WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2017 15 industry. Finally, a responsible aquaculture scientist should work with patience, ethics and integrity. Rodrigue Yossa: How would you describe the ideal aquaculture producer? Santosh Lall: With globalization, the aquaculture industry has become much more complex. When I started about four decades ago, we were dealing with farmers and trying to solve their technical issues, while nowadays we deal with companies and complex issues that are often linked to economics and profitability. The ideal aquaculture producer should not just focus on making a profit, but should also consider sustainability by respecting the environment, considering the welfare of the fish, securing good resources to deal with disease problems, analyzing the performance of the farm in terms of water quality as well as farm inputs and outputs, sending feedback to suppliers such as aquafeed manufacturers to let them know exactly how their products are performing on the farm, encouraging and listening to colleagues, especially junior workers in the farm, interacting with other farmers, and attending aquaculture workshops and meetings. Rodrigue Yossa: What do you think are the main challenges of aquaculture in the short, medium and long run? Santosh Lall: Challenges vary, depending on where you are. For instance, Canada has a long coastline, abundant freshwater resources, and a wide tidal range, while similar resources are scarce in other countries. Also, different countries have different regulations when it comes to aquaculture. However, in general, in the short and medium term, sustainability is very important. Any government initiatives on aquaculture should not only consider an economic perspective, but should also integrate an environmental perspective. Another challenge will be food safety, such as antibiotic residues and natural contaminants in aquaculture products, although a lot of efforts are deployed globally to address the key issues. Other challenges of aquaculture will include disease and parasite controls, and animal welfare. There is thus a need to develop regulations to prevent and manage these short-term concerns. In the long term, the main challenge of aquaculture will definitely be climate change and farm productivity. However, from an aquaculture nutrition point of view, the sustainability of feed should also be considered a big challenge because aquafeed used in several countries relies on fishmeal and fish oil that are not readily available and are very expensive. Efforts are being made to address this by using plant-based protein and lipid in aquafeed, but soil fertility is decreasing in several parts of the world and the sustainability of using terrestrial crops to feed fish may not be the sole answer, especially in the context of human populations in need of food that are also growing. Moreover, given that some people (in Europe, for instance) are against the use of plant products derived from GMOs in fish feeds, other alternative protein and lipid sources are currently under investigation for aquafeed, including meal and oil from microalgae, yeast, single-cell protein and insects. Rodrigue Yossa: What does the future of aquaculture look like in Atlantic Canada? Santosh Lall: The future of aquaculture in Atlantic Canada is promising but requires leadership and a clear mandate from the federal government. The government, through DFO, should increase funding for research and development, establish incentives to encourage the development of new aquaculture species, simplify the existing complex regulatory framework and environment assessment costs that impede industry growth, create systems to secure farm loans, provide more support for education, training and employment programs, and accelerate the regulatory process to obtain farm permits. Government efforts are strongly needed to capitalize the great aquaculture potential of Canada. Rodrigue Yossa: What does the future of aquaculture look like in the world? Santosh Lall: Although aquaculture is struggling in Africa because of social and political problems, I see a bright future for aquaculture expansion globally. However, environmental concerns have to be addressed worldwide to ensure sustainable development of aquaculture. Rodrigue Yossa: What do you think about professional certification of aquaculturists? Santosh Lall: By analogy with agronomists, the certification of aquaculturists will validate the background (training and experience) of aquaculture professionals. For instance, when you meet people who introduce themselves as aquaculturists, sometimes they have only received a broad training in biology with no background in aquaculture. Some of these people consider aquaculture to be an easy field and are the ones advising policy-makers (including government agencies) on aquaculture. Certification should go with re-certification; once someone is certified, it is not for a lifetime. There should be some sort of refreshment on a regular basis for certified aquaculturists. When you look at aquaculture training, only a few universities currently offer B.Sc. degrees in aquaculture, and graduate degrees do not necessarily include training in the multidisciplinary aspects of aquaculture, but are rather specialized in certain aspects of an area such as fish nutrition, molecular biology, genetics or engineering. Therefore, although the certification of aquaculturists would be very important for the sector, it could practically be difficult to implement. This certification would require flexible criteria and the involvement of the aquaculture industry, economic institutions, aquaculture societies, and somewhat of a government accreditation. The dialogue on this topic is very interesting and this discussion should continue. Rodrigue Yossa: What would be the steps towards the professionalization of aquaculturists? Santosh Lall: The principles of professional certifications already exist in fields such as agriculture and engineering and these principles could be adapted to aquaculture to verify that a certified aquaculturist is well equipped with the skills required to manage risks in the aquaculture industry and produce aquatic animals and plants in a sustainable manner. Rodrigue Yossa: What would you have done differently if you had to restart your career in aquaculture? Santosh Lall: I always wanted to look into aquatic animal (CONTINUED ON PAGE 72)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjExNDY=