The symposium made considerable progress towards understanding the interactions between ecological/environmental and socio-economic/governance objectives for fisheries and aquaculture. There was a broad recognition that inland fisheries and aquaculture need to shift from a sectoral view where they are treated in isolation to an integrated, multidisciplinary systems view. The symposium provided a number of clear and comprehensive conclusions and recommendations to the twenty-fifth session of EIFAC for follow-up by the appropriate responsible bodies.