WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2014 15 Asian-Pacific Aquaculture 2013 By any measure, the Asian-Pacific Aquaculture conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, was a rousing success. The meeting was initially organized to have five concurrent sessions but was expanded to nine based on overwhelming demand. There were more than 1800 registered participants, almost 200 posters and about 180 trade show booths, a full 25 percent of which were feed or feed-related companies. Lots of technical innovation was on display in the trade show, as well as deal making. More than 50 countries were represented among conference participants. Good representation by countries in the Asian-Pacific region was expected but it was surprising to see the number of participants from Latin America (especially Brazil), Europe, North America and even Africa. The plenary was crisply paced with all speakers hitting their marks. Conference participants were officially welcomed by Cao Duc Phat, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Hillary Egna of the AquaFish Innovation Lab presented the Yang Yi Award for travel to Kang Li of Shanghai Ocean University and Mohammed Sharful Islam of Bangladesh Agricultural University. Craig Browdy presented the Novus WAS Internship Challenge Award to Pattanapon Kayansamruaj, a Ph.D. student at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. Conference Co-Chair Pham Anh Tuan provided an excellent overview of the current situation with aquaculture in Vietnam. He spoke about the vulnerability of the country to climate change, especially sea-level rise and extreme weather. Vietnam is also moving forward with certification programs with some 40 percent of total Pangasius production now certified by one or more of the main programs. The country has a target to certify all Pangasius farms by 2015 under the VietGAP standard, which is benchmarked to other major certification programs. World Oyster Society — 5th International Oyster Symposium The World Oyster Society (WOS) was formed following the 1st International Oyster Symposium (IOS) in Tokyo in 2005. The Society currently has approximately 600 members from 34 countries. To introduce WOS to a broader audience, and in acknowledgement of the recent progress in the oyster industry in Vietnam, WOS held their 5th International Oyster Symposium concurrently as a special session within APA13. The symposium ran for two days and included 34 oral presentations and 25 posters. Consistent with the broad interests of WOS, speakers addressed subjects as diverse as clinical studies of oyster extracts on brain function, red and green tape constraining oyster industry expansion, oyster farming business models, the use of the arts and media to promote an understanding of oysters and oyster issues, and marketing. Oyster health and environmental impacts were a major theme. The detection and spread of a more virulent strain of Ostreid herpes virus (OsHV 1 μvar) was of particular concern with a number of talks describing impacts and potential management measures. Researchers from Australia, New Zealand and France involved in attempts to breed for OsHV resistance described progress and approaches to reduce the impacts of the disease. There is potential to breed for OsHV resistance, but there are challenges and an immediate solution is not at hand. Other disease threats discussed included Perkinsus, rickettsial and haplosporidian infections. Environmental change and degradation has been a major theme in previous IOS conferences and continues to attract attention. Climate change impacts on oysters remains topical with studies now investigating the synergistic impacts of multiple stressors on oysters and the trophic interactions that are likely to affect oysters. Several papers focused on other anthropogenic impacts on oysters and consideration of means to minimize the potential for environmental impacts arising from oyster cultivation (IMTA and seagrass friendly infrastructure). Although Asia dominates world oyster production, demand in the region is still growing and widespread efforts continue to attempt to increase production. One example is government initiatives in Malaysia to encourage hatchery production of new species to allow opportunities for communities dependent on traditional wild capture fisheries to move toward bivalve aquaculture. In Vietnam, where oyster production has expanded rapidly over the past 5 years, researchers are gaining a better understanding of the genetics of existing oyster stocks and which of those stocks form the basis of current culture efforts. Internal markets in Vietnam are developing rapidly and currently absorb the vast majority of production. Future exports will depend on adequate implementation of quality assurance programs. Substantial changes to the Society were ratified at the meeting, including the introduction of five chapters (North & South America, Europe & Africa, Oceania, China & Japan) to encourage greater participation and allow greater focus on regional needs. IOS 6 will be held on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, in 2015. Updates on the conference and other WOS activities can be found at www.worldoyster.org along with abstracts from all presentations. — Wayne O’Connor (CONTINUED ON PAGE 16)
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