Review of the application of cost–benefit analysis to the development of production systems in aquaculture.

Great efforts have been made to support the innovation and development of commercially available aquaculture to realize improved inputs and culture systems, enhancing productivity. In general, culture production systems are not a new phenomenon that attracts managers to conduct evaluation assessments. Broader aspects of the innovation and development of production systems can be analyzed using cost–benefit analysis. However, no systematic review of the literature has been conducted. Hence, this study contains a review of the applicability of cost–benefit analysis to culture systems for improving aquaculture production. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses were used to review the current research based on the Web of Science database, and a total of 86 journal articles were systematically analyzed. Based on the publication patterns, the results suggest that the interest in research in this area has increased in recent years. Subsequently, the review highlights the importance of considering social cost–benefit analysis that balances economic benefits and environmental pollution for long-term prospects. In this regard, there are still insufficient studies in this field of research. Accordingly, this study discusses four common topics related to the application of cost–benefit analysis to the development of production systems, namely, 1) integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, 2) seabass production systems, 3) stocking density effects, and 4) aquaponics and integrated floating cage aquageoponics systems. Finally, the following recommendations are presented as a reference for future studies: 1) The environmental effect has not been considered extensively in the application of cost–benefit analysis to aquaculture production systems. In addition to socioeconomic effects, future studies should consider appropriate measurement tools and data transformation techniques when they internalize environmental effects in assessments; 2) depending on the specific research objectives, future studies should consider appropriate tools, such as production economic methods and cost–benefit analysis, which could provide economic implications for different decision-making processes in production systems. • Studies about cost–benefit analysis to aquaculture production systems were reviewed. • Majority of the projects were evaluated with traditional cost-benefit analysis. • Analyze the clusters of proposed projects about production systems improvement. • Cost-benefit analysis with socio-economic and environmental impacts is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]