VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES WITH SMALL SCALE AQUACULTURE AND FISHERIES IN THE UNITED STATES PEACE CORPS AND THE US AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT'S JOHN OGONOWSKI AND DOUG BEREUTER FARMER-TO-FARMER PROGRAM  

While world aquaculture and fisheries have gotten high-tech, large scale and very intensive in many parts of the world, there are still many people in developing nations who just want to put some food on the table and maybe make enough extra money to send their children to school and to buy clothes and medicine. Small scale fish and shellfish aquaculture and artisanal fisheries may be the keys to reaching those goals.  For those of us who know how to help them and have a couple of weeks to a couple of years to spare, there are opportunities to connect with them that gives people knowledge of what to do with the resources they already have.  It is a gift of knowledge, not possessions.  I retired and taught people how to build fish ponds and raise tilapia as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa.  A friend of mine, also retired and also with Peace Corps, helped an artisanal fisheries in Asia.  Those opportunities are still there.  Following Peace Corps, I have, through USAID's Farmer-to-Farmer program, spent two weeks to a month at a time in four developing nations in Asia and six in Africa, with multiple visits to some of these, but I am not the only one, nor should I be.  In one place, the concern might be how to make fish feed from locally available food when commercial feeds are just not available.  Another might be how to preserve the quality of harvested fish until they can be sold or how to artificially spawn catfish and raise more fingerlings to survival.  Or there might be a disease problem that needs to be addressed.  Or can a fish farmer's cooperative raise more fish and make more money together than individually?  How about raising ornamental fish so that the wild stocks can recover previous decimation? I have worked with four NGO's that find volunteers for Farmer-to-Farmer projects and there are others.  Consider sending them your resume and let them make the matches between your talents and what is needed.  Perhaps not so oddly, many of these places have suffered terrible wars or other unrest, but the Peace Corps, the NGO's and USAID will keep your safety as their highest priority.  You will go to the farthest corners of the Earth and you will love it.  All expenses paid, but no salary.  Well worth your time and perhaps you may change the world a little.  Just do it.  My presentation will show examples of all this and I will have contact information available for those who wish to volunteer.