The World Aquaculture Society takes its annual conference to Africa for the first time in 2017 – turning the spotlight on the potential of aquaculture production to support economic development and investment opportunities in the world’s second-fastest growing regional economy.
Aquaculture is increasingly important as an environmentally sustainable way to meet global demand for fisheries products, while Sub-Saharan Africa’s vast inland waters and coastlines – home to a small but rapidly growing aquaculture sector – present a largely untapped opportunity to contribute to the nutrition and socio-economic development needs of the region.
Themed “Sustainable Aquaculture – New Frontiers for Economic Growth – Spotlight on Africa”, World Aquaculture 2017 will bring together some 3,000 industry, academic and government delegates from the 100 member countries of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS), in Cape Town, South Africa, from 26-30 June 2017.
Representing the coming of age of African aquaculture and a significant milestone for the global aquaculture community, the WAS plans to launch its Africa Chapter at the conference, whereby the continent will join the United States, Korea, Asia-Pacific and Latin-American-Caribbean as fully affiliated chapters of the WAS.
The conference will balance global and African perspectives, the theme captured in keynote addresses – “Feeding the Nine Billion: The Role of Aquaculture” by leading sustainable aquaculture advocate Dr Rohana Subasinghe, and “African Perspectives on Aquaculture” by Dr Sloans Chimatiro, Programme Manager: Fish Trade at the World Fish Centre, Zambia – setting the tone for the conference and highlighting the value of aquaculture in global food security.
Dr Subasinghe, who retired in 2015 as Chief of the Aquaculture Branch of the Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, is a strong advocate for the contribution of aquaculture to poverty alleviation and food and nutrition security, and empowering the people involved in small-scale aquaculture value chains.
Conference co-chair and former WAS President, Dr Kevan Maine said Dr Subasinghe was ideally placed to lead off the conference discussions, especially given his role in spearheading development of the FAO’s Global Aquaculture Advancement Partnership (GAAP), which addresses the need for a concerted effort to ensure future aquaculture development will become increasingly socially acceptable, environmentally sustainable, and responsibly managed.
Dr Chimatiro has been instrumental in raising ‘the African voice’ in international fisheries and aquaculture forums, and building African research institutions and networks in support of fisheries and aquaculture development. He played a leading role in formulating fisheries and aquaculture policy and governance programmes for the African Union, including coordination of the development of the Comprehensive African Fisheries Reform Strategy (CAFRS).
Financing and investment in the aquaculture industry will be highlighted in the keynote address “The global seafood industry from a banker’s perspective” by Gorjan Nikolik, senior industry analyst for Food and Agri-business Research and Advisory at Rabobank International, the Netherlands-based cooperative bank.
Nikolik is a leading industry analyst, speaker and researcher focusing on the global seafood sector, including aquaculture, wild-catch, seafood trade and processing. In his primary role, he provides research and advisory on the sector to support Rabobank in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, leveraged finance, venture capital, and credit risk management.
Focusing on “farm to plate”, aquaculture development and commercialisation expert Prof Tom Hecht, a former board member of the WAS, will speak on “Establishing aquaculture value chains”.
Prof Hecht has played a lead role in the development of aquaculture in southern Africa with a career spanning research, policy, development and commercial involvement. He is an emeritus professor of Rhodes University where he played a lead role in establishing the Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science as a regional centre of excellence in aquaculture.
In addition to pioneering research on African catfish and abalone culture, he has made extensive contributions to African aquaculture development including small farmer development in Malawi, a landmark review of African aquaculture for the FAO, and the establishment of the Aquaculture Association of Southern Africa. His current work includes establishing a trout farm in the Lesotho Highlands and facilitating the formulation of a Marine Aquaculture Masterplan for the Seychelles.
World Aquaculture Society (WAS) President Juan Pablo Lazo said: “the time was right for the world aquaculture community to focus on Africa. Rapid urbanisation, economic growth and a rising consumer class will only increase demand for fish over the next two decades and aquaculture presents a solution for production of affordable, fresh fish for the region.
“The opportunities for investment and technology development to realise the growth potential of marine and freshwater aquaculture in Africa make the continent the logical choice for World Aquaculture 2017,” he said.
WAS Conference Programme co-chair, Prof Peter Britz said: “The continent is seeing a boom in infrastructure and logistics development, there is a growing population to sustain consumer demand and support employment creation, and Africa is endowed with vast natural resources to support aquaculture.”
He said that traditional small-subsistence aquaculture in Africa was rapidly transforming and becoming integrated into the continent’s food systems as African governments increasingly adopted policies to support commercial-scale production and encourage investment in the sector.
The conference caters to the broad range of interests in aquaculture, providing a learning, information-sharing and networking opportunity for entrepreneurs, business, scientists, technical specialists, educators, students, policy-makers and public officials.
The technical and scientific programme and diverse parallel sessions will be complemented by a major international trade show, while the AquaForum provides an opportunity for producers from around the world to share information on challenges, techniques and new developments.
