4 MARCH 2014 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG CHAPTER REPORTS LACC Column, continued from page 3 next couple of years. Please let us know which of the committees you would like to join and about any innovative idea that we should add to our work plan. As a reminder, the committees and their chairs are: Rules and Regulations (Maria Celia Portella), Publications (Pablo Gonzalez), Student Activities (Marcelo Shei), Awards (Patricia Moraes Valenti) and Promotion and Membership (Lorenzo Juarez). We plan to have the basic structure and goals of these committees on the LACC webpage very soon. In the next issue of World Aquaculture, we will be presenting details about our next LACQUA conference, which will most likely take place in November. Stay tuned and mark your calendar; we are planning for an unforgettable event. I look forward to hear any comment you have about our chapter. — Antonio Garza de Yta, President It might be a big surprise to see me as PresidentElect writing this note instead of Amrit Bart, who was announced as President during the recent APA 2013 meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Amrit Bart had to relocate to Georgia in the US and therefore has had to resign as President of APC. This has automatically put me on the spot as the presumptive new President, but confirmation will be made at the next APC Board meeting. It is a great honor to be able to contribute to the World Aquaculture Society and the Asian Pacific Chapter. To briefly introduce myself, I am President and CEO of Blue Aqua International Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based company providing one-stop solutions for aquaculture. Concurrently I am also the Founder and President of the Asian Aquaculture Network (AAN), a regional professional network of communication and knowledge-sharing of practical information in aquaculture. The Asia Pacific Aquaculture 2013 Conference and Trade Show, held in Ho Chi Minh City from 10-13 December 2013, was a huge success. With more than 2500 participants, over 120 exhibitors and 9 conference sessions from more than 20 countries, participants expressed their satisfaction overall. There were seminars, workshops and farm tours. We believe that this event has brought in new perspectives and built greater and stronger relationships for the APC. Thanks go to the organization committee, especially Lukas Manomaitis, and everyone else who made it possible for the great achievement of APA 2013. I would like to give special thanks to all of our sponsors as well. As the new year of 2014 has started, I would like to highlight some of the activities planned for this year. First, we are continuing with the plan to have a full-time Secretariat for the APC on a five-year trial basis with shared support and funding from WAS and the APC. This will result in full-time support and focus on our membership and events. We are also creating a new APC website (targeting a rollout in May) that will be more attractive with more frequent updates. Throughout my time as a board member of the APC, I would like to bring in more challenging responsibilities. I would like to create more regional small symposia related to the Asia Pacific region. I am going to apply full effort to focus more on current issues, especially on diseases such as Early Mortality Syndrome in shrimp. I will also give effort to expanding the APC and getting new members, including from South Asia and the Middle East. The APC is growing and expanding at a fast pace and there are exciting events coming up. The next event in the region is World Aquaculture 2014 in Adelaide, Australia on June 7-11. Another event to look out for is World Aquaculture 2015 that will be held on Jeju Island, South Korea in May 2015. Will be looking forward to meeting you all there! Last but not least, I would like to thank all the past and present members who have helped with the Chapter, especially APC Directors and board members. I want to thank Roy Palmer, APC Events Managers and special thanks to Lukas Manomaitis, Immediate Past President. Lukas has created major changes in our chapter and I can frankly say that he was the most devoted and enthusiastic WAS Chapter president I have seen. I understand that a lot of responsibilities and pressure comes with the position that I am holding. I cannot promise that I will be best but I promise that I will give full support to our team. — Farshad Shishehchian, President Asian Pacific Chapter ABOVE. From left to right, Roy Palmer, Lukas Monomaitis, Antonio Garza de Yta, Farshad Shishehchian and Amrit Bart at APA13 in Ho Chi Minh City.
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