Aquaculture Africa 2024

November 19 - 22, 2024

Hammamet, Tunisia

THE ROLE OF REGIONAL AQUACULTURE NETWORKS AND PARTNERSHIPS: LEARNING FROM ASIA AND NACA

Michael Phillips, FutureFish

Rohana Subasinghe, FutureFish

Eduardo Leano, Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific

 



The presentation provides a short history of aquaculture networks in the Asia-Pacific region, with special attention to the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), a regional intergovernmental network established in 1990. NACA was formed by a formal international treaty agreement with 20 government members and headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand. The organisation is self-supporting with government contributions and provides a networking platform for technical cooperation and between the member states in Asia-Pacific and their research centres, as well as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, which has an advisory role on the NACA Governing Council. The paper presents some major programs conducted and results obtained, identifies some key factors that have contributed to its sustainability, influence and development, and future directions, including building a platform for stimulating innovation and investment, and catalysing greater collaboration between public and private sector stakeholders in the aquaculture industry.