The 30th Governing Council was held in Guangzhou, China, 26-27 March. 74 participants attended the Governing Council Meeting representing:

• Fifteen member governments, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• The Regional Lead Centres from China, India, the Philippines and Thailand.
• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
• The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre.
• The Network of Aquaculture Centres in Central and Eastern Europe.
• The Hungarian Research Institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture.

The opening ceremony featured speeches from the Chinese Government and academia. Mr Liu Xin Zhong, Deputy Director General, Fisheries Administration Bureau, Ministry of Rural Affairs, gave the opening speech. Mr Gu XingWei, Director General, Guandong Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, gave a welcoming address. Dr Liu YingJie, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences, gave remarks on the role international collaboration had played in regional aquaculture development.

The outgoing Chair of the Governing Council, Dr Shakeel Hassan, welcomed delegates and thanked the Government of China for hosting the meeting. The Director General of NACA, Dr Cherdsak Virapat, reflected on the role of networking, sharing and learning for food production, economic growth and livelihoods.

The host Government, China, was elected as Chair of the 30th Governing Council. Hong Kong SAR was elected as Vice Chair. Highlights of the meeting included:

• The election of Dr Huang Jie as the next Director General of NACA.
• The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia attended the Governing Council for the first time, as an observer. Saudi Arabia wishes to strengthen cooperation with the network in aquaculture development. The Kingdom presented an overview of the status of national aquaculture development.
• Presentations on recent activities undertaken by the NACA regional lead centres. Aquatic animal genetic resources, health and biosecurity featured as issues of common interest. Of particular concern, the use of antimicrobial substances in aquaculture and antimicrobial resistance.
• Preparations for convening the next Global Conference on Aquaculture Development. The conference will be held in China, in late 2020.

The conference is the 4th in a series of development conferences that extend back to Kyoto, 1976, and the most recent of which was the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010, held in Phuket, Thailand. The first announcement for the conference will be released shortly.