World Aquaculture December 2018

WWW.WA S.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2018 41 a discount to attend the annual conference. In an era when the world has undergone a communications revolution, we have done well to retain interest in our magazine and to start turning the journal around. During my term we nearly lost the journal through frustration at our failure to improve its ranking in the field but in reality it was the threat of closing down the journal that acted as a catalyst to take a serious and more dynamic approach to revitalizing it. I believe it is now moving in the right direction. Other changes I have seen include an improvement in the functioning of the Board with more focus on delivery of outputs and outcomes rather than merely completing activities. However, there is still work to be done to improve and more effectively communicate the value proposition of membership; aquaculture communication is a competitive field. One area in which WAS has a clear comparative advantage is in the recognition of service to aquaculture. One of my requests to the Board as I stepped away was to look at offering a new category of award, focused more on industry, that recognizes individuals and organizations that make a real difference to the growth of our industry, irrespective of their roles in the Society. It was an honor and a privilege to serve the Society, I have tremendous respect for the people who make it work and have made lifelong friends and acquaintances and hopefully in some way left a small mark in its 50-year history. I wish WAS well and have every confidence it will still be serving the industry in another 50 years. Rebecca Lochmann, 2015-2016 I joined WAS as a Ph.D. student and immediately experienced the benefits of networking at meetings and learning about aquaculture advances through our publications. However, I never envisioned that I would have the opportunity to serve on the US Chapter Board for five years, and then on the WAS Board for seven years. My Presidential term began in Jeju, South Korea. I was familiar with the priorities and operations of our Society but it was not clear how some of our long-standing challenges, such as exchanging timely and relevant information across a diverse global aquaculture community, would be achieved. In addition, maintaining the continuity of Society activities and new initiatives was (and is) a daunting task. Fortunately, the support provided by the Board, committee members, Home Office, and the entire Cooksey family was outstanding. Each presidential term provides a bridge that connects the activities pursued by previous boards and new initiatives developed by the current board. In 2015-2016 we began to see significant progress on initiatives launched in previous terms, such as the installation of Secretariats for the APC and LACC chapters. This process created some new challenges as well, but overall the Secretariats have enhanced communication among chapter members and with the parent society as envisioned. The WAS Strategic Plan update began in 2014 and was a major focus of the Board in 2015-2016. The plan needed a considerable overhaul from the previous version. The plan was reanalyzed and recrafted and an implementation strategy developed. We obtained general membership input and the plan was finalized and put it into action the following term. This new document was designed to be a “living” plan that can be adjusted to accommodate changes in priorities or circumstances between formal updates. In 2013 the Board approved a controversial motion to terminate publication of the journal. After obtaining broader membership input and deliberating further, we developed an alternative plan to reinvigorate the journal. During my term, the Board and other concerned WAS members worked very hard to implement the ambitious plan. A new Executive Editor was approved and transformation of the journal ensued. This arduous process showed that WAS could pool resources strategically to address major challenges and improve the value of products and benefits to the membership. The Society is quickly becoming more inclusive and relevant for the global aquaculture community. To this end, it is critical that we develop future talent by engaging students and junior colleagues in activities to develop leadership and organizational skills. I am grateful to WAS for the opportunity to serve as President, and I look forward to many more years of engagement with the Society as an active Past-President. Juan Pablo Lazo, 2016-2017 The one accomplishment to highlight during my term was that for the first time in history WAS held its annual international conference (WA 17) on the African continent in the beautiful city of Cape Town, South Africa. It was a successful meeting, with almost 2700 people from 87 countries, with 1283 people registered from Africa, representing 33 African countries. This meeting catapulted previous efforts and we now have officially formed an African Chapter within WAS, the only continent missing until now, so we can now safely call our Society a truly global aquaculture society. Congratulations are in order to Dr. Kevan Main, Dr. Bill Daniels and Dr. Khalid Salie for their efforts to lead formation of the chapter. Based on the final number of attendees registered for a conference, WAS broke its record of number of participants at meeting during the annual conference of the Asian Pacific Chapter (APA 16) in Surabaya, Indonesia, with close to 6,000 attendees representing more than 51 countries. This is arguably to be expected, since roughly 90 percent of the world aquaculture production comes from Asia. William Daniels, 2017-2018 Fifty years of WAS is a great accomplishment for a professional society and I’m proud to have been part of it since 1991. I had the honor of first being on the USAS Board and then as its president. I was on the WAS Board since 2006 (with a brief hiatus) so I have seen the Society grow and transform over the years. As the WAS president last year, my most memorable experiences were participating as the incoming president at the first-ever WAS conference held in Africa and most recently being part of a dream to see the African Chapter added as the newest chapter of WAS. It is amazing that 50 years were needed to add Africa as a chapter but remember we still have many other parts of the world not covered by chapters. So, we have room to grow more and even within our existing chapters we have greater potential for growth. The next 50 years will see even greater changes and we need to continue to recruit new, active members to provide leadership towards our 100th anniversary. Please join and bring your colleagues.