CONCH AQUACULTURE IN PUERTO RICO VOLUME 53, NUMBER 2 THE MAGAZINE OF THE WORLD AQUACULTURE SOCIETY JUNE 2022 W RLD AQUACULTURE
WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2022 1 WORLD AQUACULTURE MAGAZINE WORLD AQUACULTURE magazine is published by the World Aquaculture Society. The home office address is: World Aquaculture Society, PO Box 397, Sorrento LA 70778-0397 USA. P and F: +1-225-347-5408; Email: JudyA@was.org World Aquaculture Society Home Page: www.was.org WORLD AQUACULTURE SOCIETY OFFICERS, 2022-23 Jennifer Cobcroft Blair, President Antonio Garza de Yta, Past-President Humberto Villarreal, President Elect Reginald Blaylock, Treasurer Kathleen Hartman, Secretary DIRECTORS Guillaume Drillet Marco Saroglia David Cline Victoria Tarus Hillary Egna Angela Caporelli Marina M. Rubio Benito, Student Director CHAPTER REPRESENTATIVES John Walakira, African Jean-Yves Mével, Asian Pacific Ik Kyo Chung, Korean Francisco Javier Martínez Cordero, Latin America and Caribbean WilliamWalton, USAS HOME OFFICE STAFF Judy Edwards Andrasko, Director, JudyA@was.org Killian A. Haydel, Assistant Director, killianh@was.org WORLD AQUACULTURE EDITORIAL STAFF John Hargreaves, Editor-in-Chief Mary Nickum, Editor Linda Noble, Layout Editor WAS CONFERENCES AND SALES John Cooksey, Executive Director of Conferences and Sales World Aquaculture Conference Management P.O. Box 2302, Valley Center, CA 92082 P: +1-760-751-5005; F: +1-760-751-5003 Email: worldaqua@was.org MANUSCRIPTS AND CORRESPODENCE Submit manuscripts as Microsoft Word files to Mary Nickum, Editor, World Aquaculture magazine. Email: Editor@worldaquaculture.us Letters to the Editor or other comments should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief, John Hargreaves at jhargreaves@was.org. WORLD AQUACULTURE (ISSN 1041-5602), is published quarterly by the World Aquaculture Society, 14356 Bayou Terrace Drive, Saint Amant, LA 70774 USA. Library subscription price $50 annually for United States addresses and $65 annually for addresses outside the United States. Individual subscriptions are a benefit of membership in the World Aquaculture Society. Annual membership dues: Students, $45; Individuals, $65; Corporations (for-profit), $255; Sustaining, $105 (individuals or non-profits); Lifetime (individuals) $1,100. Periodical postage paid at Sorrento Louisiana and additional mailing offices. Twenty-five percent of dues is designated for subscription to World Aquaculture magazine. POSTMASTER Please send address changes to World Aquaculture Society, PO Box 397, Sorrento, LA 70778-0397 USA. ©2022, The World Aquaculture Society. ■ W RLD AQUACULTURE VOL . 53 NO. 2 JUNE 2022 15 Recent Research Highlight from the Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 16 Aquaculture in Canada Cyr Couturier and Darrell Green 20 Remote Sensing Technologies toMonitor Harmful Algal Blooms in Offshore Aquaculture Devan Nichols and Timothy Hogan 27 Marine Tilapia — South Africa’s New Affordable Whitefish Alternative R. Kourie and N. Dladla 34 Understanding How to Operate a Conch Nursery Recirculating Aquaculture System in Puerto Rico Chalier Dones-Ortiz, Megan Davis and Raimundo Espinoza 42 Perspectives on Commercial Branzino Farming and EuropeanMarine Aquaculture from an Industry Veteran Marco Gilmozzi 47 Emergence of the Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center Terrence Tiersch, Jack Koch and Yue Liu 52 Midwest Facility is a Successful Model for Research, Demonstration and Education for Freshwater Aquaculture Greg Fischer, Chris Hartleb, Kendall Holmes and Emma Wiermaa 58 Aquaculture Effluent is a Good Fertilizer But Not a Biostimulant of Plant Growth and Flowering Ghaith Amro, Hadi Jaafar and Imad P. Saoud 65 Biochar: An Excellent Fish Feed Additive Chetan Kumar Garg, Manas Kumar Maiti, Manish Jayant, Ravi Kumar Patel and Sinha Jateen COVER: Villa Pesquera de Naguabo (Naguabo Fishing Association) located on Húcares Beach, Puerto Rico. Victoria Cassar, Hatchery Manager, showing Noel Vega, Fish Market Attendant, newly-collected queen conch egg masses for the hatchery. Photo: Megan Davis. See story on page 34. (CONTENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2)
2 JUNE 2022 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG Pre s i dent’s Column What a pleasure and honor to be writing my first WAS President column. After the election in early 2020 and being advised of the election result on 10March 2020, it was an extended journey to officially becoming President-Elect in Feb 2021 and now President inMay 2022. We have all been on an unusual journey over the last 2.5 years, where our perspectives on “normal” and forward planning have been challenged. My thoughts are with all people engaged with the aquaculture sector globally, through upheaval and stability, grief and joy. To introduce myself, my involvement withWAS started with attendingWorld Aquaculture 1999 in Sydney as a Ph.D. candidate. The conference opened my eyes to the global scale of the industry and the challenges and opportunities it presented. For me, it was the beginning of connecting my research—at the time, investigating feeding behavior of larval marine fish—with an international industry. It was a realization of my small piece in a big, sustainable development puzzle. In 2008, I joinedWAS and attendedWA2008 in Busan, Korea, and have been an active member and participant in multiple conferences since then. I was Secretary of theWAS Board from February 2016 to August 2018 and a former Director of the Asian-Pacific Chapter of WAS (September 2014-April 2016). My engagement in Society roles included Conference Chair of World Aquaculture in Darwin, Australia inMay-June 2023, Steering Committee member for World Aquaculture Singapore (scheduled for 29 Nov-2 Dec 2022), ProgramCo-Chair for World Aquaculture Adelaide 2014, member of the Policy, Rules and Regulations Committee, co-chair of sessions at World Aquaculture and Australasian Aquaculture, and a judge of student presentations. Prior to 2020, my research was focused on industry-applied marine finfish hatchery technologies through positions with the University of Tasmania, James Cook University in Singapore and Australia and as a consultant. This was complemented with various roles leading research and development strategic planning for new and emerging species for aquaculture. Most of my work has been based in Australia, although my experience includes being a volunteer with Aquaculture without Frontiers inMyanmar, and engagement in other southeast Asian countries, as well as the USA, Mexico, Kenya, Tanzania, Europe and New Zealand. In 2021, I started my first full-time role with industry and shifted focus to spiny lobster aquaculture. It seems I can’t resist some of the most biologically challenging things to do in aquaculture. I’m also committed to the translation of aquaculture research investment, effort and achievements into industry, employment and livelihoods. It has been exciting to join the team at Ornatas to commercialize over 20 years’ of research in Tropical Rock Lobster Panulirus ornatus hatchery production. I am in awe every time I look into the larval culture tanks, considering both the fascinating biology of spiny lobsters and the efforts of the scientists that have made this scale of production possible. Away from the hatchery, WAS activities are becoming increasingly active. Despite the limited ability to hold regular face-to-face conferences, all Chapters apart from the Korean chapter now have more than 200 members each, enabling Chapter Presidents to vote and represent their members in the recent WAS Board meeting inMérida (and virtually) inMay 2022. The global diversity of representation in the Society is increasing and the Board is focused on inclusive policies. A highlight for WAS in recent months has been the successful progress of the African Chapter. The annual membership has increased by 37 percent and AFRAQ21 was held in Egypt inMarch 2022. I commend the African Chapter conferences to you, the next is AFRAQ23 in Zambia, to connect with developments and innovations in this region that is experiencing rapid expansion of aquaculture. The financial position of WAS has remained secure through Covid disruption, in part with temporary support via loans from some Chapters. Successful conferences are pivotal toWAS operations, which is a not-for-profit Society functioning for the benefit of members and the aquaculture industry primarily through the exchange of scientific and industry development knowledge at world and regional meetings, the Journal of theWorld Aquaculture Society (in the top 20 journals in the fisheries category worldwide, with an impact factor of 2.5) and World Aquaculture magazine. Recent Board direction is targeting a financial strategy to secure our future and increasing opportunities to support aquaculture students across the globe. Our most recent meeting inMérida was attended by almost 2000 delegates. Many people expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues in-person. Thanks to the Conference Management team, ably lead by John Cooksey, together with the Steering Committee and all attendees for making this event a resounding success. I am confident more students and aquaculture professionals have a clearer understanding of their piece in the global aquaculture network. Contents (continued) 2 President’s Column 3 Editor’s Note 4 Asian Pacific Chapter Report 6 Korean Chapter Report 8 African Chapter Report 11 Latin American and Caribbean Chapter Report 13 USAS Chapter Report 70 Conference Calendar 71 Future Conferences and Expositions 72 Membership Application ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 3 )
WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2022 3 Ed i tor’s Note Perhaps its not surprising that skewed perspectives on aquaculture are the norm. Everyone carries the baggage of their personal experiences and learned knowledge that leads to biases from the truth about anything. People are seldom swayed by rational knowledge and objective reality but rather sieve out information that fits a pre-existing framework, so-called confirmation bias. Information that does not fit the frame is discarded. Portrayals of aquaculture in mainstreammedia outlets, at least in the Western world, are fascinating and frustrating and often represent only a partial reflection of the sum total reality of aquaculture. Often, aquaculture is described in monolithic terms as “the aquaculture industry,” as if there is some singular entity that, by implication, is homogeneous. There is never a corresponding reference to “the agriculture industry” in any popular press. As we know, aquaculture is tremendously diverse, with the FAO estimating that over 600 species are farmed, with nearly 250 fed species. To say there is an aquaculture industry is disingenuous and lazy journalism. Popular press in the West, when making reference to aquaculture, more often than not seem to be referring to farming of salmon or shrimp, two of the most traded aquaculture species. It’s as if carp farming, subsistence aquaculture of any kind or farming of low trophic level extractive species like seaweed and molluscan shellfish does not exist. Further, when referring to salmon or shrimp farming, aquaculture is often described derisively in almost exclusively negative terms, replete with stale critiques formerly raised by environmental NGOs. Skewed perspectives on aquaculture have seeped frommedia coverage to official government policy. One example of this is the rationale used to justify the ban on open net-pen farming of salmon in British Columbia by 2025, mandated by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2019. Although it is beyond dispute that wild stocks of salmon in BC are struggling, there is considerable uncertainty about the numerous potential causes for their imperiled status. Antisalmon farming advocates and some (but not all) First Nations have supported the ban, claiming that juvenile wild salmon migrating past netpens are subject to elevated levels of sea lice, leading to high juvenile mortality of wild salmon. The proposed solution is to ban net-pen salmon farming and to transition to land-based farming or some other yet-to-be determined, “sustainable” approach that avoids direct contact between farmed and wild salmon. Needless to say, this has created considerable turmoil within the salmon farming sector in the country. The drive to ban open netpen farming of salmon is predicated on the skewed perspective that land-based aquaculture is somehow better for the environment, and particularly wild salmon stocks, than netpen aquaculture. This neglects the complexities of the issue, particularly the notion that there are trade-offs associated with every option. The focus of the policy seems to be to create some separation between farmed and wild stocks. While this may be all well and good, it neglects the tradeoff associated with the increased energy demand and associated greenhouse gas emissions that characterize landbased farming. It further assumes that land-based farming is an economically viable alternative to netpen farming, an assumption that has yet to be demonstrated consistently in practice. Thus, skewed perspectives of aquaculture at the policy level have created a tremendous disruption to an industry that has been operating continuously for several decades, providing economic opportunities in communities where options are limited. I would be remiss in pointing out that my fellow aquaculturists are not immune to holding skewed perspectives on aquaculture. Some aquaculturists take their advocacy for a particular species, farming system or production technology to the point of evangelism. This only provides ammunition for aquaculture critics to hold up as an example of an unbalanced view that does not include other important environmental or social considerations. Recent articles by Barry Costa-Pierce and Thierry Chopin in this magazine have highlighted the “hype, fantasies and realities” of aquaculture development, questioned some of the orthodoxies and provided helpful reality checks. In attending trade shows at WAS conferences, one would be forgiven for coming away with a skewed perspective of aquaculture that bears little resemblance to the reality on the ground. There are a lot of examples of high technology solutions to problems that are solved by most producers with either simple tools or none at all. While there is a lot of innovation using artificial intelligence, machine learning and decision support systems, the reality is that few farmers are using these advanced tools, despite their considerable potential. So, what can be done to address and counter skewed perspectives in aquaculture? First, let’s avoid talking about a monolithic aquaculture “industry” and refer instead to specific aquaculture sectors, often connected to particular geographic locations, in recognition of the tremendous diversity of species and culture system combinations. Then, let’s be realistic about aquaculture’s potential and not oversell aquaculture as an aquatic animal protein panacea. Sure, it is fine to be optimistic and advocate for aquaculture development, but it helps no one to oversell what aquaculture can deliver. We need to recognize that the level of understanding of aquaculture by the general public is superficial at best. Explanation of facts, objective reality and “truth” may or may not help the cause of developing a deeper understanding of aquaculture’s potential or an acceptance of locally sited projects. More often than not, it may be a matter of enlarging people’s frames of understanding so that the objective reality of aquaculture is accepted, a matter easier said than done. Finally, we need to examine our own skewed perspectives and evaluate how they contribute to the problems of misinformation and bad policy choices. Professional aquaculturists have an important role to play in opening people’s minds to aquaculture without being heavy-handed or condescending. To realize the full potential of aquaculture, wherever it is conducted, balanced and realistic perspectives should be widely held by all. — John A. Hargreaves, Editor-in-Chief Skewed Perspectives on Aquaculture
4 JUNE 2022 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG C H A P T E R R E P O R T S Finally, after 22 months confined in France, I am back in Bangkok waiting for my visa to go home to Laos. Those 22 months seem so long and yet time flies. During that time, I have discovered a newword in the French vocabulary— localism. Localism is the attitude of giving priority to what is local by opposition to an overall global conception of society. While it should remain cosmopolitan and diverse, it consists of reorienting human life on an autonomous and selfmanaged territory with a local circular economy. After facing the Covid health crisis, described in the media as unprecedented, mankind is definitively amnesic. We have been forced to question many aspects of our social organization, to refocus our consumption and to review our eating habits to focus more on local production, may it be industry, agriculture or aquaculture. If we look back on the many lockdowns we experienced, depending on where you live, we all remember the rush to the supermarkets as soon as we were allowed to go out. Even if governments explained that food shortages were not going to be a worry, this did not prevent panic purchases in food stores, people stocking up so as not to run out of food. This pandemic has highlighted the fragility of our food system and supply chain. In fact, interest in recirculating aquaculture systems (including aquaponics) has increased significantly in recent months after most supply chains were disrupted around the world. Significant investments have been raised by companies involved in food self-sufficiency and supply chain vulnerabilities, trying to ensure a safer, more sustainable and fairer food system for the future. Several studies in different countries have shown that an average meal travels an average of 3,000 km, 25 percent more than in 1980. It is therefore time to encourage the consumption of local products for farmers and for the planet. As an example, the average food autonomy of cities in France is about 2.8 percent, with Avignon at the top of the list with only 18 percent. The European Union, like other major world organizations, is now seriously addressing these issues with a green deal demonstrating new concerns that have been highlighted by the Covid-19 crisis: • Supply chain resiliency—urban farming will provide peace of mind as fresh produce is being grown on-site. • Reduced food waste—highly-perishable produce can be harvested as needed and not wasted through time-consuming transportation. • Improved nutrition—RAS and aquaponics usually produces much higher quality food that is free from pesticides, herbicides and antibiotics and that provides customers with high-quality diets. Up to now, exportation/importation of food had been a driving force of aquaculture production worldwide. However, importing shrimp fromThailand to the US or tilapia fromChina to Europe has become a practice that is frowned upon. Unfortunately, temperature in Europe for instance is not really ideal for tropical species and the cost of production is prohibitive due to the energy price surge following world crises. It is therefore extremely urgent to re-think aquaculture production to make it more resilient and sustainable, i.e. socially supportive, commercially competitive, environmentally sound and resource-conserving. With the latest world events, energy has become one of the major concerns to maintain numerous activities. Agriculture and aquaculture production of warmwater species in colder climates or coldwater species in hot climates have become an economical challenge and we have seen many greenhouses stop production in early spring in colder climates due to the cost of heating associated with increased cost of oil. It has become obvious that the integrated multitrophic aquaculture concept must be extended to multiple integrating activities, including agricultural, industrial and urban activities, to optimize resource utilization. It is now urgent for the private sector to engage in an interprofessional approach to develop a network between agriculture, livestock, animal feed, processing industry, distribution and industry, improving collaboration between all stakeholders. Together, industries, farmers, breeders, fishermen, large-scale distribution and traders, services (energy, transport, technologies, etc.), trade unions, employees, consumer associations, NGOs must develop a roadmap of local vital food production. It is a question of substance, of structural reforms, of societal choices that requires a regional consensus that creates conditions for a balance between imports, import substitution and local production. However, today, on a global level, producers in agriculture and particularly in aquaculture, are trying to produce what people want to consume, although I believe we should rather consume what we can produce, implying it is our own consumption habits that need to change. This is an important societal evolution that we must consider if we are really serious about solving the environmental challenges our civilization is facing. Producing coldwater salmon in the Middle East and warmwater shrimp in Europe, while perhaps economically viable, are not really examples of net zero carbon production or environmentally sound systems, considering the huge amount of energy required to create the proper conditions for optimal growth rate. The truth is that we must support all forms of circular economy and work according to regional climate and local environmental conditions if we want to seriously improve aquaculture production sustainability. Yesterday, I finally reached my home in Laos. It was my first really long trip since Covid, and looking at the streets of Vientiane, I realized howmuch some countries have been hurt by the pandemic. So many businesses I used to know are closed and many streets are only the shadow of what they had been. But one thing has struck me, the quantity of seafood street vendors had really gone up. If you can’t export your production, you must sell it at home. And obviously, it is a perfect example that the world is going local. In fact, Laos has implemented some new regulations restricting importation of agriculture products that can be produced locally. It is still difficult to know if this trend will continue, but is certainly going to change the food production systems and supply chain in the years to come. Asian Pacific Chapter ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 3 )
WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2022 5 Nov. 29 - Dec. 2, 2022 For More Information Contact: Conference Manager P.O. Box 2302 | Valley Center, CA 92082 USA Tel: +1.760.751.5005 | Fax: +1.760.751.5003 Email: worldaqua@was.org | www.was.org World Aquaculture Singapore 2022 Conference Sponsors Temasek Polytechnic, Nanyang Technological University National University of Singapore, James Cook University Republic Polytechnic 3rd International Symposium on Perch and Bass Associate Sponsors Aquaculture Engineering Society International Association of Aquaculture Economics & Management WorldFish WA2020 Partner @WASingaWASAPC @WASAPC The Annual International Conference & Exposition of World Aquaculture Society Asian Pacific Aquaculture 2022 – Annual Meeting of Asian Pacific Chapter, WAS Hosted by Singapore Food Agency WAS Premier Sponsors Singapore EXPO Convention & Exhibition Centre and MAX Atria WA22 was ad CMYK.indd 1 11/20/21 12:02 PM
6 JUNE 2022 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG C H A P T E R R E P O R T S 2022 Korean Aquaculture Technology Seminar The 2022 Korean Aquaculture Technology Seminar was held under the theme of ‘Technology development strategy for improving the productivity of flounder flow-through farms’ at Seogwipo KAL Hotel, Jeju. The Aquaculture Chapter of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Aquatic Science (KOSFAS) and the Korean Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) organized the event, and Aqua-Info supported the seminar program. The workshop objective was to share information and knowledge on flounder flow-through farms. There were two topics in the first session chaired by Prof. Tae-Ho Kim (Chonnam National Univ.): ‘Study on reduction of return rate for energy saving: Case 1 - Study on reduction of return rate for energy saving’ (presented by Mr. Park No-Baek Park, Research Fellow, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries) and ‘Case 2 - Research on the development of quarantine technology to reduce mortality (Prof. Tae-Hyuk Jeong, Jeju National Univ.). Topics on ‘Proposal of aquaculture productivity innovation in the case of aquaculture-ICT industry convergence (Mr. Kwon Ki-Won Kwon, Korea Electronics Technology Institute) and ‘Aquaculture industry innovation direction through flow-through digital aquaculture technology development research’ (Dr. Sang Joong Ahn, Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology promotion) were delivered in the second session, chaired by Prof. Han Seok Choi (Mokpo National Univ.). Prof. HanKyu Lim (President, Aquaculture Chapter KOSFAS) moderated the discussion and wrapped up the event. The workshop gathered over 70 participants, with a mix of farmers, processors, distributors, students, researchers, professors and managers from co-op agencies. Wando International Seaweed Symposium (WISS) The Korean Society of Phycology and the Municipal Government of Wando-gun held the 2022 Wando International Seaweed Symposium (WISS) at Wando Culture and Art Center in May. Under the theme “Healthier Future with Algae,” there were two plenary lectures, seven special sessions, a young scientist award competition, student presentations, contributed papers and poster sessions. Prof. Emeritus Charlie Yarish (Univ. of Connecticut, USA) delivered a keynote speech on ‘Seaweed Aquaculture in the US: An Introduction to the US Mariner Program (ARPA-E, DOE)’ in the first-day plenary session. President Taejun Han (Ghent Univ. Global Campus) presented ‘Miniscule diatoms dwelling in tidal flats can constrain global climate change’ in the second-day plenary session. The seven special session topics were: 1) Future of seaweed aquaculture as sustainable food, 2) Utilization of seaweed biomass for health, 3) Seaweed Industry for a healthy future, 4) Management of marine ecosystem and marine ecological restoration, 5) Seaweed aquaculture and applications, 6) Seaweed aquaculture and CDR and 7) Environmental effects on phytoplankton diversity and its monitoring. The WISS gathered over 200 participants from 9 countries, including the Netherlands, USA, Malaysia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Japan, China, France and Korea. A total of 120 papers by 93 domestic and 27 foreign authors were presented. 2022 KOSFAS Conference The 2022 Korean Society of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (KOSFAS) Conference was held under ‘Technology Development Strategy for Improving Productivity of Flounder Farm’ in May on Jeju Island. Prof. Hanseok Choi (Mokpo National Univ.) gave a keynote lecture on ‘Deep learning-based real-time diagnosis and prediction of fish diseases,’ Mr. Im-Kwon Kim on ‘Suggestions on fisheries policy,’ Prof. Seung-Mok Cho (Pukyong National Univ.) on ‘Status and development plan of the seafood quality certification systems,’ and Dr. Dohyeong Kang (Jeju Research Institute, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology) on ‘Why discard 50% of marine biomass? - Strategic approaches to the use of fishery by-products in Korea.’ There were 439 participants, 424 domestic and 15 foreign delegates from 11 countries. Seventy-five oral and 208 poster presentations were in three areas: Aquatic Use Processing, Aquaculture/Biological Engineering, and Resources/ Marine/Environment. The KOSFAS general assembly approved new officers; Mr. Jung Suck Lee (Gyeongsang National Univ.) as a senior vice president, Mr. Han Kyu Lim (Mokpo National Univ.) and nine others as vice presidents, and Mr. Young-Mog Kim (Pukyong National Univ.) and 11 other directors for Board members. The assembly also elected Mr. Yong-Tae Kim (Kunsan National Univ.) and Mr. Jung-Nyun Kim (National Institute of Fisheries Science) auditors at the business meeting. Gim’s Day (Laver Day) The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) held the 11th Gim’s Day Commemoration Ceremony in Mokpo-city, Jeollanam-Do in May. In 2011, the MOF designated lunar January 15 as ‘Gim’s Day’ (Laver Day) to commemorate the achievement of UD$ 100 million in Gim exports in 2010. Since then, the MOF has held a ‘Gim’s Day’ commemorative event every year. About 250 people attended, including Gim industry workers and the Korea Gim Industry Association. Various additional events such as the Gim Bread Tasting Event, the new Gim seeds, the export laver products exhibition, and the Gim photo exhibition were held together. Korean Gim products reached 114 countries last year, when Korea exported US$ 690 million of Gim. Gim is now proudly positioned on the world stage as Korea’s most exported food. The Gim industry has established a goal of US$ 1 billion in Gim exports per year. Land Production of Miyeok (Undaria) Seeds The National Institute of Fisheries Science of the MOF announced that it has developed a new technology of producing miyeok seedlings on shore. Generally, miyeok seed production is carried out after collecting spores in late May, culturing them on land until August or October, and then undergoing a transplanting process of acclimatizing in the sea for about two months. However, during the transplantation period, due to the influence of high temperature, typhoons, biofouling, etc., many miyeok seedlings fall off or do not grow properly, so there have been many difficulties with stable seed supply and aquaculture. Farmed miyeok production was 623,000 t in Korean Chapter
WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2022 7 2021 Best Article Award for World Aquaculture Magazine Every year, theWAS Board of Directors sponsors an award to the authors of the best article published in WorldAquaculture magazine as a way to encourage high-quality submissions. TheWAS Honors and Awards Committee has selected the article by Jaime Rojas, Adrian Devia, Paola Pinzon, Adriana Cortina, Marco Garzon, Silvia Sierra, Rafael Vieira, Linda Güiza, Mabel Mendoza, Andres Suarez, Jaime Faillace, Rafael Vergara, Maria Rosa Angarita and Daniel Benetti on “Closing the Reproductive Cycle of the Goliath Grouper in Colombia.” The article appeared in the September 2021 issue of WorldAquaculture. The article has helped publicize this research with Colombian authorities and enabled the investigators to secure additional funding support. 2017; 516,000 t in 2018; 523,000 t in 2019; and 502,000 t in 2020. The NIFS process omits the transplantation process in the sea. Instead, seedlings are grown in onshore tanks, where environmental conditions can be manipulated. With this newly developed technology, the seedlings are well-adapted to the environment and it is possible to shorten the seed production period from 60 to 40 days with the new transplantation method, saving time and money. Also, seedlings produced in inland tanks (average 7.6 mm) grew about twice as fast as conventional sea-transplanted ones (average of 4 mm). Currently, seedlings produced in December of last year are being farmed in a field test site off the coast of Gijang-gun and have been harvested since March. From August 2020 to 2021, the NIFS has promoted three on-site test farms (Gijang-gun, Busan). Ocean Arbor Day The MOF held the ‘10th Sea Arbor Day Ceremony at the National Maritime Museum in Busan in May under the theme of ‘Cultivating the Sea Forest, Dreaming of a Future Life.’ The MOF designated May 10 as ‘Ocean Arbor Day’ and has held a commemorative event since 2013 to publicize the importance of sea forest creation and restoration projects to plant seaweed and the importance of marine ecosystems. The Bronze Tower Medal (Order of Industrial Service Merit) was awarded to Mr. Seon-Yong Yoo, the Korean Federation of Coastal Fisher’s vice president. He has been engaged in the fishery industry for the past 50 years and made efforts to release fish seeds and collect waste fishing gear and marine debris to create aquatic resources and protect fishing grounds. During the Ocean Arbor Day event week, waste collection activities in the sea forest and seaweed planting events were held on eastern, western, and southern coasts. Educational programs were provided for children to create an experience on their own, such as ‘Creating a Sea Forest’. Through the Office of Education, FIRA provided age-specific educational videos and other study materials related to protecting the underwater ecosystem to elementary school students across the country. The NIFS Conducts Fish Disease PCR Detection Training The NIFS of the MOF conducted theoretical and practical education for international fisheries officials from ten countries (Indonesia, Philippines, Ghana, East Timor, Laos, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania, Peru) studying at Pukyong National University with various technical education such as cell culture method. The NIFS conducted the theoretical and practical training course at the VHS World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) standard laboratory of the NIFS. In the theoretical education, measures to prevent the international spread of infectious diseases were carried out, such as introducing the OIE function, the role of the standard laboratory, and the VHS international standard diagnostic method developed and registered by the NIFS. In the hands-on training, participants directly dissected flounders, practiced pathogen gene detection and fish cell culture methods, and presented and discussed the results of experiments to learn disease diagnosis capabilities. After acquiring the standard laboratory status from OIE in 2018, the VHS OIE standard laboratory of the NIFS proved the low detection power problem of the existing international standard diagnostic method for VHS diseases. It developed a new diagnostic approach to solving the problem. The OIE International Standard Manual for 2021 leads the world in diagnosing aquatic diseases. A Simple Diagnostic Kit for Aquatic Organism Disease Control A partial amendment to the ‘Aquatic Organism Disease Control Act’ is to diagnose aquatic organism diseases quickly using a simple diagnostic kit. The basis for using a simple diagnostic kit that can quickly identify aquatic organism disease in the field was prepared. Recently, private companies have developed and distributed the kit. The kit has been used only as an auxiliary means of diagnosing aquatic diseases. Accordingly, the MOF newly defined the simple diagnostic kit in the law. The simple diagnostic kit that passes performance verification by the MOF can be used in the field, allowing the issuing of restraint orders. — Ik Kyo Chung, President C H A P T E R R E P O R T S
8 JUNE 2022 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG C H A P T E R R E P O R T S The baton has just been handed to me! And as the new President of the African Chapter of WAS, what a privilege and honor to lead one of the fastest growing and most dynamic chapters of WAS for the next two years. I am highly indebted to the WAS Board and membership for this opportunity. Let me also pay special tribute to my predecessor and the first President of the African Chapter, Dr. Sherif Sadek, for being an outstanding pacesetter in many facets. I have learned a lot from his good leadership. He wrote twelve insightful magazine columns and these regularly updated us on our Chapter’s vision, developments and activities. I am now continuing from where he left off. I also extend my gratitude to the Chapter’s Executive Officer, Blessing Mapfumo, for his contributions to all columns. We recently had the long-awaited inaugural Aquaculture Africa Conference and Exposition (AFRAQ21) in Alexandria, Egypt (25-28 March 2022). I am happy to announce that, despite all challenges faced prior to the event, we finally had it and to a good standard. Those who attended would attest that it was a great success. Many thanks to the conference organizing team who worked tirelessly to get things done. Special thanks go to the Egyptian government, our sponsors, partners, exhibitors and attendees: you contributed to this momentous achievement. AFRAQ21 attracted nearly 1700 registrations from 77 countries (both conference and visitors to the trade show), with the bulk of these registrations from Egypt. The well-organized exhibition platform featured 51 booths from 22 countries from around the world. In addition to networking opportunities that the conference rendered, the scientific/technical program featured 34 sessions, 261 abstracts and 58 posters. Being WAS AC’s first Aquaculture Africa Conference, we learnt lessons that provided areas of improvement for subsequent AFRAQ annual conferences. The second Aquaculture Africa Conference (AFRAQ23) will be held 12-15 November 2023 in Lusaka, Zambia. We will launch the AFRAQ23 in early July 2022 and updates will be provided. We also had the second African Chapter Board of Directors Meeting in Alexandria, where we discussed chapter governance and decisions to take the Chapter forward. The physical meeting was a special opportunity for the Board to meet and know each other face to face, some for the first time. COVID wouldn’t have allowed this over the past two and half years. We were honored to have WAS President Antonio Garza de Yta among us during the meeting. Although the Chapter is growing modestly in all facets, I took note from the meeting that there is still much to be done to strengthen our position and to deliver according to our mandate. Our structures are working soundly but we need more financial resources, sound student programs, improved research and information dissemination structures — just to mention a few areas. I will unpack these in my next columns as we strategize on the way forward. During my term, I desire to focus more on WAS-initiated programs on gender and youth empowerment on aquaculture in Africa, as this has become a top priority on the continent. I am hopeful that the Chapter Committees will work diligently to address many of these issues during the year. The African Chapter Annual Business Meeting was also successfully held on 27 March 2022 as a special session of the AFRAQ21 Conference. Dubbed “WAS AC-All Africa Aquaculture Session,” the meeting, which was moderated by our partner Aquaculture Africa Magazine and sponsored by Aller Aqua (our Founding Gold Sponsor), was attended by over 70 participants, which included Board and Committee members, AFRAQ21 organizing teams, WAS members, partners and invited guests. The meeting was a special interface among African Chapter officials, members and strategic partners to present Chapter progress, opportunities, challenges and discuss future collaborative arrangements. The meeting also appreciated AFRAQ21 organizing committees, outgoing Board members (Dr. Karisa and Dr. Kefi), and the introduction of new Board members to the larger audience. The success of AFRAQ21 ignited some energy in the Chapter, as I am seeing Board members, WAS members and partners in Africa in active mode, getting more confident and enthusiastic to drive Chapter business forward. I can see a number of activities lined up already. For instance, we just launched the 2nd Regional Conference on Aquaculture in West Africa scheduled for Nigeria (16-19 October 2022), and the 2nd Regional Conference on Aquaculture in East Africa, Kenya (21-25 September 2022). Both will be hybrid events. Our special affiliate partner, the Aquaculture Association of Southern Africa Conference (AASA) is also holding their 14th Biennial Conference on 11-15 July 2022 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The African Chapter will fully participate at the event. I have been invited to give a keynote address on recent developments on aquaculture in Africa. Make sure you register and don’t miss these exciting events. We will also be launching the much-awaited outreach missions to central Africa (Angola) and Northwest Africa (Morocco), where our regional directors are working with the membership there to develop an action plan to serve the aquaculture sector and community in these regions. We also hope to continue some webinar sessions on some special subjects of interest on aquaculture development in Africa, together with our partners that include Aquaculture Africa Magazine. I would also like to share information on a decision made by the WAS Board of Directors in Mérida, Mexico. Africa has been given the opportunity to host another global World Aquaculture conference (WAS 2025) that will be hosted in Uganda. Dubbed “Aquaculture Safari 2025,” it will be organized with support from the ongoing EU-funded True-Fish project being implemented in East Africa, primarily working in the Lake Victoria basin that is bordered by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. I am overly excited about this development and will be talking more about it in future columns. Until the next column, stay safe and blessed as always. — John Kilemerwa Walakira, President African Chapter
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10 JUNE 2022 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG For More Information Contact: Conference Manager P.O. Box 2302 | Valley Center, CA 92082 USA Tel: +1.760.751.5005 | Fax: +1.760.751.5003 Email: worldaqua@was.org | www.was.org Sustainable Aquaculture for Two Oceans HOTEL RIU PLAZA Panama City, Panama April 18-21, 2023 The annual meeting of LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN CHAPTER Get our meeting mobile app Hosted by Latin American & Caribbean Chapter/World Aquaculture Society -WAS LACC- @laccWas LACC World Aquaculture Society Premier sponsors @LACC_WAS Conference sponsor Latin American & Caribbean Aquaculture 2023 LACQUA23 was ad CMYK.indd 1 3/30/22 11:44 AM
WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2022 11 John Cooksey Extends as Executive Director At World Aquaculture 2021 inMérida, the Board of Directors extended the contract of Executive Director John Cooksey until 2030. Here, WAS President Antonio Garza de Yta with John Cooksey at the contract signing. C H A P T E R R E P O R T S The recently concluded World Aquaculture conference in Mérida, Yucatán, México, was a small but very rich conference. This repeatedly delayed conference — that included the Latin America and Caribbean Chapter representation — served to re-establish our WAS in-person conferences in the region. It was the first time in more than two years for many of us to greet and talk to colleagues, mostly fromMéxico but also from our continent. The environment felt was of joy, grateful and remembering those members and friends who are no longer with us, and who all of us are definitively missing. In this conference we incorporated for the first time the format of the Panel Session. Six very interesting panels were carried out, chaired by Drs. Marisol Izquierdo (Univeridad de Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain), Lou D’Abramo (Mississippi State University, United States) and myself, in this case co-coordinated with Dr. Alejandro Flores Nava, main Fisheries and Aquaculture Officer of FAO in the region. During the conference, and as is always planned, the LACC Board met to discuss and plan our coming year. I must say that our chapter was very active in 2021, conducting in March a virtual seminar, replacing the LACQUA conference in Guayaquil that was originally planned for 2020. More than 200 viewers over three days (average attendance per session of 50) participated and had the opportunity to listen and discuss with 30 regional experts, from academia and industry. LACQUA 2023 will be carried out in 18-21April 2023 in Panamá. Both the Steering and Academic Committees will start planning and working sessions very soon. During our Mérida’s LACC Board and in the WAS Board, discussion was very active in search of new, innovative ways of integrating students into our conferences. I am sure we will come out with new schemes to achieve it. In our LACC Board meeting, we also discussed the relevance of the poster session and how can we reinforce the participation of students in the program planning. For those of you who attended LACQUA 2017 in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México, you may remember that we innovated by giving time to poster presenters at the end of the topic sessions to briefly present their posters. We will retake this and other schemes. I also want our LACC Chapter to better represent our region. I will work hard not only to recover our membership (affected, as expected, by the pandemic) but to have a higher inclusion of all our Latin American and Caribbean countries in our Chapter. Finally, we are facing, again, important challenges with the high inflation rates in our countries and are still recovering from the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. The socioeconomic conditions are worsening for the population in general and for our micro and small aquaculturists in the region in particular. From the LAC Chapter, we will reinforce discussion of the role of aquaculture in alleviating poverty and hunger faced on our continent. There is much to do, the challenge is even bigger now, but all of us must act from the trenches so that we help in this huge goal. I don’t want to close this participation and communication with our World Aquaculture readers without recognizing the great job carried out by Dr. Antonio Garza de Yta during his term as WAS President, which was extended by Covid. Antonio, a good friend of mine, coincided with the peak of the pandemic and, like all of us, had to adjust, innovate and many times being forced to change plans but not the final goal: to continue the role of WAS worldwide. One clear example was our world conference planned for Mérida in 2020, delayed several times and finally could be carried out in May. Congratulations on a job well done, and I am sure his new jobs and plans will be carried out successfully. We hope to see all of you in Panama City for LACQUA 2023! Please start planning ahead. — Francisco Javier Martinez Cordero, President Latin American and Caribbean Chapter
12 JUNE 2022 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG For More Information Contact: Conference Manager P.O. Box 2302 | Valley Center, CA 92082 USA Tel: +1.760.751.5005 | Fax: +1.760.751.5003 Email: worldaqua@was.org | www.was.org February 23-26, 2023 New Orleans Marriott New Orleans, Louisiana Aquaculture America Associate Sponsors World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association Aquacultural Engineering Society Aquaculture Association of Canada Global Seafood Alliance International Association of Aquaculture Economics and Management Latin American Chapter WAS • US Trout Farmers Association SPONSORED BY: WAS Premier Sponsors Food For The Future 2023 AA23 was ad CMYK.indd 1 4/25/22 10:01 AM
WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2022 13 for the various chapters to support WAS through this time. The road to recovery for WAS and USAS is to have successful, profitable meetings—andWAS needs to spend money to make those meetings happen and succeed. To support this, WAS approached the USAS Chapter for a loan of $100,000. Past USAS leadership wisely invested funds for a rainy day. Our Treasurer, Eric Saillant, worked with the Finance Committee to evaluate our needs and the pros and cons of liquidating some of those funds. Although I hate to be the USAS president that ‘breaks into the piggy bank’, in my estimation this is one of the ‘rainy days’ that we were planning for. Despite current market fluctuations, we believe that we can free up enough funds to support WAS and fund USAS operations through the coming fiscal year —and still have enough in the investment funds to support two years of USAS operations at normal levels. This also presents an opportunity. To date, the USAS President’s budget has relied on the income from the meeting held at the end of her/ his term. For example, my proposed budget relies heavily on anticipated income from the 2023 meeting in NewOrleans, which means we are spending money for most of the year in anticipation of recouping those expenses at the end of the president’s term. With reliance on our savings and investments this year, this will allow future budgets to rely on the income from the meeting held at the start of the President’s term. Although that number is still a projection when the budget is drafted, the Board will have actual meeting income determined during the first quarter of the year and can adjust spending for the rest of the year. I am grateful that past Boards put USAS in a position to thrive despite Covid, assist WAS and adjust our future budget model. Looking forward, the Board and I will continue to seek ways to growUSAS andWAS and serve you, our members. We are looking forward to an amazing meeting in NewOrleans, 23-26 February 2023, and looking forward to seeing you all there! I know there are a number of special sessions planned, in addition to what promises to be a great line-up of talks and an amazing tradeshow. —Bill Walton, President U.S. Aquaculture Society As President of the USAS Chapter of theWorld Aquaculture Society, I had the privilege of attending theWAS Board meeting in person in beautiful Mérida, Mexico. Your Society worked hard to bring together the belatedWorld Aquaculture 2021 meeting with attendees from across the region and the world! Past-President Antonio Garza de Yta deserves great thanks for his dedication and hard work to make this meeting a success. At theWAS Board meeting, I provided a report on the USAS Chapter. While I want to provide you this update as well, I would like to take a moment to recognize the hard work and dedication of John Cooksey and his colleagues at MFC, Judy Andrasko and Killian Haydel in the Home Office, and your elected board members and volunteers. At the meeting, we covered a variety of far-ranging topics, with good debate and discussion and I was struck by the shared desire to helpWAS thrive. AlthoughWAS and USAS face challenges, I am glad to report that your Society is in capable, caring hands. Within USAS, we had our first post-San Diego quarterly Board meeting inMay, held virtually. We have several new officers and committee chairs, which you can find on our website (www. usaquaculture.org, under ‘About’). If you have suggestions, questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your committee chairs and/or me. We want to hear from our members! The USAS Board reviewed our financial situation. In San Diego, in recognition of the loss of income from past meetings due to Covid-related postponements, the Board approved my proposed annual budget, which had significant cuts from prior year’s budgets to achieve a balanced budget. Although these reductions did not affect any student awards, the cuts reduced the budget for publications, outreach and promotion, and travel support for Board members to attend meetings. Past-presidents in attendance urged us to take a hard look at our savings and investments and strongly consider dipping into those funds to be sure that USAS wasn’t reducing its capacity to serve you, the members. In addition to USAS needs, there is a clear need C H A P T E R R E P O R T S but it happened and was overall a success. So, let’s make sureWAS Singapore is a success and start preparing your trip. To all the aquapreneurs, I wish you great success with your projects and I hope to see you in November in Singapore. — Jean-Yves Mével, President For those of you who are preparing to come and join us in Singapore in November, it seems that all restrictions for travelling will be just some bad memories. It is easier by the day to get onto planes and cross borders. Last week, in Bangkok, the first trade show (HortiAsia) I attended was smaller than the pre-Covid era, Pres ident, continued from page 2 My sincere thanks to Antonio Garza de Yta for his recent leadership of theWAS Board and I look forward to working with him as the immediate Past-President, together with incoming PresidentElect Humberto Villarreal. We also welcome back Reg Blaylock in a following term as Treasurer, Hillary Egna and Angela Caporelli as newDirectors, andMarina Rubio Benito as Student Director. Hope to see you at aWAS or Chapter conference soon. I trust you all find a place of peace contemplating the water and the life below, wherever you are. — Jennifer Blair (formerly Cobcroft), President As i an Paci f ic, continued from page 4
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