Aquaculture production is an important source of fish protein. In Southeast Asia, aquaculture development can be both for local diets and for foreign exchange earnings. Production system is either small-scale or commercial scale. The social and economic issues that concern aquaculture development are the impacts (positive and negative) on natural physical and biological conditions, man-made physical conditions, income, employment, food, and human resources. The social and economic challenges on aquaculture development in Southeast Asia include maintaining the natural resources and environmental conditions for sustainable aquaculture; increasing "clean" productivity at farm level, taking into account the cost of externalities and environmental impact management; meeting the requirements of domestic and international market for aquaculture produce and products; non-tariff measures in international trade of aquatic products; adopting aquaculture certification scheme; understanding the linkages among production, marketing and trade; and strengthening the capacity of small-scale fish farmers.