The 26th meeting of the NACA Governing Council was hosted by the Government of Indonesia in Bali, from 5-7 May in the Inna Grand Bali Beach Hotel. Sixteen member governments attended, as well as representatives from four NACA Regional Lead Centres, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. A welcome address and opening remarks were given by Dr Slamet Soebjakto, Director General of Aquaculture, on behalf of the Indonesian Ministry for Marine Affairs and Fisheries. A keynote address on the foundation of NACA and its achievements over the past 25 years and looking forward was given by H.E. Dr Plodprasop Suraswadi, the founder of NACA and Chair of the NACA Task Force.

Dr Soebjakto was elected as the Chair of the Governing Council for 2015, and Dr Waraporn Prompoj, Thailand, was elected as Vice Chair. The Secretariat would like to thank the outgoing Chair, Mr Bounthong Saphakdy, Lao PDR, for shepherding the organisation during 2014.

The key issue for this meeting was setting a new direction for the organisation. In 2015 the Governing Council established the “NACA Task Force”, a group of eminent persons with broad experience in aquaculture development in the region, to review NACA’s role, structure, funding and operation with respect to the present needs of member governments. The Task Force was created in recognition of that fact that, in the twenty-five years since NACA had been established, the technical capacity and economic status of most member states had substantially improved, donor funding for the region was in decline and the organisation needed to be reoriented with respect to the contemporary operating environment. Twenty-five years ago aquaculture was just emerging as a new branch of science and there were very few technical personnel in the region, and for most countries food security, poverty alleviation and capacity building were the most pressing issues. For some member governments these are still the major concerns, while others now have relatively mature aquaculture industries and significant internal technical capacity and expertise.

The Task Force was chaired by H.E. Dr Plodprasop Suraswadi, with four members being Prof. Sena De Silva (former Director General of NACA), Dr Meryl Williams (former Director General of the WorldFish Center), Dr Brian Davy (formerly of Canada’s International Development Research Centre) and Dr Pongpat Boonchuwong (Advisor to the Thai Department of Fisheries).

The Task Force, represented by Prof. De Silva, delivered recommendations on a wide range of issues, but with respect to the work programme, was essentially was of the view that given the decline in donor funding for the region member governments would increasingly needed to fund and execute joint development activities from their own resources. The Task Force therefore recommended that the member governments increase their financial contributions to the organisation and that the Secretariat strengthen collaboration in project development, implementation and information sharing across the network, with renewed emphasis on the regional lead centres.

The Task Force also indicated that NACA needed to move beyond basic capacity building and poverty reduction activities to accommodate, in addition to these core functions, an additional emphasis on building capacity in social issues, in particular in gender and in aquatic resource management with regards to inland waters. The Task Force also noted the need for an additional focus on more technical aspects of aquaculture such as food safety and trade, aquatic animal health, genetics and biodiversity and development of better management practices with a view to improving the sustainability of aquaculture as a livelihood and an industry.

Member governments outlined their current needs and priorities. Issues of broad common interest included food security, broodstock management and seed quality, aquatic animal health, climate change impacts, trade and gender. Labour rights were emerging as a significant regional issue, both from a social responsibility and trade perspective. Accordingly, traceability mechanisms to create transparency in the supply chain, and also to farmed products to be distinguished from fished products, were seen as a high priority. The Governing Council also requested the Secretariat to consult the Government of Nepal concerning a possible recovery assistance programme in the wake of the recent devastating earthquake.

The Governing Council also endorsed the NACA Work Plan 2015+ (PDF, 1.29 MB), the most recent iteration of the rolling work plan, which was developed by the 12th Technical Advisory Committee meeting, held in Cha-am, Thailand.

The 27th NACA Governing Council will be held in Thailand in 2015, in conjunction with the 11th Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum.