World Aquaculture 9 • Maritza Anguiano of Texas A&M University received First Place for Best Poster for “The effects of dietary nucleotides on growth and immunity of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus.” The award for runner-up for Best Poster went to Courtnay Janiak of Delaware State University for “Direct delivery of VP19 double stranded RNA into the gut of Litopeneus vannamei shows protection against white spot disease.” • Mike Timmons and Jim Ebeling presented RAS “Yellow Book” Undergraduate Student Travel Grant awards to Shawnee Gehrig of Iowa State University and Nathan Wallace Herring of Mississippi State University. The USAS Student Activity Committee presented appreciation awards to: • Matt DiMaggio for serving as USAS/WAS student liaison and for coordinating the session “Tips for the Young Aquaculture Professional.” • Karolina Kwasek for coordinating the session on “The Impact of Women on Aquaculture.” Charles Brown for coordinating student workers at Aquaculture America 2012. • Curtis Crouse for coordinating the Student Quiz Bowl. • Jason Broach for coordinating the roommate service. • Aaron Watson for coordinating the student field trip. • Chris Hooley and Blake Hauptman for coordinating the Student Questionnaire. From left to right, USAS President Gary Fornshell, Chris Hooley, WAS President Ricardo Martino, USAS Past-President Michael Schwarz. • Michele Thompson for serving as student subunit coordinator. • Christine Savolainen and Bonnie Mulligan for serving as prize coordinators. selves, specifically to an attitude common to farmers everywhere. Farmers commonly believe that new or exotic fish species other than the local, endemic stock they are growing now performs better and they want it. One participant said that a common view in Nigeria is that imported things are better than indigenous things. Furthermore, Pangasius culture is being actively promoted, stimulating interest, but farmers are naïve to the potential consequences of the introduction beyond the farm. The discussion veered toward a comparison of the relative merits of Clarias and Pangasius. Clarias appears to have many advantages over Pangasius, including greater growth rates, higher stocking densities, better feed conversion, and simpler spawning. However, Pangasius can use a lower, or more properly, a wider range of dietary protein concentration than Clarias, which only grows well at a relatively high level of dietary protein. Also, differences in relative performance vary by system density. The existing Clarias catfish sector in Nigeria is supported by imports of costly high-protein feeds. Importing Pangasius does not change this dynamic and only exacerbates the situation. The greater concern is the development of commercial aquaculture based on a fed species in countries where hard currency (foreign exchange) must be used to purchase imported feed to sustain the sector. Furthermore, achieving full production potential of the existing fish species in aquaculture in Africa is not constrained by characteristics of the species. Indeed, the full growth potential of most species in aquaculture in Africa is rarely realized because growth and production are more often constrained by the availability of suitable inputs. Bringing in a new species does not address this constraint. Nigerians should take pride in the development of a successful commercial sector based on an endemic African species. The focus should be on improving the performance of existing Clarias stocks rather than bringing in another species. Also, investments in adding value to products, product diversification, and addressing other issues associated with seasonal oversupply can further advance the sector. Successful commercial aquaculture is not just about a species, it includes investment in all parts of the value chain, including hatchery, nursery, grow-out and all associated technical inputs. It requires the combination of genetic resources, water resources, technical inputs, and human resources. It includes running a farm like a proper business. How fish are grown is more important than what species is grown. Bringing in a new species does not change the fundamental limitations associated with production, especially in Africa. Focusing on locally available species and then implementing a program to avoid inbreeding is a much more sensible approach than bringing in new species. — John A. Hargreaves Editor-in-Chief Editor’s Note (Continued from page 2)
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