In this issue:

Health Advisory Group urges vigilance and preparedness against emerging disease. New Zealand farmer helps train Asian aquaculturists. Mr Junaidi Che Ayub. Global Aquaculture Discussion Forum, Dhaka, Bangladesh. STREAM Conducts Livelihood Capacity-building in the Philippines, India. MPEDA/NACA shrimp farmer workshop held in Andhra Pradesh, India. Learning by Doing - Fisheries and Adaptive Learning. NACA cooperation expanded to shrimp health management in Vietnam. 150 people trained in Q3-Q4, 2003. International Symposium on Freshwater Prawns Held at Kochi, India. Developing an online aquaculture community for NACA.

The Second STREAM Regional Conference was held in Tagaytay City, Philippines, from 8-10 June 2003 with the participation of 23 people from Australia, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan Province of China. Following a regional overview of STREAM’s themes, country partners, donors and funding, and activities, participants visited four “stations” on the themes of livelihoods, institutions, policy development, and communications, working in groups representing National Coordinators, Communications Hub Managers, and Partners. STREAM operations were discussed.

This report documents a training course that was held at the Research Institute for Mariculture, Bali, Indonesia in May 2003. The course covered both theoretical aspects of grouper husbandry via lectures and practical hands-on work in a grouper hatchery, including broodstock management, tank preparation egg collection, live feed production, health management, harvesting and transport and visits to commmercial grouper and milkfish hatcheries, grow-out facilities, markets and exporters.

This report, the twentieth in the series, contains information about the aquatic animal health status of nineteen states in the Asia-Pacific region. The editorial discusses health risks associated with trans-boundary movement of live aquatic animals and the role of risk analyses.

In this issue:

Peri-urban aquaculture in Kolkata. Diffusion and adoption of shrimp farming technologies. Aquaculture education in India. Information system on fish germplasm resources in China. Freshwater crustacean aquaculture in China. The role of macronutrients. Innovations by Bengal farmers. Scientific guidelines for freshwater prawn farmers in India. Status of mariculture in Indonesia. Use of probiotics in larval rearing. Problems in shrimp culture during the wet season.