The deliverable 6.2 aims to carry out a socio-economic assessment and a cost-benefit assessment (CBA) in order to provide a foundation to promote the adoption of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) techniques by the aquaculture industry. However, approaching IMTA economics requires a progressive methodological process. To meet the objectives of designing business models and addressing profitable value chains, the socio-economic assessment and the cost-benefit assessment have been organised in two stages:

1. First, this report D6.2, which describes the state of the art of aquaculture in the ten ASTRAL partners’ countries and a basis of the CBA in the Atlantic area, is based on producers’ interviews conducted in 2022. This report draws the main Atlantic aquaculture trends (Chapter 3), an IMTA cost-benefit assessment (Chapter 4) and a conclusion, listing an IMTA SWOT analysis, the CBA synthesis and main recommendations for producers, sector organizations and policymakers (Chapter 5).
2. Second, this report and the IMTA CBA will be used as a baseline to draw IMTA business models and develop case studies, that will be integrated in a specific section in the Deliverable 6.3 Business models (due in Month 35).