IDRC and the National University of Singapore (NUS) are offering fellowships for Southeast Asian entrepreneurs, leaders in business, government, and civil society who want to better understand Southeast Asian value chains. The four-day program from 19-22 March 2018 will give participants a useful toolkit of ideas to take full advantage of a connected ASEAN Economic Community. Women leaders and participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam are especially encouraged to apply.

A regional consultation on aquaculture feed production and use in Asia-Pacific was held from 7-9 March 2017. The consultation reviewed the current situation of aquaculture feed production and use, sourcing of ingredients, policy and research needs. This collection contains audio recordings of the technical presentations made by experts, international organisations, the private sector and governments in the region. The report of the consultation is in press and will be made available for download in due course.

In this issue:

Anti-microbial resistance in aquaculture; participatory market chain approaches to boost fish nurseries; traditional community fishing practices of rural Assam; practical significance of restricted feeding regimes in aquaculture; Bangana dero: A potential indigenous fish species for diversification of carp culture; shell colour variation in farmed Litopenaeus vannamei: Comparison of white- and brown-shelled shrimp; culture-based fisheries: A low-tech, greenhouse friendly approach to improving food and income for Cambodian families.

Improvements to fish yield in small water bodies as well as to the incomes and nutritional status of rural communities have been demonstrated. in Laos, Sri Lanka and Vietnam but culture-based fisheries practices are not yet widespread, despite having significant potential in tropical climates. A project to introduce culture-based fisheries to Cambodia is described. Participating communities reported improved catch per unit effort, an increase in the number of people engaged in fishing and lower food costs.

Cambodians are among the largest consumers of fish in the world with per capita consumption of 63 kg/person/year. At present 90% of production is from freshwater systems. Low value "trash" fish from both freshwater and marine resources are used as an important feed input to the sector. Both imported pellets and on-farm feeds are of mixed quality, storage protocols inadequate and feeding strategies often wasteful. There is much scope to improve the efficiency of feed use.