WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2017 7 CHAPTER REPORTS The time has come for me to take my responsibility and chair the Asian Pacific Chapter and work toward success together with the board, our current and future members. This is a very exciting time and I can feel that the enthusiasm of the board members remains high since our most recent meeting in Kuala Lumpur at the end of July. Emails are pouring in and ideas are shared continuously; I will keep my words to the board members very simple: keep working hard, no matter what! I wish to start this column with a few deserved acknowledgements and in particular I want to thank our secretary Nate, who is based in Bangkok and always there when needed. She supports our activities, stands at our promotion booths all over Asia, helps to plan monthly board meetings, prepares the minutes for the team … so many tasks that are a necessity but too often are taken for granted. I also want to express my gratitude to all our members who have taken a few minutes of their time to reply to the APC survey. This was launched this year prior to APA17 to get some feedback on the activities that we are initiating and the way we communicate about it. It is really crucial that we have a clear understanding of the expectations of our members. The Board will support the functioning of APC and lead some of the groundwork but it is important that the 537 members of the APC (to date) are also proactive and share information with us, propose activities and so on. My message to all our members who represent farmers, experts, scientists, and business people in the APC region mainly, but also from Europe and Americas: please continue to support APC and propose ideas for growth and activities for training and knowledge sharing! In his last column, Prof. Endhay Kusnendar Kontara (our PastPresident) discussed the roles we played during some of the events we engaged with and therefore I will not reiterate this information here; I will only give an overall statement from APA17 and then look toward the future. The APA17 Conference in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) was a great success. There were 2,834 participants from 46 countries, obviously the result of great preparation efforts from the Steering Committee; thank you all! The conference was also a great opportunity for APC to have its Annual Member Business Meeting, during which the board shared with our members the activities and achievements of 2016-2017 and introduced them to some of the activities that we have proposed for 2017-2018. We discussed very informally with the members present about the survey results and agreed that the Board should communicate more actively with our members while keeping the organization of technical workshops and conferences a high priority. Some of the communication paths that we have to follow APC activities include our website (www.was-apc.org/), Twitter (@WASAPC), LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/was-apc4a9268ab/) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/WAS-Asian-PacificChapter-1880538915502186/). Members are encouraged to take part. The APA17 conference was also a great opportunity for aquaculture stakeholders to hear the names of outstanding students and women in our industry. WAS-APC has presented three “Women Awards” to Christaline George, Indah Susilowati, and Juli-anne Royes Russo, three “Student Travel Awards” to Rui A Goncalves, Tin Han Chien, and Steven Gamble, two “Best Oral Presentation” Awards to Tin Han Chien and Gabriel Ataguba, and two “Best Poster Awards” to Syuhaida Isa and Saadiah Ibrahim. These awards are very important to us because we want to support students to work toward excellence in different fields of aquaculture. Hard work and commitment always pays off in the long run! The next APA conference (APA2018) will take place in Taipei, Taiwan on 24-26 April 2018. It is less than a year from now and it will be without a doubt a great conference. We organized our first Steering Committee meeting already during APA17 and the detailed planning is on track. Therefore, I encourage all stakeholders in our industry to come to Taiwan and enjoy a great conference in a country that has always been a precursor to aquaculture innovation. On a personal note, I spent some precious time at National Taiwan Ocean University (our co-organizer) while I was carrying out research as part of my post-doctoral studies and therefore I know how committed to success the members of the Steering Committee are. I am looking forward to seeing you all there! The Board of APC has agreed to work toward the preparation of a long-term development plan in the region, aligned with the strategic plans of WAS but with a local flavor because the challenges in the Asia Pacific region are facing are not necessarily the same as challenges other regions may face. The Board has already agreed in principle with its participation and support to a few national events in the region: ICAI conference 26-28 October (Solo, Indonesia), AquaSG17 3-7 Oct (Singapore); 11th Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum 21-24 November (Cochin, India). The board also agreed to work toward the organization of technical workshops in the Middle East, as well as in Myanmar, Cambodia, China and the Philippines and hope to be able to organize some additional events in Australia. In addition to the organization of these activities, the board will also undertake an internal exercise in generating an “APC Board – How to do it” supporting set of documentations to help new board members to become more efficient in carrying out their tasks in a short amount of time, while ensuring consistency in the way we plan activities. This is not to replace our bylaws but merely to support future board members. Finally, elections will be taking place this year and these will come relatively quickly. I hope to see a very high participation in the process as I want it to be as selective as possible. My final word goes to potential future members: the Asia Pacific represents the region with the largest aquaculture production in the world and WAS-APC represents without a doubt a home for all enthusiastic people who are fully committed to supporting the sustainable growth of aquaculture. This, I believe, will come with the inclusion of new technologies to support planned growth coordinated by public and private players. Sustainable growth can only occur when made with regard to the carrying capacity of the environment (both nature and societies). If you are not a member of WAS-APC, I would encourage you to become one of us! — Guillaume Drillet, President Asian Pacific Chapter
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