Although it has a history dating back thousands of years, aquaculture has only come to the attention of society in the last five decades. In Europe, which was the leader in aquaculture production in the 1950 s, after significant development in the 1970s and 1980s, there followed, as in North America, a long period of decline, which continues today. One of the causes of this decline in an agricultural activity that is important for food security was the tightening of environmental restrictions and the lack of development policies. At the global and regional levels, various initiatives to establish a favourable policy framework for the development of this sector have resulted in the FAO Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture and, at the European Union level, a recurring set of strategic guidelines. Both are described and analysed from the perspective of producers. On the other hand, the response to unjustified environmental restrictions that do not take into account the specific characteristics of different types of aquaculture can come through a balanced and rational integration into the neoliberal theories of market environmentalism, with all the controversies discussed in this paper. Sustainable aquaculture is a strategic agricultural activity based on economic rationale, carried out in a clear, predictable, and stimulating institutional environment, with a dedicated policy that seeks to satisfy the widest possible range of social interests.