18 JUNE 2013 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Aridland Aquaculture Event Breaks Drought Roy Palmer The Asian-Pacific Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society partnered with United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) to organize and convene a symposium on aridland aquaculture in the oasis of Al Ain. The symposium was followed by a two-day workshop on recirculating aquaculture led by Tom Losordo and aquaponics led by Jim Rakocy. Both events were generously sponsored by Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems and by Blue Aqua International, represented by Tom Losordo and by Farshad Shishehchian, respectively. The conference was engineered by a small group and enormous efforts were made by Jean-Yves Mevel, in the role of local liaison, and Imad Saoud, in establishing the program. Networking was tremendous in the friendly atmosphere of the superb surroundings of the very modern university. Delegates were welcomed UAEU Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Yousif Hasan Baniyas, who spoke of the importance of food security and healthy nutrition. Lukas Manomaitis, President of WAS-APC, welcomed everyone to the first ever symposium in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region under the auspices of WAS. Jean-Yves Mevel described aquaculture developments and issues encountered during his many years of work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and in the Sultanate of Oman. He discussed difficulties building ponds in sandy soils that are often below sea level in KSA and of placing cages in very deep waters off the Indian Ocean coast of Oman. He also described regulatory, technical and water salinity problems often encountered by aquaculturists in the region and how they can be solved. Mohamed Al Marzooqi from the Environmental Agency in Abu Dhabi introduced the history of aquaculture in the emirate and the research and development efforts that are presently underway to encourage growth of the sector. Ibrahim El-Shishtawy Hassan Belal described the advancement of aquaculture in Egypt, where he was one of the pioneers of the industry. Although Egypt has the Nile River and what seems like an abundance of water, aquaculture in the country faces problems because laws restrict the use of Nile River water for aquaculture. Consequently fish are grown in agriculture drainage water with associated problems. Nonetheless, Egypt remains the aquaculture giant in the region, producing several times more than all other MENA countries combined. Kevin Fitzsimmons of the University of Arizona discussed aridland aquaculture and the integration of agriculture and aquaculture in arid coastal regions. Kevin shared some of his many experiences from around the world and his research in Arizona. He clearly demonstrated the need and feasibility of integrated aquaculture with other food production systems. Each region has its own set of issues and solutions but the superseding technical problem is the need for more productive water use. Imad Saoud promoted the use of saline groundwater as an alternative resource to freshwater in aridland aquaculture. He discussed potential problems encountered when using such waters for aquaculture, the history of the research performed to mitigate such problems and some of the solutions proposed, such as supplementation of saline groundwater with potassium to grow marine species. Maintaining biosecurity in aquaculture operations was discussed by Farshad Shishehchian. With disease such an important issue, he introduced the various requirements for biosecurity so that farms in the nascent aquaculture industry in the MENA region do not face the same problems encountered in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately some diseases, particularly white spot syndrome virus in shrimp, are already having an impact in Yemen and KSA. Farshad stressed the point that there is no such thing as 90 percent biosecurity; it is either 100 percent biosecurity or no biosecurity. Methods to maintain biosecurity on farms in Indonesia were provided as case studies. Edoardo Pantanella discussed aquaponics and water reuse to produce various vegetable crops and fish. He shared his experiences growing various vegetable crops and compared water use in recirculating systems and aquaponics. He also discussed saltwater Conference by the numbers: • People from 19 countries, including 2 in Africa • 85 students attended over 4 days • 2 WAS Past-Presidents in attendance • UAE Government and FAO engaged • 2 post-conference workshops • 11 new WAS members, including two 5-year memberships • First WAS event that has taken place on Women Only and Men Only campuses (CONTINUED ON PAGE 71) ABOVE: Some of the participants of the aridland aquaculture symposium at United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain..
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