Aquaculture is needed to meet future demand for fish and other seafood, but sustainable growth requires we better understand and manage risks. Risks are aplenty in aquaculture, some of which we are only now beginning to understand and address. The most important, from a development perspective, are those that make the lives of vulnerable smallholders worse rather than better. Our approach is to work with stakeholders throughout the market system and with partners to identify these, and to co-develop and implement interventions to de-risk transactions, capturing what works and what doesn’t and sharing our learning, thereby helping attract the levels of investment needed to secure sustainable growth in this increasingly important food sector.