WORLD AQUACULTURE 9 Aquaculture without Frontiers: Empowering and Giving Hope Through Aquaculture Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) was the brainchild of one person following a career spent in researching, travelling and being a part of developing the aquaculture industry as we know it today. AwF roots lay strongly within the World Aquaculture Society family as the concept was formulated by this individual on the back of a presentation and paper delivered at World Aquaculture 2003 in Salvador, Brazil. The person is, of course, Michael New OBE, CBiol, FSB, BSc, ARCS, FIFST; Past-President of WAS and EAS, and current Chairman for AQUA 2012 in Prague. Back at that 2003 meeting Michael said “The NGOs that are involved in aquaculture development for the poor are sometimes religious, sometimes lay; sometimes branches of international organizations, often national or local. However, it is clear that they need help to utilize the potential of aquaculture efficiently and, as individuals, I feel that we should be ready to assist. However, the aquaculture sector does not have any NGO that appeals directly to the public (our consumers), nor do we raise any funds for aquaculture development from the public. We may sometimes wonder where are our ‘Friends of Aquaculture’, our ‘BluePeace’, our ‘World Aquaculture Fund’, our ‘Aquaculture Defense Fund.’ I think it is most unlikely that we could persuade the public to support a lobbying organization for aquaculture, especially as we have suffered so much criticism (fair and unfair) from aquaculture’ movement would be perceived simply as a defensive negative reaction to criticism. However, I believe that there is a niche for an aquaculture NGO.” From that point Michael registered AwF (UK) in the UK and AwF in the USA and launched the organization at the WAS conference in Hawaii in 2004. The plan was outlined and he set about the process of putting into action what he truly believed. Along the journey he has been assisted by friends, colleagues, family, volunteers and a range of donors who have supported the cause and seen their generosity turn into projects which have empowered and given hope to the poor in many countries. Recently the trustees of AwF (UK) decided to close the charity in Great Britain in order to consolidate all the activities of the not-for-profit organization within the international AwF. All remaining funds of AwF (UK) were transferred to AwF in June 2012. Michael New remains the Founder and Patron of AwF, which is managed by a fifteen-member international board of directors. The projects continue. We update two of them here; one in Kenya and one in Haiti. Firstly ‘The Holy Will Women Group: Scaling-up Fish Farming to Mitigate Poverty among Smallholders in Homa Bay County of Kenya’ is a three-year arrangement that works with families ravaged with HIV/AIDS in implementing a foodsecurity initiative that aims to scale up fish farming to mitigate poverty among smallholders. It is anticipated that upon successful implementation of this project, the following tangible results will be realized: • Effectively strengthen the capacities of 24 members of the group with appropriate skills on semi-intensive fish farming for onward cascading, the same, to at least 800 small holders every year; • Fully establish and maintain a semi-intensive model fish farm for training, production and demonstration on semiintensive fish farming as viable venture in producing adequate nutritious food and creating sustainable incomes among small holders and youth in South Rachuonyo District; • Produce over 16,000 high quality tilapia and catfish annually for members’ consumption and income creation; • Increase average annual income of at least 824 small holders and youth that practice fish farming in South Rachuonyo District from USD 330 to USD 1,006 in one year. The Haiti project had buttons pushed after the 2010 devastating earthquake killed over 300,000 people and made homeless well over a million people. Of course the resources of AwF are limited but, by working with other organizations, AwF have jointly established a project. Our major partners in this are Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole (MBL) and Novus International. The Haitian partners at the newly completed Aquaculture Learning Center (ALC) in Marigot, Haiti recently began their first harvest of tilapia. The system has been in operation since November 2011 and all of the feeding, water quality management and maintenance to date has been done by the team of newly trained Haitian “teknisyen pwasons” (fish technicians) and their students. Prior to harvest, fish were taste tested to ensure there were no issues with off-flavor. Producing sufficient protein and a business opportunity for a family of four on a small piece of land using a simple fish rearing system is a noble goal worth pursuing. The operating and cost criteria for such a system are stringent, i.e. they cannot exceed the resources available, human or otherwise, but progress is being made. Currently the working model is producing fish and, with refinement in pumping and filtration techniques to reduce power requirements, the goal of developing a system that will operate on <45 watts of power and produce sufficient protein for a family of four is within reach. MBL have completed some fabulous work on fish feed trials, using only ingredients available in Haiti (no fishmeal). Many months have been spent tweaking diets and trying to balance amino acids, digestibility and palatability. Four diets were tested against a 32% crude protein Purina™ floating feed and results exceeded expectations. The new diet even outperformed a soy-based diet! Feed conversion ratios were 1.30 for the control diet and 1.45 for the best experimental diet and specific growth rates were almost identical 2.0 and 1.9 %/d, respectively. These results represent a milestone in our efforts to bolster sustainable fish production in Haiti and have ramifications that should be recognized internationally and help (CONTINUED ON PAGE 18)
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