The workshop was held in Bali, Indonesia from 6 to 8 November 2013. The programme included reports on current aquatic animal disease situations in selected countries and presentations on the national aquatic animal health programmes of China, Japan and Korea. In addition, case studies on the molluscan diseases, shrimp diseases and finfish diseases were presented to facilitate the subsequent discussion on emergency response of those diseases in the national and regional level.

Small aquaculture farm holders are experiencing some drastic changes, the shift from household consumption focused subsistent production to market oriented commercial production and external environment changes such as tightening governance on environment impacts control and resource allocation and increasingly stringent standard for food safety and quality. To adapt to the changes, the small-scale farmers need to intensify, diversify and commercialise production, which requires better management.

Practices and people can be considered as two key ingredients to responsible aquaculture. Practices that are in conformity with national and international standards and requirements, ensure sustainability of the sector, ensure environment protection and integrity, enable social equity and respect ethical values and standards, consider human food safety concerns seriously and people who; are well informed, willing to change and ready to embrace practices for public good.

Artisanal shrimp aquaculture is in a disease-induced crisis of lost production, into which are falling farms, gene pools adapted to farms, and small-hold farming as a way of life. Rising levels of inbreeding and an exceptionally strong, positive relationship between inbreeding and disease which is described here. The root cause is social: a nexus of human behavior in which breeders protect their intellectual property by generating inbreeding and farmers suffer the consequences.

Under the ACIAR-funded project Culture-based fisheries development in Lao PDR and Cambodia a team from the Cambodian side of the project travelled to Lao PDR from 8-12 May. The exchange visits between the researchers and selected community leaders of both countries are a major component of the project, expected to facilitate networking and communication between the teams and to bring about an interchange of ideas and lessons learned.

NACA was selected by the World Bank to implement a 6 day training program on "Good Aquaculture Practices" in Surabaya, Indonesia from 17-22 June 2013 under the on-going World Bank Global Food Safety Partnership initiative. The objective of this training was to deliver a certificate level food safety and supply chain management training program on design and implementation of good aquaculture practices through the supply chain including food safety management systems and HACCP.

In this issue:

A second trip to Hubei Province, central China. Sea cage growout of cobia Rachycentron canadum in the Gulf of Mannar. Culture of small indigenous fish species in polyculture with Indian major carps and high value crops along pond dykes. Study on sperm chilled storage of common carp Cyprinus carpio in Vietnam. Culture-based fisheries exchanges between Lao PDR and Cambodia. Culprit behind massive shrimp die-offs in Asia unmasked.

In this issue:

Culture-based fisheries exchanges between Lao PDR and Cambodia. Culprit behind massive shrimp die-offs in Asia unmasked. Presentations from the final technical consultation on EMS/AHPNS of shrimp available for download. Aquaculture certification workshop held in Viet Nam. Aquaculture in a genetic plunge towards extinction? NACA implements World Bank training program on Good Aquaculture Practices. Study tour on aquaculture and wetland management for delegation from Assam, India. Koh Yao Noi Tree Bank and mangrove replanting continues. Consistent fish names key to consumer confidence. We are hiring! Request for contributions: Global Advances in Ecology and Management of Golden Apple Snails (2nd edition).

This manual provides practical guidelines for those engaged in the nursery culture of groupers in Indonesia as well as elsewhere in the tropics. It provides information on husbandry of groupers in the nursery phase, to reduce losses due to disease and cannibalism, and thus to increase the profitability of grouper nursing. The guidelines are derived from outcomes of ACIAR-funded research as well as other published information on grouper nursery management.

This manual provides guidelines for the production of tiger grouper fingerlings. It outlines best-practice methods for broodstock maintenance, spawning, egg incubation and rearing of larvae through to 2–3 cm, fully metamorphosed juveniles. The guidelines have been developed from the outcomes of ACIAR-funded research, as well as from the experience of Indonesian, Philippine and Australian scientists and commercial hatchery operators, and published information. It provides an aid for improving the availability of grouper seed stock.