World Aquaculture December 2018

2 DECEMBER 2018 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S.ORG P re s i dent ’ s C olumn T his is my first column as President of theWorld Aquaculture Society and I would like to thank theWAS members who gave me the opportunity to participate in the management of the Society. My presidential mandate will be short, only seven months, and yet many exciting things have already happened since I took office three months ago. Dispensing with a chronological order of events, I begin with the (perhaps) most awaited news for a large portion of the membership: the formation of the African Chapter (AC), the fifth chapter of WAS. The ACwas a long-term desire of manyWAS members and the realization of this dreamwas possible with thanks to the united efforts of several collaborators who worked diligently over the last two years to organize its formation. As you have been following here in this space, after the launch of the formation of the AC event in Cape Town, South Africa, a lot of planning and efforts were made, including the establishment of an interimBoard of Directors, development of the AC Bylaws, hiring a secretariat to help the organization of the activities and the submission of a formal petition to theWAS Board of Directors requesting the formation of the AC. The petition was approved during the pre- conference Board of Directors meeting inMontpellier, France, and was followed by approval of the Chapter byWAS members with physical addresses in Africa. Meanwhile, theWAS Board of Directors reviewed and unanimously approved the AC Bylaws. Therefore, the date of 7 November 2018 marks the official formation of the African Chapter of WAS. For WAS, this event has enormous importance. The Society, through its commitment to excellence in science, technology, education, and information exchange, contributes to the progressive and sustainable development of aquaculture throughout the world and the African continent signifies a new and challenging frontier. Its vast continental waters and coastlines present huge potential to increase aquaculture production and consequently to contribute to the nutritional, food security and socioeconomic development needs of the region. The other good news is that the African Chapter can count on additional financial support beyond the startup funds provided by theWAS budget. Aller Aqua has agreed to support the Chapter as a Founding Gold Sponsor, thereby contributing to the activities of the Chapter and Society, and specifically to the development of WAS activities in the African region for three years. Aller Aqua will sponsor Chapter activities as well as future workshops and meetings. Personally, I am proud to have signed the official letter for African Chapter formation because I have a special affection for African aquaculture since I started collaborating on different projects developed by the AquaFish program (USAID, USA) and ProAfrica/ CNPq (Brazil) in several countries. However, credit for this achievement must be given to the many people who have worked tirelessly to this end. My sincere acknowledgement to Dr. KevanMain and Dr. Bill Daniels along with the very active AfricanWAS members who have volunteered for the InterimBoard and Steering Committee: Dr. Sherif Sadek, Dr. John Walakira, Dr. Flower Msuya, Ms. Zukiswa Nkhereanye, Dr. Khalid Salie, Ms. Fatima Samodien and the secretariat BlessingMapfumo. I am also grateful for the support of theWAS Home Office, current and past members of theWAS Board of Directors, and so many other supporters who committed time and energy to bring the African Chapter to final formation. Fundamental to this process has also been the logistical and/or financial support of NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development Agency), DAFF (South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) and the AquaFish Innovation Lab. Special thanks to Bill Daniels and John Cooksey for developing the new Founding Sponsor concept and to Aller Aqua for financial support. This is a time to celebrate but also to remember that the work is just beginning and the challenges ahead are great. I urge not only the members residing in Africa, but also all those who want to see a strong Chapter to get involved, make suggestions, send news, share business opportunities, and invite collaborators and students to joinWAS and the AC to contribute to its stability and sustainability. Stay tuned, several activities and workshops are being planned in different countries on the continent, includingWAS sponsorship of the International Conference on Aquatic Resources and Aquaculture for Sustainable Development (ICAR-AQUA-2019), to be held in Hawassa, Ethiopia from 10-12 January 2019. Switching now to conferences, WAS continues to be a great leader and main reference on this subject. AQUA 2018, co-organized with the European Aquaculture Society (EAS) and held inMontpellier, France (August 25-29), was a success in every sense, demonstrating that aquaculture is one of the most important food industries in the Contents (continued) 2 President’s Column 3 Editor’s Note 5 USAS Chapter Report 6 Korean Chapter Report 8 Latin American and Caribbean Chapter Report 10 African Chapter Report 12 Asian Pacific Chapter Report 70 Conference Calendar 71 Future Conferences and Expositions 72 Membership Application ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 2 0 )