10 May 2024 | 176 Downloads | .pdf | 375.22 KB | Genetics and Biodiversity, Environment and Sustainability, Artemia
A training project addressing Artemia management and conservation from hydrological, biological, ecological, aquaculture, wildlife and legislative perspectives will be held in Rome, Italy, from 2-6 September 2024. The training is being organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), with the financial support of the Alliance of National and International Science Organizations for the Belt and Road Regions (ANSO) and the Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences (RAOS), in cooperation with the International Artemia Aquaculture Consortium (IAAC). The project will address hydrological, biological, ecological, aquaculture, wildlife and legislative aspects of Artemia management and conservation.
Many salt lakes on different continents are under threat of drying up because of human interventions and/or climate change events. Different species of brine shrimp are the sole zooplankton developing in dense monocultures in these inland salt lakes and play crucial roles in wildlife survival and are an important resource to the global fish/shellfish farming (aquaculture) industry:
In recent decades, a few terminal salt lakes have already dried up (e.g. Aral Sea in Uzbekistan, Urmia Lake in Iran, Owens Lake in the United States of America) with very significant impacts on wildlife and human health, as well as important economic losses (in the billions of USD). On the other hand, new salt lakes may emerge or be restored in new or dried-up locations due to climate change.
Multidisciplinary efforts to better understand hydrological, biological, and ecological events - with the Great Salt Lake in Utah as a unique test case - can deliver insights and allow the formulation of specific legislative measures to safeguard the fate of terminal salt lakes and at least delay their terminal status.
The gene pool of Artemia species and strains occurring in salt lakes worldwide need to be safeguarded and better characterised for use in aquaculture. The ecological heterogeneity and dynamics of salty lakes, influenced by climate change and human intervention, have left genetic signatures in the Artemia genome that require an integrated/coordinated approach.
Through this training session, the International Artemia Aquaculture Consortium (IAAC), a subject-oriented network of NACA, is following up on recommendation 16 of the 11th Session of the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI:AQ) (Rome, May 2022) “…The Sub-Committee appreciated the work on Artemia and supported FAO efforts to explore development of technologies and sustainable management of Artemia resources” and paragraph 69 of the 12th Session of COFI:AQ (Hermosillo, May 2023) “… recommended the preparation of protocols on sustainable harvesting practices of wild resources, … and certification of cyst products… furthermore, new initiatives are vital to conserve Artemia biodiversity, …”.
The detailed programme is available from the link below.
Publisher: Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific
Rights: Public domain.