Welcome remarks made at the opening ceremony of the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 by Dr Somying Piumsombun, Director General of the Department of Fisheries, Thailand.

Welcome remarks made at the opening ceremony of the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 by Mr Hiroyuki Konuma, Assistant Director General, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO.

Welcome remarks made at the opening ceremony of the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 by Professor Sena De Silva, Director General of the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific.

Welcome remarks made at the opening ceremony of the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 by Mr Thammarat Wanglee, Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand.

Fisheries and aquaculture contribute significantly to food and nutrition security. About 20 percent per capita intake of animal protein for more than 2.8 billion people is from fish and for over 400 million people fish meets 50% of the requirement for animal protein and minerals. Malnutrition is still the number one killer compared to other diseases. Climate change is likely to increase the frequency and intensity of climate processes.

This keynote presentation elaborates the achievements made in aquaculture globally during the past decade, in keeping with the Bangkok Declaration and Strategy, which brought the aquaculture sector to the current level. It has been recognised that the principles and strategies advocated by the Kyoto Declaration on Aquaculture in 1976, the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in 1995, and the Bangkok Declaration and Strategy in 2000 have served well the process and goals of aquaculture development.

This review covers aquaculture development in sub-Saharan Africa. The bulk of the production (93 percent) is from freshwater and is predominantly the culture of the indigenous and ubiquitous species of tilapias and African catfishes. In 2007 catfish contributed about 49 percent of the total production, and interest in the culture of the species for domestic markets, intra- and inter-regional trade and exports overseas is still growing in several countries.

The Asia-Pacific region continues to lead in aquaculture production. The dominance of the region in the global aquaculture scene is also exemplified by the Asia-Pacific being the leading producer of the major cultured commodities viz. finfish, molluscs, shrimp and seaweed, and nine out of ten of the current leading aquaculture-producing countries being from the region. Among the countries in the region, China has continued to maintain its dominance in aquaculture production.

This review covers aquaculture development in Europe. In Europe, aquaculture generally has a marginal contribution to national economies and employment. Extensive and semi-intensive systems employ more people per unit production than modern intensive systems. arming systems, technologies and species are very diverse in Europe. Significant research and development has focused on improving the efficiency of production systems and the quality of the produced fish, while mitigating environmental impact.

This review covers aquaculture development in Latin America and the Caribbean Region. Current norms and market conditions tend to discourage the participation of small-scale farmers in this industry, implying that there is a need for governmental help in providing technology and technical assistance to these producers including management, market and marketing, financial aspects, logistic, etc. that commonly become the soft spots that have made past support efforts fail for most part.