WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2015 5 In the past few months many new things have happened in the APC, including having new members on board. Dr. Endhay Kusnendar is the President-Elect of the APC. He is a Senior Researcher at the Research and Development Centre for Aquaculture, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) in Indonesia. He obtained a Master’s degree in aquaculture from the Faculty of Fisheries, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia and a Ph.D. in Applied Biological Sciences from University of Ghent, Belgium. Dr. Jennifer Cobcroft is a new Director on the Board. She has facilitated hatchery and communications workshops for industry and researchers in Australia and New Zealand. She was recently the Leader of the Australian Seafood CRC Aquaculture Production Innovation Hub and is currently a researcher at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) in Tasmania, Australia. Dr. Brett Glencross is also a new board member. He is a Senior Principal Research Scientist for aquaculture feed technologies research within the Aquaculture Research Program of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. He has Honours and Master’s Degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Western Australia and a Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition from the University of Queensland. We have Pornnatcha Klinsorn (Genie) as permanent Executive Officer, stationed in Bangkok. In this role, Genie will be mainly taking care of promotion and expanding membership in the Asia Pacific chapter region, helping to organize meetings and workshops, and undertaking social media and chapter website communication management. She will be the coordination point between the APC Board and the WAS Home Office. We organized two workshops in January and February, in India and Iran. In India, the workshop was organized with the help of Tamil Nadu Fisheries University. The topic was “Advanced Shrimp Farming” and we had over 130 participants all became members of WAS and the APC. We also received generous great support from our major sponsors of this event from Blue Aqua International, Deevee Biological and Sheng Long India Pvt. We had the followAsian Pacific Chapter CHAPTER REPORTS (CONTINUED ON PAGE 72) After an extremely active end of 2014, we are starting 2015 with another exciting event: Aquaculture Americas 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. I am writing this column prior to the event (although it will be published after it has concluded) and I am sure it will be a great success. Our fellow U.S. Chapter is known for always organizing world-class conferences and gathering the best aquaculture scientists from around the globe. Professional organizations are a strong part of professional culture in the United States. In some countries of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region becoming part of these organizations is usually not seen as important as it is in reality. I have had to take personal days off to attend the meeting, and there are many other people that are not allowed to attend professional meetings because many employers do not consider professional organizations of any relevance. They could not be more wrong. I am absolutely convinced of the importance of professional organizations as the best way to stay current in this dynamic world. Recently I had the opportunity to attend a meeting where representatives of numerous producer associations met to discuss several topics about many different species. I was shocked to see the degree of misinformation that was presented in the meeting. Several topics were discussed and many of them were completely outdated! Some new “breakthroughs” were announced, but this information was published internationally at least three years ago. Topics that have been publicly discussed repeatedly over the years and are known as fact were presented as the results of “our recent studies.” I really did not know what to say. I thought the LAC region had seen those days pass long ago; I guess I was wrong. We continue to meet with the main objective to make requests of our governments, for our personal gain. Only in a few exceptions do we actually meet to learn. This could be a “cultural” thing but, if it is, it might be about time that we do something to change it. We need to copy the good things from developed countries, not just adopt the bad habits! I have to say I am disappointed, but at the same time I am proud. I am proud of being part of this professional organization, I am proud of WAS, I am proud of being part of a group of people who really want to change things, who still want to learn, who are eager to share, who are willing to teach. We are not many people yet compared to the vast number of practicing aquaculturists, but we are wiry, we persevere and we will succeed in the end. I am proud of all the members of this association and want to express my appreciation to all of you. May you keep spreading the passion for aquaculture in the LAC region and beyond. I want to leave you with a short reminder about our own regional conference – and the best way to share our experience – LACQUA 15. This year LACQUA will take place in the Convention Center of Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, during 16-20 November in coordination with FENACAM 2015. Do not forget to mark your calendars. See you there. Let’s make things happen. — Antonio Garza de Yta, President Latin American and Caribbean Chapter
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