Professor Jiansan Jia, a Chinese national, joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1998, and has dedicated all his efforts in promoting sustainable development and management of fisheries and aquaculture at global and regional levels. He has been the Chief of Aquaculture Service for 15 years, overseeing the FAO aquaculture programme through provision of policy advice, technical assistance and information and knowledge sharing and capacity building for developing countries. He was appointed Deputy Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division of FAO in 2012. Before FAO, Professor Jia worked for the Ministry of Agriculture in China for more than 20 years, holding a number of leading positions at local and central governmental and non-governmental institutions. He was involved in agriculture and rural development, fisheries and aquaculture management and participated extensively in bilateral and multi-lateral fisheries negotiations as well as distant water fishing operations, and supervised and coordinated international cooperation between China and various governments and international organisations in the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries. He retired from FAO in 2017 and is now a Visiting Professor at the Shanghai Ocean University in China.
My main research interests are the growth improvement of candidate brackishwater aquaculture species using molecular tools. I also conduct research on the molecular systematics of coastal decapod crustaceans, especially shrimps of the Penaeidae and Palaemonidae. My more recent research has focused on mangrove and ichthyo-faunal biodiversity of the remotely located Andaman and Nicobar group of islands. I gained my PhD in Aquaculture from the ICAR Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai.
My research interests include aquatic stress physiology and molecular ecotoxicology; aquatic molecular immunology; aquatic reproductive physiology; aquatic genetics and breeding. I have more than thirty years’ research experience in related fields. I have received more than twenty research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the National Key Research and Development Project of China, the National Institute of Health (NIH, USA), the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission (GLFC, USA & Canada). I have published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and received several academic awards from academic organizations such as the Chinese Fisheries Society. I have a lot of experience in review of academic articles submitted to top journals in the field and review of research proposals submitted to NIH, NSFC, the National Centre of Science and Technology Evaluation of Kazakhstan, and other scientific foundations. I also have worked as a technical consultant to provide professional guidance for the industry for many years.
My research interests include nutrition and immunology of freshwater prawns. I have fifteen years’ research experience in aquaculture and feed formation, selection of new feed materials, fishmeal and fish oil replacement and feed management of Penaeus vannamei, crayfish Procambarus clarkii, and the freshwater prawns Macrobrachium rosenbergii and M. nipponensis in China. I am currently exploring use of transcriptomics, metabolomics and proteomics to understand nutrient needs, metabolism, stress and immunity and use of ingredients from diets and regulation of Chinese herbs.
My research interests include the breeding and culture of freshwater fish, and healthy aquaculture technology and management. I have fifteen years’ research experience in breeding and culture of freshwater fish; the development of stock enhancement programmes for integrated fish farming incorporating fish and vegetables; and industrial in-pond raceway recirculating aquaculture technology. I am a master student supervisor of the College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, and a scientific Special Commissioner of Aquaculture in Jiangsu province, China.
My research interests include inland fisheries management and aquaculture development. I have 25 years research experience on culture-based fisheries development in Sri Lankan reservoirs. This has included the introduction of co-management to improve the socio-economic status of fishing communities; the development of community-based strategies to increase fish seed production to meet requirements at the national level; and the development of web-based systems to collect information related to culture-based fisheries (www.infis.gov.lk) with data input and maintenance handled by fishing communities. I am a member of the NACA Technical Advisory Committee (2015-2018) and a life member of Sri Lanka Association for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
