The aquaculture production forecast for the Latin American region is again, this year, telling a well known story as witnessed in recent years: impacts from different external sources, learning to adapt to them, and many tests of farmers’ and their communities’ resilience. In particular, the commercial tilapia industry in the continent is facing new challenges with impacts from diseases.

It seems like yesterday we were planning for LACQUA23 in Panama and now our LACC Chapter is already focused on Medellín, Colombia for LACQUA24. LACQUA23 in Panamá City was a very nice conference. There were 1189 total attendees from 48 countries, including 58 students.

In 2022, the total population of Latin America and the Caribbean reached 660.3 million, with a total annual population growth rate of 6.7 percent. Projections for 2050 indicate that 737 million people will inhabit the region. Currently, 32.3 percent of the population lives in poverty, with 12.9 percent in conditions of extreme poverty.

The year 2022 was a very busy year for our Chapter. We decided to help our Society in getting back to normal as soon as possible, but of course respecting the sanitary conditions worldwide and by specific countries regarding the Covid 19 pandemic. That’s why our world event coincided with LACQUA 2022, and was held in April 2023 in beautiful Mérida, Yucatán, México.

FAO’s most recent State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture SOFIA 2022 shows that aquaculture´s production in the American continent (Americas in the document) reached 4.4 million t live weight for all species, representing a a 57 percent increase in the period 2010-2020.

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 from México but also from our continent.

As I am writing this column on 30 November, the International Day of Aquaculture, it is fitting to talk today about some general aspects that will shape our sector in the coming years. We are still learning to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and to try to adapt to the changes it causes in our lives, but at the same time new challenges are emerging for the aquaculture community.

This should have been my last column as we had planned to hold our Board Meeting this November during the combined LACC and WAS world conference in Mérida, Mexico. However, after a detailed assessment of the current pandemic situation, the Organizing Committee of World Aquaculture 2021 WA2021) has decided to reschedule the conference for 24-27 May 2022.

This year, our annual conference migrated to a virtual event and we are proud of the interest we received from our WAS members and the public at large. The six sessions were organized around a set of topics that reflect the aquaculture industry and expertise available in the Latin American and Caribbean region (Economy and Markets, Shrimp, Macrobrachium, Tilapia, Native and Marine Fishes, Health Management and Culture Systems).

I am in my second and last year as President of the Latin American and Caribbean Chapter and hope this new year will give us the opportunity to recuperate some type of interaction as we were accustomed to having. Soon we will have our annual conference, 100 percent online. LACQUA20 will take place on 23-25 March 2021 and will feature talks by selected speakers on subjects relevant to our region: