16 SEPTEMBER 2014 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Holding the conference of the parent society in a place as relatively remote as South Australia is somewhat of a risk, but the conference organizers pulled it off and the quality of the program and the beautiful location was a sufficiently compelling draw to result in a successful meeting. Having said that, the conference had the feel of a national meeting as about 65 percent of the more than 2000 conference participants were from Australia. The program strongly reflected the interests of Australian aquaculture, with sessions on the species cultured there: oysters, abalone, salmon, kingfish, tuna, barramundi, marine shrimp and freshwater crayfish. Despite the preponderance of local scientists, the meeting had good global participation, with 70 countries represented. The conference was opened rather formally in the main reception area of the conference center. Unfortunately for those trying to officiate the conference opening, colleagues were just seeing each other for the first time and understandably there were a lot of animated conversations going on. The opening included an energetic performance from an aboriginal cultural and music group, featuring the unique and haunting sounds of the digeridoo. At the plenary, incoming WAS President Graham Mair reminded us, in the conference theme of “create, nurture and grow,” that global aquaculture has an annual growth rate of about 5 percent, with a direct value of $100 billion and an additional $400 billion of indirect value. There are now more than 54 million people employed directly in aquaculture, with 195 million more working in other parts of the value chain. About 10 percent of the global population depends on seafood for a living. Member of Parliament from Tasmania, Richard Colbeck, spoke about Australian government programs and investments in aquaculture, including one-stop regulatory shops and an “oyster coast” strategy in New South Wales. The National Aquaculture Strategy covers environmental approvals, access to veterinary products and biosecurity. There are formal mechanisms for coordination, collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders, especially between the national and state governments. The plenary speakers — Jose Villalon of Nutreco and Charlie Arnot from the Center for Food Integrity — were excellent. We have articles based on both plenary presentations in this issue of World Aquaculture. Jose made the case for aquaculture as an exemplary model of efficient and responsible “center-plate” protein production. Charlie Arnot spoke about “Ethics, Values, and Science — Building Trust in Today’s Aquaculture.” Both presentations were highly polished and professional, with good graphics and clear and confident delivery; they were like TED talks. There were numerous awards presented at this meeting, including a new Honorary Life Member, the Norwegian salmon WA2014 in Adelaide a Success geneticist Trygve Gjedrem. Named as new WAS Fellows were Wagner Valenti, Tom Losordo and Nigel Preston. Unfortunately technical difficulties with the presentation system marred the already sufficiently challenging, highpressure student spotlight presentations. Full coverage of these awards can be found elsewhere in the magazine. The trade show was well-subscribed, with 132 booths. There was lots of interesting gear on display. An oyster grader from Oystek and a net cleaner from PFG Systems — Tasmania were unique. The trade show was most lively during coffee breaks and at happy hour. From my perspective, the Adelaide meeting highlighted the often-neglected social dimensions of sustainability. There was an interesting session on “social license to operate,” a concept relating to community acceptance, developed in response to the mining industry in Australia and now extended more broadly to include aquaculture. The session was capably moderated by Kate Brooks, and featuring a lively panel discussion that included both plenary speakers. Another session later in the week was dedicated to public participation and effective engagement in policy development in aquaculture. There was also a session on gender in aquaculture. I have more to say about social sustainability in my Editor’s Note. The conference also included multiple sessions on various aspects related to climate change, a topic discussed further elsewhere in this issue. There were several sessions on genetics and breeding, highlighting the attention this domain of aquaculture is receiving. A session on IMTA in China offered a glimpse of current techniques and the vast geographic scale of this practice in the country. An excellent session on standards and certification programs was highlighted by a vigorous discussion on the merits and limitations of these programs between Simon Bush of Wageningen University and Dan Lee of the GAA. One of the more fascinating presentations of the conference was made by the esteemed Canadian geneticist Roger Doyle, who proposed a model on the effect of inbreeding on disease resistance and the severity and extent of epidemics in penaeid shrimp. His presentation stimulated rejoinders from other geneticists in the audience. It is presentations and sessions like this that make WAS conferences so valuable. The President’s Reception was held in large reception area overlooking an elegant, newly renovated stadium where Australianrules footie is played. The food was excellent and plentiful, but the yellowtail kingfish sashimi was exceptional. As a bookend to the aboriginal music of the conference opening, the closing reception featured traditionally costumed Korean dancers with fans, giving a water-themed performance to entice participation in the upcoming WAS conference in 2015 in Jeju, Korea. — John A. Hargreaves, Editor-in-Chief Abalone tanks at SARDI (South Australia Research and Development Institute) during a post-conference tour. Photo: Nicole Rhody.
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