WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2014 13 The plenary session of World Aquaculture 2014 in Adelaide, Australia concluded by highlighting WAS student scholars and researchers in a “spotlight” competition. Three WAS students with the best scores on their abstract each presented a 3½ minute abbreviated version of their full presentation at the plenary session. Ballots were distributed to the plenary session audience to rank the presentations. Based on audience rankings, the three presenters were awarded cash prizes at the President’s reception. The winner of the Student Spotlight Competition was Fletcher Warren-Myers, a Ph.D. student at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His talk was titled “Otolith fingerprint signatures: A mass marking technique for farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.” The other two presenters were Mahmoud A.O. Dawood from Kagoshima University in Kagoshima, Japan and Flavio Ribeiro from Flinders University in the conference host city of Adelaide. Mahmoud’s presentation was titled “Effects of the partial substitution of fish meal by soybean meal with or without heat-killed LP20 on growth performance, stress resistance and immune response of amberjack Seriola dumerili juveniles.” Flavio‘s talk was titled “Prey size preference and cannibalistic behavior in barramundi Lates calcarifer.” Oral Presentation Awards The top oral presentation honor was awarded to Nicole Rhody. Nicole is part of the Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture research team at Mote Marine Laboratory and received the first place oral presentation award for her talk titled “Influence of tidal cycles on the control of reproductive activity in common snook Centropomus undecimalis.” Her primary research focus has been to develop culture technologies for a variety of economically important temperate and tropical fish species. She is currently working on her doctorate in fish reproductive biology and physiology and scheduled to graduate from the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Scotland in November of this year. Nicole plans to continue her research at Mote with a focus in both basic and applied aspects of fish reproductive physiology including optimization of broodstock management techniques. The second place oral presentation honor went to Matthew Wylie. Matthew is currently pursuing his Ph.D., investigating the reproductive physiology and aquaculture of a wreckfish, known locally in New Zealand as hapuku (Polyprion oxygeneios). His presentation was titled “Hapuku Polyprion oxygeneios aquaculture in New Zealand — Growth and gonadal development of F1 broodstock under two different temperature regimes.” This work is a collaborative project supervised by Dr. Mark Lokman (University of Otago), Professor Abigail Elizur (University of the Sunshine Coast) and Dr. Jane Symonds (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand). When Matt completes this degree, he wishes to pursue a career in the field of finfish reproductive physiology and aquaculture with a particular interest in oocyte development, induction of spawning and egg quality of cultured species. In addition to strong interests in tropical marine ornamental aquaculture, his is excited to continue Student Awards at World Aquaculture 2014 (CONTINUED ON PAGE 15) TOP LEFT. WAS Student Activities Chair Chris Green (far left) presenting awards to World Aquaculture 2014 Student Spotlight presenters (left to right) Fletcher Warren-Myers, Mahmoud A.O. Dawood, and Flavio Ribeiro at the President’s reception. TOP MIDDLE. Nicole Rhody (right) examining gonad histology of female common snook with her supervisor, Dr. Kevan Main. TOP RIGHT. Matthew holding a second-generation hapuku (Polyprion oxygeneios) produced for the first time in 2013 at NIWA’s Bream Bay Aquaculture Park. (Photo: Alvin Setiawan) BOTTOM LEFT. Keng-Ming Wu (left) in the lab with advisor, Dr. Chung-Chyi Yu. BOTTOM RIGHT. Yu-An Ma (right) evaluating algal cultures with advisor, Dr. Chung-Chyi Yu.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjExNDY=