WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2016 17 uncontrollable with mixed sex offspring. In another presentation, Soe Tun said that in Myanmar, many tilapia in polyculture ponds spawn uncontrollably. There are only a few hatcheries producing monosex fry and not many farmers will buy tilapia fry from Thailand. Renata Melon Barroso presented on the current state of tilapia farming in Brazil. About 70 percent of the total production cost comes from feed with a protein content of 32 protein, while the cost of seed ranged from 7-10 percent. The indicators that should be considered in the farming of tilapia include level of adaptation of fish to the farming system and environmental conservation, spawning process, growth rate, feed conversion ratio, fillet yield and domestication. He said that there are some strategies that can be done in the management of tilapia genetics to optimize tilapia farming in Brazil: mapping the demand and supply of seeds; mapping the genetic material; identifying representative seeding techniques; develop scientific capacity of farmers via optimization of tilapia strains and learning more on the experience of successful farmers and agribusiness management. All these components must be recorded properly and of course the role of all stakeholders is needed in the process. Julie Ekasari from Indonesia presented on the farming of tilapia in biofloc systems. Tilapia broodstock tilapia reared in biofloc system had higher fecundity and are relatively healthy. Larvae from broodstock reared in biofloc are more uniform. The survival rate is 10 percent better than broodstock reared in conventional system, 50 percent more resistant to fluctuating environmental changes and 40 percent more resistant to infectious diseases. The key to this success is maintaining tilapia broodstock in biofloc systems. During the process, there will be fluctuations in pond conditions that will require monitoring and adjustments. For example, the alkalinity can fall and liming will be required to stabilize pond conditions. Networking During APA 16 I met with some members of the industry in Asia who happened to be fellow former trainees in marine fish hatchery management in Port Stephen Fisheries Institute (SFI), New South Wales - Australia in 2014. I also met colleagues from Lallemand who I met during a symposium in Chennai, India, in March 2016. In addition, I also had the chance to explore all the booths and look for new ideas from the displays and products on offer. For example, hydrolyzed feather meal as a feed ingredient is a new thing for me. This is important because feed raw materials are a key to aquaculture business success by reducing cost of fish feed but without sacrificing nutritional quality. I also learned about automation in aquaculture. At the tradeshow, there was a counter for larvae/algae/ Artemia from Xpertsea®, Canada and automatic feeder from AQ1® and e-Fishery®, a startup which uses internet-based systems. These responds to the challenges and problems faced by aquaculture farmers today in the hatchery and grow-out. Editors Note: The report was written in Bahasa Indonesia and was translated by Aini Yacob. Pamudi (left), of the US Soybean Export Council, and Muhammad Fuadi (right), who received support from WAS under the Young Farmers Sponsorship Program to attend APA 16. MEMBERSHIP OF A LIFETIME Recently I had the opportunity to talk with a new WAS Lifetime member, Edison Alcides Brito Cabrera. I told him that our records indicated that he was already a Lifetime member. He responded that the current Lifetime member is his father, Edison Alcides Brito, who has been a member of WAS since 2004 and became a Lifetime member in 2005. Edison explained that his father had been bringing him to WAS conferences around the world for years and this influenced him to join WAS as a Lifetime member this year. This is such a great story about how WAS is valued to some that I had to share with all our members. — Judy Edwards Andrasko, WAS Home Office
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