Cape Town, recently voted one of the best cities in the world, and the Cape Town International Convention Centre provide an outstanding setting and venue for the first WAS meeting in Africa.
The conference is hosted by the Aquaculture Association of Southern Africa and the South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Keynote Speakers
DR SLOANS CHIMATIRO has played a leading role in formulation of fisheries and aquaculture policy and governance programmes for the African Union. He has been instrumental in building African research institutions and networks in support of fisheries and aquaculture development, and influential in raising ‘the African voice’ at international fisheries and aquaculture forums.
He is currently Programme Manager: Fish Trade at the World Fish Centre, Zambia, where he is responsible for the a Pan-African Fish Trade Research Program, aimed at generating evidence to inform intra-regional fish trade in Africa. He has worked as a manager for a number of development programmes at regional and continental levels; and advising national fisheries institutions, as well as Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs) on issues of fisheries and aquaculture development.
As Senior Fisheries Advisor to the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, he was responsible for the NEPAD Fisheries and Aquaculture Action Plan in 2005 that was endorsed by African Union Heads of State and Governments during the Abuja Summit in August 2005, as a precursor to the current AU Fisheries Policy. Between 2006 and September 2014, he was the Head of Fisheries at NEPAD, where he was responsible for (i) the development of the African Union Policy Framework & Reform Strategy (or the Common African Union Fisheries Policy); and (ii) assisting African countries to design and implement fisheries policy and governance reforms in order to enable the sector to contribute towards the 6% CAADP annual growth target.
Program Manager for FishTrade Program, he coordinated the development of the Comprehensive African Fisheries Reform Strategy (CAFRS) for the African Union. Dr Chimatiro previously served as Director of Fisheries in Malawi.
TOM HECHT has played a lead role in the development of aquaculture in southern Africa in a career spanning research, policy, development and commercial involvement.
He is an emeritus Professor of Rhodes University where he helped to position the Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science as a regional centre of excellence in aquaculture.
Tom’s graduates (a remarkable 60 MScs and 28 PhDs) occupy key positions in aquaculture and fisheries in African countries and internationally. His extensive research outputs include pioneering work on African catfish and abalone culture. He has made extensive contributions to African aquaculture development including small farmer development in Malawi, a landmark review of African aquaculture for the FAO, and the establishment of the Aquaculture Association of Southern Africa.
He is a former board member of the World Aquaculture Society. In recent years he has been active in aquaculture development and commercialisation through Advance Africa (Pty) Ltd which is establishing a trout farm in the Lesotho Highlands and facilitating the formulation of a Marine Aquaculture Masterplan for the Seychelles.
GORJAN NIKOLIK is Senior Industry Analyst, Food & Agribusiness Research & Advisory at Rabobank International. Since joining Rabobank in 2005, Nikolik has been an industry analyst focusing on the global seafood sector including aquaculture, wild-catch, seafood trade and processing.
In his primary role, he works as a senior sector expert to Rabobank departments such as Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Finance, Venture Capital, Credit Risk Management and the Relationship Bankers. He is a regular speaker at global seafood and aquaculture conferences and has published research reports covering the seafood industry.
He also has experience as a commodity analyst, having covered the sugar industry. Gorjan holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Business Administration from the University of Maastricht and an MBA from Maastricht School of Management.
ROHANA SUBASINGHE is a specialist in aquaculture development and aquatic animal health management. After 22 years of service, he retired from the FAO in late 2015, while serving as the Chief of the Aquaculture Branch. Since his graduation in 1980 from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, he has worked in all parts of the world.
He joined FAO in 1994 and took responsibility for implementing projects on aquaculture and aquatic animal health at national, regional and international levels. Among others, at FAO he was also responsible for analyses of global trends in aquaculture development.
He served as the FAO focal point for international and regional agencies involved in aquaculture and food security. A former teacher of the University of Colombo and the Universiti Putra Malaysia, Rohana earned his PhD from Stirling University. Rohana is a strong advocate of sustainable aquaculture and its significant contribution to poverty alleviation and food and nutrition security.
His passion is to empower people engaged in small-scale aquaculture value chains. He supports responsible certification of aquaculture and is also responsible for developing the globally approved FAO technical guidelines on aquaculture certification. He served as the Technical Secretary to the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries of the FAO, the only global inter-governmental forum on aquaculture, for 15 years, since its inception until his retirement.
He spearheaded the development of a global partnership for aquaculture development in FAO, the Global Aquaculture Advancement Partnership (GAAP), particularly addressing the need for a concerted effort to ensure future aquaculture development will become increasingly socially acceptable, environmentally sustainable, and responsibly managed. Rohana is still contributes to the global aquaculture development agenda, as a freelance consultant.
Conference details:
Venue: Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
Dates: 26 – 30 June, 2017
Registration: Register online at www.was.org. First deadline for discounted registration: 26 April, 2017.
Abstract submissions: Online at www.was.org, by 1 December, 2016.
Exhibition and trade show: Register online at www.was.org, or contact mario@marevent.com.
Source Marevents