Economics of Marine Resources in the Global South—Meeting the Challenge of Agenda 2030

In this introduction to the special issue, “Economics of Marine Resources in the Global South,” we address the current challenges for sustainable management of aquaculture and capture fisheries in developing and transitional countries. We note that the collective action problem remains a major challenge for capture fisheries in the Global South. While aquaculture has been a fast-moving food sector for half a century and provides disadvantaged people in the Global South with low-cost, high-quality protein, negative externalities remain an industry-wide challenge. We provide a background to aquaculture and fisheries economics relevant for the Global South, using the six articles contained in this issue as a point of departure to discuss six of the 10 targets that are formulated in connection with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14): conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources. Bringing together the challenges of meeting SDG 14 and the contributions of this special issue, we discuss an agenda for future research for those interested in the economics analysis of fisheries and aquaculture relevant to the Global South context.