8 JUNE 2013 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG US Aquaculture Society, continued from page 4 the Seafood Health Scare Simulation that was held in Melbourne (at AA2012) and the objective is to focus planner’s minds on how to prevent the uncontrolled transfer of aquatic diseases locally, nationally and internationally. • AquaEd — For over 10 years this has been a regular feature of the AustralAsian APC meetings, where educators discuss how to promote aquaculture as a viable career path and the educational needs that are required to facilitate this. Australia has a comprehensive system of education and certification levels to address this, and now we believe it is time to expand focus on stimulating interest in going into aquaculture as a career more broadly at this two-day event that will be held after the APA2013 meeting. Future yearly conferences for the APC are the World Aquaculture 2014 (WA2014) meeting in Adelaide on 7-11 June 2014 — “Create, Nurture, Grow”, the joint WAS, APC and Korea Chapter WA2015 event in Jeju, Korea in May 2015 and a planned event in Asian Pacific Chapter, continued from page 6 Guangzhou in 2016 (APA2016). We are always looking for more volunteers for our chapter. There is much more that could be done but, as volunteers, the APC Board can only devote so much time. Therefore, if you have an interest in becoming more active and want to expand your contact network, please contact us via our email and tell us of your interest to help the aquaculture industry improve. If you are in the Asian region and not yet a member of the WAS or APC Chapter please contact us via our email and be sure to visit our website (www.was.org/APC). We know that processing the actual payment for WAS and APC membership can be difficult for some to accomplish. If that is the case, please contact your APC CA or EAC representative who may be able to take a cash payment and process the membership for you with the WAS Home Office. I am looking forward to an eventful and an exciting second half of 2013 for WAS and the APC Chapter! — Lukas Manomaitis, President In my opinion, starting points for implementing these policies should be a recognition that governments’ regulatory apparatus should be focused on whether or not there are impacts outside the farm (not micromanagement of farms) and in the case of research, the overzealous, some might say blind, application of the precautionary principle must be tempered by the recognition that, in many cases, adaptive management (i.e. management based in part on large-scale experimentation) is the only way we can obtain the data needed to make rational decisions. Perhaps comments to NOAA regarding its Five Year R&D Plan might move us forward. Aquaculture Education Infrastructure Although aquaculture must expand to meet increasing demand, aquaculture programs at our colleges and universities are facing enormous pressures to cut costs. Unfortunately many of those responsible for implementing those cuts do not seem to understand the breadth of aquaculture nor the need for hands-on experience. So these cuts are having a major impact on many academic and research programs. Although we could wring our hands and complain, that will not change our reality. Thus, we need to rethink what needs to be taught, the best way to teach it, and how programs can be more efficient. I see USAS having a continuing role in delineating what needs to be taught (and efforts are underway in this area). The how is going to require aquaculture educators to take a hard look in the mirror and ask how much on-campus education is necessary and how much can be moved on-line. Some universities, Kentucky State and Auburn are good examples, have embraced a combination of both on-line and on-campus courses. That is probably our future. Another question is whether individual institutions will have the depth of expertise to cover the entire range of aquaculture. The answer is probably no. Collaborative programs building upon the expertise of multiple institutions will be required. A proposal to be submitted to USDA’s Higher Education Challenge Grant Program will hopefully start this transformation. Opposition to Aquaculture I have recently been defending aquaculture from attacks by organizations and individuals who, because they claim to be protecting the environment (oceans), are presumed to be operating from a higher moral position than commercial aquaculture and its supporters (i.e. us). I disagree so strongly that I recently gave a presentation entitled “Is opposition to aquaculture immoral?” I conclude that, in many cases, a general opposition to aquaculture is immoral because it violates three commonly accepted principles of personal and social ethics: honesty, autonomy (i.e. allowing rational people to make their own informed choices) and non-maleficence (i.e. do no harm to yourself or others). Obviously those who lie and distort information about their motives and aquaculture’s effects are violating the principles of honesty and autonomy. Shining the light of truth on them is the best defense. Of the three principles, I am most concerned about non-maleficence. Aquaculture must expand over the next several decades. Whether that expansion occurs in the USA or other countries will depend on whether the USA accepts responsibility to produce its own fishery products. Alternately the USA will continue to eat a large share of fish from elsewhere in the world and thus “export” the external impacts of aquaculture to other, usually poor countries that often have less stringent environmental protections. “Not in my backyard” is immoral. These are strong words, but the USA has a moral obligation to produce its own fishery products because it can do so sustainably. The USAS must be at the forefront in pointing this out. — Kevin Hopkins, President CHAPTER REPORTS
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