World Aquaculture December 2019

WWW.WA S.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2019 5 Parker. One of the most impressive outcomes of that conference was the large number of young students who attended. LAQUA occurred in conjunction with the WAS mid-year Board meeting, where several national and international topics were discussed. It was a great opportunity to meet other chapter presidents and discuss issues, concerns and activities within the various chapters. One common issue and concern is the low number of active participants within chapters, especially those willing to participate at the board level. It seems increasingly difficult to identify active members, recruit newmembers and encourage those willing to actively participate in chapter activities. An important activity within the USAS is to identify those members who have achieved so much in their careers that they deserve one of the USAS awards to officially recognize these achievements within the aquaculture industry or research. As such, 2020 will be a year of recruitment and nominations. Participation on the USAS board is a great way to actively drive the USAS into the future and take an active role in developing the fastest-growing sector of agriculture today. We know there are many students and professors doing great research and want to offer them exposure to the many opportunities that come with working withWAS and USAS boards or are deserving of recognition with an award. With planning for the 2020 Educational Forum and activities to recruit active members and nominations for the 2021 awards, and the USAS election ballot for President, Vice-President and Board members, I look forward to a busy and rewarding spring of 2020. Suggestions and nomination information can be sent to me at angela. caporelli@ky.gov . Thank you for your support and Happy 2020! —Angela Caporelli, USAS President U.S. Aquaculture Society U SAS has had some incredible activities during this period. The Initiative on Education Com- mittee has been working on an educational forum in Washington DC. The event, U.S. Aquaculture: Our Sustainable Food Solution took place on 16 October 2019 and was very successful in many ways. As with many happenings in our nation’s capital, the competi- tion for time and space is staggering. The forumwas planned well in advance to give staffers adequate lead time for scheduling, however the same day and time was later designated for the presentation of the Aqua- culture Bill to Congress one week before the event was to take place. Whether an oversight or not, several positive outcomes were revealed. The welcomes fromDr. Jeff Silverstein (USDA) and Dr. KevinWheeler (NOAA) started the day on very positive notes. The presentations that followed were excellent! Drs. Craig Tucker, Caird Rexroad, Carole Engle, Jimmy Avery, along with Mr. Sebastian Belle and Mr. Jeff Parsons gave very in-depth and knowledgeable presentations that included facts, trends, issues and future potential opportunities within aquaculture today. The attendees, whether fromCongress or Senate, NGOs or public, were very interested and enlightened by the presentations and many requested more information about the industry and activities in the future. The committee held a de-briefing meeting to review the forum and the overall comment was that it was a worthwhile activity and should be considered as an annual USAS activity. Planning for the USAS Educational Forum 2020 is slated to commence in January. Presentations from the 2019 forumwill be available through a link posted on the USAS website ( usaquaculture.org) . USAS was well represented at the LAQUA2019 conference in Costa Rica, attended by me and USAS President-elect Matt C H A P T E R R E P O R T S An educational forum inWashington DC. took place on 16 October 2019 and was very successful. Attendees from Congress or Senate, NGOs or public, were very interested and enlightened by the presentations and many requested more information about the industry and activities in the future.