6 June 2012 USAS Conference roundup Aquaculture America returned once again to Sin City in early February, this time to the impressive Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. A replica of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe are among the notable architectural features of the resort, taking their place near the Bellagio and the Venetian at the heart of the Strip. The Paris is a sister property to Bally’s, where the Society has met previously. Indeed, several pre- and post-conference meetings took place in Bally’s, which is connected to Paris by a mall-like passageway. The conference facilities were conveniently located near these two hotels. It was high season for tourism in Las Vegas and the Strip was choked with people day and night. In the passageway near the conference facilities, you would occasionally catch a glimpse of people you know amid the throng of tourists, gamblers, and quite possibly small-time con men. More than a few conference participants took advantage of the broad range of entertainment options available in the city, including myriad shows by the likes of Cirque du Soleil and Blue Man Group. The conference opened with the traditional plenary session. Chair of the conference steering committee Jeff Silverstein began the plenary by making reference to the conference theme of “bringing all players to the table,” saying that this is a pivotal time for animal agriculture and that all parts of the value chain need to work together. Jeff and technical program chairs Steve Rawles and Betsy Hart did an excellent job of putting together a comprehensive program on traditional and timely topics. Mike Freeze gave a brief industry update from the perspective of the National Aquaculture Association and then presented the McCraren Award to Bob Robinson and a Lifetime Achievement Award to Betsy Hart on behalf of the NAA. President of the USAS Michael Schwarz presented the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award to Ted Batterson. Details about this award and Ted’s career are found elsewhere in this issue of World Aquaculture. The Spotlight Award presentations were next in the plenary. This is a recent innovation at USAS conferences, highlighting the work of graduate students. Each student has a few minutes to summarize their research and the plenary audience is then asked to rank the presentations. The quality of this year’s presentations was truly impressive. The Spotlight Award winner and runners-up are identified in the article on student activities. The plenary lecture was presented by Patrick Dempster, the general manager of AquaGen Chile. The presentation was full of good lessons for modern commercial aquaculture sectors around the world. The lecture covered three topics: value chains and the Chilean salmon industry, the ISA outbreak, and genetic selection programs. Look for at least one article on these subjects in a future issue of World Aquaculture. After the plenary, there were essentially two and a half days of concurrent sessions, with twelve concurrent sessions most of the time. As a measure of self-organization, there were more than 18 special sessions assembled for this conference, including sessions on marine ornamentals, tuna aquaculture, integrated molecular and cellular approaches to stock improvement, and using distillers dry grains with solubles as a feed ingredient, among many others. Feed got deserved attention in a number of sessions and fishmeal replacement continues to be an active line of research. It’s always a challenge to get the most out of what the conference offers. There were sessions for students on professionalism and another on women in aquaculture. There were several sessions oriented towards producers and others with a direct role in various parts of the value chain. The major US trade association for various commodity fish—trout, hybrid striped bass, and tilapia—also hosted sessions. The zebra fish session has really come of age in the last five years and once again was well attended. Biofloc technology and aquaponics were among the novel culture systems that received attention at this year’s conference. Perhaps my most favorite session of the conference was the “Stories of Aquaculture Pioneers,” organized and moderated by Dave Conley. This was the latest in a series of sessions (and a book) on “post-retirement careers in aquaculture” begun by Michael New more than ten years ago. Scientific aquaculture is relatively new in the context of the long history of practical aquaculture but many of the scientists, active at a time when aquaculture science and global production were taking off, are now retiring and taking their collective wisdom with them. This session was a great opportunity for people with long careers to reflect on their accomplishments and provide lessons to those of us who follow behind. The session (and conference) ended with the presentation from a young pioneer aquaculture businesswoman from Burma who wowed the audience and earned sustained applause for her story of personal fortitude, persistence, and ultimately success. We intend to have an article from her
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjExNDY=