World Aquacluture Magazine - September 2020

4 SEP TEMBER 2020 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S.ORG C H A P T E R R E P O R T S I n our last column we announced the postponement of the Latin American and Caribbean Aquaculture 2020 conference (LACQUA20) to the end of March 2021, organized and held jointly with the Ecuadorian Aquaculture Conference (CEA2020). We had hoped that by this time, it would be safe for all speakers, exhibitors and delegates to gather in Guayaquil, albeit with implementations of strict measures to avoid any health issues. However, it is still very difficult to predict what the situation will be in the coming months regarding COVID-19 and if restrictions for travelling and attending conferences will still be in place. Most organizers of international conferences, like the World Aquaculture Society itself, have been forced to reschedule their events for the second half of 2021. Others have decided to go virtual. Virtual conferences have been a technical possibility for several years now, and while they are sometimes deemed a second-rate alternative to in-person events, the increasing options of conference management software offer the possibility to host academic events fully online. Being able to harness the technology for videoconferencing and online meetings will offer the possibility to maintain services for our members. These options undoubtedly offer benefits, such as reaching researchers, students and experts who do not normally attend our events for lack of funds or previous engagements; improving the sustainability and reducing the environmental footprint of our conferences; offering cost benefits for the delegates as well as the opportunity to access recorded sessions and reviewing the material at your leisure. During the past months, I personally enjoyed going on YouTube and listening to conference recordings on shrimp culture in RAS systems, attending an intensive course on aquatic nutrition, and meeting online with clients to offer personalized solutions. Training and self-education from our desk, being at home or in the office, is already a reality. The Latin American Chapter is evaluating the possibility of hosting an online meeting next March, in place of the in-person conference we normally organize. By offering a virtual event to our members, we hope to maintain our presence in the region as a reference high-quality exchange platform that will not interfere with other WAS conferences planned for later in 2021. At the same time, we are planning our elections and analyzing how and when we will be able to hold our annual membership Latin American and Caribbean Chapter I t is an honor to serve you as President of the WAS-APC from 2020-2021. Together with an enthusiastic team currently sitting on the APC Board, our main goal is to create value and build on the good work of our past Presidents for the members of our Asian Pacific Chapter. Since last month, our Board has been actively discussing ways of how to enhance connectivity among our members from academic, research and commercial sectors. A members survey was also launched in July to seek views and suggestions frommembers on what they hope to get out of their membership with the APC. The feedback garnered so far has been enlightening and encouraging, which has also somewhat confirmed our initial strategy and approach in reaching out to our members. Connectivity is what most members would want to see from the APC. As such, webinars, competitions, newsfeeds on APC social media platforms and interaction with industry experts are some of the activities in progress that we hope our members would find informative and interesting. So far, we had our first webinar on 19 June, which was overwhelmingly subscribed, and more are in the works with at least one thematic webinar monthly on aquaculture innovations and technologies for supporting sustainable aquaculture. The APC and Aquaculture Innovation Centre (AIC) which is a national centre for aquaculture in Singapore will be working closely to offer webinars or technical workshops. Experts from the industry, including current APC members who have been practitioners in the field or have expertise through research in their respective areas of aquaculture, will be invited as speakers for upcoming webinars. Other forms of active engagement with our members would include an “Ask the Experts” corner where experts in the fields of health and disease management, breeding and hatchery, nutrition and other relevant aquaculture areas would be invited to answer questions from APC members. This is a trial feature that would be created on the APC website for a few months to assess its effectiveness in member engagement and the overall management as a means of connectivity. There is also plan for Aquaculture Innovation Challenge via online competitions for student members as well. Please look out for more information on WAS-APC social media and our website, which will be undergoing some revamping to include some interesting features for members. We hope that you will find them useful. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, our WA2020 Conference that was scheduled for 14-18 Dec 2020 has now been postponed to 14-18 June 2021 with the objective of safeguarding the health and wellbeing of conference participants. WAS will be planning a series of free webinars in December for registered conference participants. In addition, there will also be the APA2021 Conference in Surabaya, Indonesia, that will be held from 7 to 10 September. We look forward to your support for both significant conferences and APC-organized activities. More information can be found on the WAS-APC website. — Diana Chan, President Asian Pacific Chapter ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 6 )