World Aquaculture December 2018

26 DECEMBER 2018 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S.ORG HI; Singapore; Newfoundland, Canada; Ireland; San Antonio, TX; San Diego, CA; and, once again, New Orleans, LA. Emphasis on Career Development and Students WAS has always had a strong interest in student membership and professional development. For over 30 years the Society has offered an Employment Service that provides information about job opportunities for students at WAS meetings and through the WAS website. The magazine has published numerous articles on how students from grade school through university have had opportunities to visit aquaculture facilities at their schools to visit aquaculture facilities, take courses, and in some cases develop demonstration best student presentations and posters are among the awards presented at WAS meetings. Affiliates, Chapters, and Associates The European Mariculture Society was the first Affiliate of WAS in 1976. The Aquaculture Association of Canada and the Caribbean Aquaculture Association became the second and third affiliated organizations in 1984 and 1987. WAS worked with the affiliates on the rotation planning of annual and topical meetings, and each affiliate was allowed to appoint a voting member to the 6WAS Board of Directors. In 1989, an agreement with the Asian Fisheries Society was established to provide exchanges of publications, distribution of meeting notices, and other items of mutual support. Affiliates later became associate societies and WAS continues to maintain good relations with them. Development of chapters, which can be defined as organizations in individual countries that are part of a larger entity followed. The first two chapters were the United States (approved in 1989) and Japan (1991). In 1998 the Latin American Chapter was created (which morphed with the Caribbean Chapter to become the Latin American and Caribbean Chapter). The Asian Pacific Chapter came next, followed by the Korean Chapter in 2008. Aquaculture without Frontiers At the WAS conference in Salvador, Brazil in 2003, Past- President Michael New put forth the idea of Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) in his keynote address. The idea was to provide voluntary service to alleviate poverty through small-scale aquaculture in developing countries. Originally focused on the provision of assistance by retired aquaculturists, the concept found enthusiasm within a wide age spectrum. AwF was designed to assist developing countries by providing technical assistance by aquaculture volunteers in sustainable and responsible practices with the goal of reducing poverty and improving community health, along with a number of other priorities. AwF became an affiliate of WAS and received support from the Society and its industry sponsors, both financial and in-kind. In the March 2014 issue of the magazine, Michael New described the program and its objectives and reported on the countries in which volunteers had worked, species addressed, beneficiaries, and the duration of activity for the first ten years of AwF (2003-2012). AwF activities in that period involved 12 countries through workshops and volunteer interactions in person or via e-mail and telephone, which varied from six weeks to four years. The majority of the species addressed were carp, tilapia and catfish. At the Aquaculture 2016 meeting in Las Vegas, NV, USA, the AwF Executive Director announced that the non-governmental organization had been registered as an incorporated charitable organization in the United Kingdom. That development provided an additional contact for the organization beyond the previously existing units in the USA and Australia. A Latin American office is also located in Mexico. Publications Journal of theWorldAquaculture Society (JWAS) The Journal of the World Aquaculture Society is charged with soliciting manuscripts relating to fundamental and applied aquaculture research. JWAS publishes original papers in English that relate to the culture of aquatic plants and animals. Categories include review articles, research notes, and communications (short reports). A wide range of topics have been the source of material for articles in JWAS. Some of the more common topics include, disease, nutrition, engineering, water quality, water systems, breeding, genetics, economics, marketing, research on new species, biosecurity, and sex control. JWAS maintains a high level of integrity with respect to concerns about plagiarism, multiple publications of the same information, appropriate data analyses, animal welfare, experimental design, and interpretation of the data collected, among other concerns. WorldAquacultureMagazine The magazine was the brainchild of David Aiken, a past- president of WAS, and was first published in 1988. He presented the WAS Board with his idea of converting the then existing quarterly newsletter to a magazine and got approval for its establishment. Aiken (Managing Editor) was assisted by Susan Waddy (Science Editor). They solicited manuscripts, did the layout, and got the quarterly magazine printed and sent to the WAS Home WAS Executive Director John Cooksey (left) and Mario Stael of MarEvent Conference Management (right).