Sureel Singh presents on Fair trade as an enabling mechanism for small-scale farmers in India.

G. Rajkumar presents on adoption of better management practices for shrimp farming via small-scale farmer cooperatives in India.

In this issue:

Seaweed farming in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Scaling up better management practices: Empowering small scale farmers. Animal welfare for farmed fish...is Asia-Pacific ready? Aquaculture field schools as an extension methodology. Successful seed production of cobia, Rachycentron canadum in India. 22nd Governing Council Meeting and a new Director General. NACA receives the Magarita Lizárraga Medal. NACA receives Gold Medal Award from the Asian Fisheries Society. Striped catfish farming in the Mekong Delta and more.

The workshop was held in Chennai, India from 16-18 May 2011, at the Central Institute for Brackishwater Aquaculture. It was convened as an activity of the ASEM Aquaculture Platform, funded by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme. The main purpose of the national workshop was to develop practical scaling up strategies at the national level and build consensus for an implementation plan for wider adoption of shrimp BMPs through a cluster management approach.

This project was conducted to demonstrate small scale shrimp farmer group access to international markets through certification schemes. This project proved that small-scale farmers organised into groups, can improve their technical capacities, and achieve access to markets. This achievement was the result of strong partnerships with producers, private sector and government agencies assisting to develop a sustainable business model for small scale aquaculture. Cost of compliance was found to be a significant barrier to entry.

The purpose of the workshop, held in Can Tho Vietnam on 16 April 2011, was to build capacity and awareness of prospective cluster farmers and their leaders on the adoption of better management practices through cluster based management. The workshop shared experiences in cluster formation from other Asian countries and developed a join work programme for implementation of the project.

Miao Weimin presents on aquaculture certification opportunities and challenges for small scale farmers.

A cluster-based approach allows small-scale farmers to participate in aquaculture certification schemes.

International requirements on food safety, traceability, animal health and welfare and social responsibility are increasingly stringent. The burden of compliance and the cost of certification are particularly heavy for small scale farmers who are often excluded by the limited resources at their disposal. Working in groups can help small scale farmers attain economies of scale necessary to address compliance issues and participate in certification schemes, improving their competitive position.

These guidelines prepare and enable aquaculture societies to seek group certification from independent third party certification programmes. The guidelines are independent of commodity and certification standards. They were developed as part of a collaborative MPEDA/NaCSA/NACA project on the certification of aquaculture societies. Draft guidelines developed by the project partners were discussed at the inception meeting on aquacutlure society certifiction held at Kakinada during 1-2 September 2009.

In this issue:

Recent developments and future prospects of inland aquaculture in Asia. Factors influencing success of Penaeus vannamei culture. Freshwater prawn farming in a carbon-nitrogen controlled periphyton-based system: A sustainable approach to increase stagnant pond productivity. Constraints to fish production in community ponds in Orissa, India. Continued confidence in inland fisheries developmentg of a Sri Lankan youth begins to pay off. The Asia-Pacific Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report: 12 years and beyond.

In this issue:

Better management practices for catfish aquaculture released. 9th Meeting of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health. Trialling ocean temperature forecasts for fish farms. Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010: Publications. Capacity of small holder ASEAN aquaculture farmers for competitive and sustainable aquaculture strengthened.

In this issue:

Rapidly changing aquaculture scene in the Red River Delta, Vietnam. Current situation and challenges for the farming of snakeheads in the Mekong Delta. Is there a business case for small-holders in Vietnamese pangasius? Small scale prawn culture practices towards sustainable development in Chittagong region, Bangladesh. Gloating hapa technology for the mass production of tilapia Oreochromis niloticus in Bangladesh. Management in seed production of golden mahseer Tor putitora in hatchery condictions.

In this issue:

Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010. Reducing the dependence on trash fish as feed for marine finfish. 21st NACA Governing Council & 10th Technical Advisory Committee. Training course on application of business management principles in small-scale aquaculture. Sri Lanka Journal of Aquatic Sciences goes open access. Now we're on Facebook too.

This presentation builds on countries’ recent experiences to review the role of aquaculture in countries’ socio-economic growth and development, and discusses how institutional arrangements can lead to aquaculture’s enhanced net benefits to society. Aquaculture growth has recently been slowing down, and the sector is facing various resource, environmental, economic, knowledge and institutional constraints. Population growth, economic expansion and increasing preference for healthy food are expected to sustain the demand for aquaculture products.

We are passing through an era of increasing population, food shortages and unsustainable farming practices. We cannot think of food security unless issues connected with poverty and livelihoods are addressed. Since 75 percent of global aquaculture production comes from small-scale farms in developing countries we have to address a number of issues to ensure that the livelihoods and food security of all those involved in the sector are not threatened.

Between 70 and 80 percent of Asian farmers are estimated to be small-scale farmers. It is clear that increasing globalisation and the resultant trade liberalisation of aquaculture products is leading towards the marginalisation and exclusion of individual small-scale producers. There is a need for changing the management of both large- and small-scale producers to remain competitive. Recent experiences show that establishment of farmer societies are effective.

Aquaculture as a household, community and agribusiness-based activity to supply human food and other products and contribute to the alleviation of poverty is explored in this overview. The multiple natures of poverty and the concepts of escaping from and slipping into poverty are explored with reference to aquaculture contexts. Aquaculture as a driver for development is reviewed and found to contribute to poverty alleviation in both transformative and incremental modes and at various scales.

Presentation of the summary, conclusions and recommendations of Thematic Session 6 (Enhancing the contribution of aquaculture to poverty alleviation, food security and rural development).

The Phuket Consensus is a declaration on aquaculture development endorsed by participants of the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010, held in Phuket, Thailand, 22-25 September. The consensus builds on the Bangkok Declaration, which was formulated at the International Conference on Aquaculture in the Third Millennium, held in Bangkok, 20-25 February 2000. The consensus and declaration provide strategic guidance on sustainable development of aquaculture considering social, environmental, technical and economic issues.