sq. km with 6,397 km coastline, of which more than 900 km is along the Iranian side. About 128 large and small rivers flow into the Caspian Sea from Iran. The highest salinity level reaches 12.7 ppt (about 1/3 of the ocean salinity) during summers. The average water temperature in the coastal regions throughout the year ranges from 15.9 degrees C to 17 degrees C. Temperature difference between the coldest area in the north, and the warmest area in the south is 4 degrees C during winter and 16 degrees C during summer.

Excessive fishing has raised concerns over the future of the Caspian Sea.

There are over 120 fish species in the southern part of the Caspian Sea, which are commercially divided in two groups of sturgeons and bony fishes. The bony fishes are also divided into kilka and other species. The main commercial species are as follows:
Sturgeons: Beluga, Russian sturgeon, Iranian sturgeon, and Sevruga. The Iranian caviar, a famous and exclusive product worldwide, is produced by these species.
Other species include: Kilkas, Kutum, Mullets, Carp, Bream, Pike-perch, Roach and Salmon.

Dwindling
Excessive fishing has raised concerns over the future of the Caspian Sea and it can be claimed that this has led to the vigorous decline of the stock of bony fish as well as cartilaginous fish in the sea.
Over fishing of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea has led to a worldwide shortage of caviar, according to a report released by WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature. The report claims that sturgeon catches in the sea have dropped by 75 percent in the past ten years. The number of adult sturgeon in the Caspian Sea, which provides 90 percent of the world's caviar, is estimated to have dropped from 142 million in 1978 to 43.5 million in 1994.
Killing female sturgeon carrying unfertilized eggs can only obtain caviar. Aggressive trawling by Russian and Iranian fishing vessels is killing other mature sturgeon, depleting the source of the mature, egg-bearing females, which comprise only about 7 percent of the population, the report says. Although Soviet-era regulations governing sturgeon fishing remain on the books, they are widely disregarded.
"With significant illegal trade, little regulation, tremendous profits and increasing demand, sturgeon species are perched precariously on the edge of extinction," says the report.
Managing Director of Gilan Fisheries Company Mohammad Kazerouni says since March until the present date, caviar exploitation in the two provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran (bordering the sea) has declined by 69 percent compared to the same period last year. "Since the beginning of the year, 1,370 kg of caviar were exploited during the fishing season by fishermen working for Gilan Fisheries Company while another 660 kg by those employed by Pareh Sar Cooperative Companies."
According to the official, circumstantial fishing of sturgeon by fishermen working for Pareh Sar Cooperative Companies also decreased by half compared to last year.
Head of the Iran International Sturgeon Research Institute Mohammad Pour-Kazemi says illegal fishing by Caspian littoral states, destruction of surrounding habitation and decline in natural spawning as well as unprecedented changes in the Caspian ecosystem are among reasons causing fall in the number of Caspian sturgeons.
"The only way to save Caspian sturgeon is expansion of scientific cooperation with the littoral states and implementation of joint management strategies to reverse the trend of declining Caspian's world-famous sturgeon. This also demands sufficient investment by all sides."
The price of caviar in global markets currently stands at 1,050 euro, up from 680 euro just a year ago.

The decline in stock index is a worrisome development. So much so that the cabinet has been forced to call on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) Secretary-general Hossein Abde-Tabrizi to present proposals that could remove the chaos in the money market.
In his first proposal to the cabinet, Tabrizi said the price of cement should be liberalized in order to help TSE pick up. He has reasoned that this way cement companies would make more profit and with the rise in the stock prices of cement factories the total stock index would also go up.
Tabrizi has always given the impression that he is a theoretical-oriented economist, but does that suffice to run an important entity like TSE? When he assumed the post of TSE secretary-general he made a statement, which many of our economic and political officials do not seem to have taken seriously. He said theory does not lie. The comment was subjected to many criticisms.
Because of the scientific link between supply and demand, Tabrizi has urged the government to liberalize the price of cement so that the stock market would boom. But the point is that in the past year the stock indices have grown so much that Tabrizi should not be worried about liberalization of cement prices.
In the meantime, the yardstick for stock trading has been set as the volume of trade, which is not theoretical-oriented by any means. It is true that theory is always theory, but someone like Tabrizi should understand that theory cannot and should not be manipulated for managerial reasons. In the same way that the government is expected to refrain from interfering in setting prices of different goods and services, TSE officials are expected to run TSE without interfering in stock prices. Where in the world are stock prices manipulated for the stock market to boom? In fact, this is not theoretically speaking a sound practice. The remedy lies in creating a special databank for stock indices and prices so that all members of the society would find access to such information.
The TSE secretary-general is not responsible for the performance of the companies the stocks of which are traded in TSE, but rather he is responsible to coordinate stock trading. This by no means implies that a non-theoretical-oriented approach such as interfering in prices should be employed.
The officials should come to terms with the reality that theory has no limitations of space and time and thus cannot be manipulated.