Considering the increasing importance of the development assistance, further thought needs to be given to its impacts on governance of fisheries and aquaculture in developing countries. From West African and South-East Asian examples, three of the main axes of the development assistance can be identified : the increase in small -scale fishing capacity, the connection to the export markets, the small -scale aquaculture development. Some impacts of this assistance can be pointed out: the setting up of a large small-scale capacity or overcapacity, the increasing dependence on export markets and the decrease in food security in West Africa, the damage to environment linked to small-scale shrimp aquaculturedevelopment in South-East Asia . By privileging thes e axes of development, the assistance contributes to the emergence or to the maintenance of governance systems which pose some problems. The problems relating to fisheries governance systems can be mentioned as follows : the fisheries governance limited to fisheries management, the weakening of the public power and public actions, the fragmentation of the fisheries administration and civil society. These problems are amplified by the development assistance and they contribute to some breaches of good governance principles of which we give some examples. Some lessons can be drawn from the analysis of fisheries governance systems which have been encouraged by the development assistance: a need for a new approach of the fisheries governance which lies beyond the framework of the fisheries management, the obligation of an integration of fisheries or aquaculture development assistance programmes into national and regional public policies, the necessary rehabilitation of the fisheries administration and the strengt hening of institutions.