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Shrimp aquaculture in Saudi Arabia has evolved significantly since its inception in the 1990s, transitioning from freshwater tilapia farming to large-scale marine shrimp production, primarily focused on Penaeus vannamei. This shift was driven by market demand, environmental suitability, and the impact of disease outbreaks such as white spot syndrome. However, early development faced major biosecurity challenges, including inadequate regulation, limited local hatchery capacity, insufficient disease monitoring, and a lack of trained personnel.
In recent years, the Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture (MEWA) has undertaken a comprehensive reform of shrimp farm biosecurity, aligned with the country’s Vision 2030 objectives. This includes regulatory controls on live shrimp imports, development of disease monitoring infrastructure, biosecurity training, and enhanced collaboration with private sector and academic institutions. MEWA has also promoted technology transfer, workforce development, and sustainable hatchery expansion. While progress is evident, future priorities include improving local broodstock availability, expanding real-time disease diagnostics, and strengthening biosecurity human resource capacity to ensure long-term industry stability and resilience.
]]>The Fish Health Section of the Asian Fisheries Society (FHS-AFS) invites everyone to the 12th Symposium on Diseases in Asian Aquaculture (DAA12), to be held from 23-27 September 2025 in Chennai, India. DAA12 continues the legacy of the DAA series by providing an exceptional platform for researchers, industry professionals, and students to come together and share their expertise in the vital field of aquatic animal health.
We warmly invite researchers, industry professionals, academia, and students to join this exciting symposium and collaborate on sustainable solutions for aquaculture's future. Mark your calendars for an unforgettable experience in DAA12 at Chennai, India!
]]>This report summarises the proceedings of the 23rd meeting of the Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health, held 14-15 November 2024 by video conference. The role of the group is to review trends in disease and emerging threats in the region, identify developments in global disease issues and standards, to evaluate the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Reporting Program and to provide guidance on regional strategies to improve aquatic animal health management.
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PORTSMOUTH, NH: Shrimp experts from around the world will gather in Bali this June for the third annual TCRS Shrimp Summit—a one-of-a-kind event that explores the issues impacting the industry's health and future, from the pond to the market. The summit is unique not just because it represents the full value chain, including major buyers, but because it spotlights the topics, both technical and tactical, that are driving change.
This year's Summit, which takes place 22-25 June, 2025, introduces several new sessions that demonstrate the event's role as a singular forum for investigating the issues that matter.
One such issue is Shrimp Welfare, particularly the use of eyestalk ablation for rapid egg production. Dr. Simão Zacarias, one of the session speakers and a recipient of the 2020 Global Aquaculture Innovation Award, says that, "although eyestalk ablation can boost egg production, it is also associated with female broodstock stress, physiological imbalance, mortality, and compromised diseas resistance in offspring."
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The first ever IAAC conference was a free half day event held in Ostend, Belgium on 9 September, as a prelude to Larvi 2024, which ran from 9-12 September. The conference featured twelve presentations introducing the IAAC and providing an overview of many of the issues surrounding Artemia, including management of salt lakes habitats that still provide the bulk of global Artemia supplies, Artemia biodiversity, hatching optimisation, and aquaculture of Artemia biomass in tanks and ponds. Video recordings of most will be posted shortly (the programme below will be updated with links). Video recordings of the presentations are now available on the NACA YouTube channel.
The first IAAC Members’ Meeting was held in the afternoon following the IAAC Conference. The proceedings involved two panel discussions, by the Academic Sector and Private Sector respectively. The panels included remote members participating via Zoom.
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