The 11th Symposium on Diseases in Asian Aquaculture (DAA11) marks 30 years since the Fish Health Section - Asean Fisheries Society (FHS-AFS) establishment and it will be celebrated in Malaysia. Local hosts, the Department of Fisheries Malaysia (DOF) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry together with the Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Sarawak (MANRED) will be organising the event in cooperation with the FHS-AFS.

The Advisory Group (AG) is a body of technical experts that meets annually to provide advice to NACA member governments on aquatic animal health management. The group is drawn from academia, the private sector and government. The role of the AG is to review disease trends in the region, identify emerging threats and developments in global aquatic disease issues and standards, evaluate the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Reporting Programme operated by NACA/FAO/OIE and regional governments, and to provide guidance on strategies to improve aquatic animal health management. This year’s meeting took place from 18-19 November at the Amari Don Muang Airport Hotel in Bangkok.

This report summarises the proceedings of the 17th meeting of the Advisory Group, held 13-14 November 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand. The group's role includes reviewing disease trends and emerging threats in the region, identifying developments in global aquatic disease issues and standards, evaluating the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Reporting Programme and providing guidance on regional strategies to improve aquatic animal health management.

The 79th edition of the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease report contains information from eleven governments. The foreword discusses the outcomes of the 17th Meeting of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health, held in Bangkok, 13-14 November 2018.

The 78th edition of the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report contains information from twelve governments in the Asia-Pacific region. The foreword discusses three recent aquatic animal health consultations: The ASEAN Regional Technical Consultation on Aquatic Emergency Preparedness and Response Systems for Effective Management of Transboundary Disease Outbreaks in Southeast Asia; the Regional Consultation and Related Study on Antimicrobial Resistance Risk to Aquaculture in Asia; and the Preliminary Consultation on Monitoring of Antimicrobial Resistance in Bacterial Pathogens in Aquaculture.

The 9th Regional Training Course on Marine Finfish Seed production and Grow-out will be held from 19-30 November 2018 in Krabi, Thailand. The course will be taught by staff of the Krabi Coastal Fisheries Research and Development Centre. Drawing on expertise throughout the region, this three-week hands-on training course will provide participants with skills in marine finfish seed production and grow-out operations, with an emphasis on groupers and Asian seabass.

In this issue:

Concept of seed production of Heteropneustes fossilis in farmers' fields in West Bengal, India; Fishing gear and practices in flood waters of Assam; Fisherwomen empowerment: Shedding light on the invisible gender; Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture systems: A solution of sustainability.

Marine aquaculture of high value species such as fish is generally reliant on external food supplies and has a negative impact on water quality, generating high organic and nutrient loadings. Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture offers a solution to reduce environmental impact of farming systems, culturing complimentary species that can recycle nutrients and reduce nutrient pollution while generating additional products for sale. This article looks at species selection and integration of trophic levels in system design.

The 77th edition of the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report contains information from nine governments. The foreword discusses an intensive seven-day training course on tilapia lake virus (TiLV) that was jointly organised by China's National Fisheries Extension Center, Sun Yat-Sen University and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

NACA’s 29th Governing Council Meeting was held in the Maldives capital, Malé, from 26-27 June, with attendance by fifteen member governments. This was the first official NACA meeting in the Maldives, since it became a member in 2014, and also the first time that most of the delegates had visited the country, affording participants a fascinating glimpse of a very different lifestyle in the archipelago, and a very different development context.