10 JUNE 2018 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG CHAPTER REPORTS The Latin America and Caribbean Chapter (LACC) election process has begun. Positions available this year are for Director and Secretary, and all LACC members are eligible. I encourage you to nominate people you know who will be willing to serve on the LACC Board of Directors, including yourself. Both positions demand a great deal of effort and, as it is a voluntary activity, your reward will be the satisfaction of duty fulfilled. Nomination packages should be sent by e-mail to LACC secretary Carolina Amézquita (carolina@was.org) and to the chair of the Elections Committee, our Past-President Lorenzo Juarez (lorenzojuarez@ yahoo.com). The deadline for nominations is June 15. The LACC Award is revealed annually during LACQUA. It is meant to recognize the outstanding work of an individual towards the development of aquaculture within the LACC region. Nominees do not have to be native to Latin American or Caribbean countries, nor do they have to be member of LACC or WAS. Nomination packages should be sent by email to Carolina Amézquita and to the Chair of the Awards Committee Laurence Massaut (laurencemassaut@gmail. com). Deadline for nominations is June 29. Complete information on how to prepare nomination packages for the upcoming election and for LACC Award are available at our webpage (www.was.org/ LACC). The next LACC conferences will be held in Bogotá, Colombia (October 23-26, 2018) and San José, Costa Rica (November 2019). The Steering Committees of both conferences have met recently to have everything ready in advance and assure the success of the upcoming meetings. The Steering Committee for LACQUA2018 met in Bogotá in March. Visits were made to the Àgora Conference Center, a brand-new venue where LACQUA 2018 will be held. It is a modern building that will welcome all of us to several sessions and a magnificent trade show. Abstracts are already coming in and booths are being sold. Other important aspects of the conference have been defined, including day trips to trout and tilapia farms near Bogotá. Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, is a beautiful city with nearly 10 million inhabitants. The El Dorado International Airport has direct flights to the major cities in the LACC area, making your trip to the conference an easy one. Bogotá is a historical city, founded in 1538 by the Spanish, who at the time were establishing colonies in the New World. Located at 2,640 m above sea level, it has mild weather; during the conference in October, you can expect an average low temperature of 9 C, while the average high temperature should reach 19.5 C. Cultural life in Bogotá includes museums, art galleries, and theaters. Among museums, you may find time to visit the Colombian National Museum, the Gold Museum, and the Botero Museum. Gastronomy is also a highlight in Bogotá, with restaurants serving international food, but more interestingly are the typical Colombian dishes. Don’t forget chocolate and the world-famous coffee. In January, the Steering Committee for LACQUA 2019 met in San José, Costa Rica and had the opportunity to visit potential conference venues. Several arrangements were made and a great conference is expected. More on LACQUA 2019 in upcoming columns. You can check for more detailed information on LACC conferences online (www.was.org). I would like to hear from all LACC members about your needs and desires regarding the roles of the chapter. You all know but it is always good to repeat that LACC and WAS offer you the magazine you are currently holding in your hands or reading on the screen of your computer. I also would like to remind you that World Aquaculture is available online in Spanish on the LACC website. Besides that, you also have access to high-quality peer-reviewed papers published in the Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, which are available in print and/or electronic format. Beyond that, LACC offers you the chapter annual conference (LACQUA) held in one of the Latin American or Caribbean countries, so that you can attend a good conference near your home. Of course you can always attend one of the WAS Conferences held in different continents every year. So, if you think LACC and WAS can offer you more than it currently does, look for us online using e-mail (lacc@was.org), Facebook (Latin American & Caribbean Chapter/World Aquaculture Society -WAS LACC-), Twitter (@Lacc_was), and LinkedIn (LACC World Aquaculture Society). When you attend our conferences, please pay a visit to the LACC — WAS booth to talk directly with us. I finish this column by wishing that all of you out there — students, scientists, farmers, and all aquaculture enthusiasts — keep working hard to improve sustainable aquaculture production in the LACC region. — Luís André Sampaio, President Latin American and Caribbean Chapter New Data Analysis Tool from FAO World Aquaculture Performance Indicators (WAPI) is an endeavor initiated by the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department to develop user-friendly tools for compiling, generating and providing easy access to quantitative information on aquaculture sector performance at the national, regional and global levels. Information and knowledge products developed under WAPI include data analysis tools and associated technical papers and policy briefs. The WAPI tool is intended to become a user-friendly instrument that helps experts utilize data and information from various sources to assess and monitor aquaculture sector performance in social, economic, environmental and governance terms and detect important trends of parameters of interest in the sector. The primary users of the WAPI tool would be professionals in the aquaculture and fisheries sector, including policymakers, planners, managers, advisors, analysts, researchers and students. See www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/software/wapi/en for more information.
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