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AwF board members meet our Patron in Phuket

It is a tradition that the AwF holds its board meetings during global aquaculture conferences where sufficient AwF Directors are present on other assignments. This enables AwF to maintain its board costs at zero. Earlier this year the board met in San Diego, USA, during the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) meeting World Aquaculture 2010.

On 23 September 2010 the AwF Board met again in Phuket, Thailand, during the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 (GCA2010) organised by the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia and the Pacific (NACA) and the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO).

Since the opening keynote speaker at GCA 2010 was our Patron, Professor M.S. Swaminathan, FRS, this gave AwF Directors from Australia, Belgium, India, the UK and the USA an excellent opportunity to discuss our activities and future plans with him. Board members also had a similar opportunity to meet with the Co-Chairs of GCA2010, Jiansan Jia (Chief, Aquaculture Service, Fisheries & Aquaculture Department, FAO, Rome) and Sena de Silva (Director General of NACA).

Joe Tomasso resigns from AwF Board of Directors

Joe Tomasso

It is with regret that we announce the recent resignation of Dr. Joe Tomasso from the AwF Board of Directors. We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to Joe for his outstanding service to AwF as a member of the Board since incorporation 2004 and for his development of our Volunteer Database since 2007. We would also like to express our sincere thanks for the substantial and repeat donations to our organization by Joe and his family over the years.

AwF-UA farmer-to-farmer programme trip reports now available

More trip reports have been received and are posted on the Projects page of this website. These include:

• NEW CALEDONIA: AwF-UA Farmer-to-Farmer Programme (Trip Report, June 2010) PDF
• TRINIDAD: AwF-UA Farmer-to-Farmer Programme (Trip Report, August 2010) PDF
• INDONESIA: AwF-UA Farmer-to-Farmer Programme (Trip Report, August 2010) PDF
• MEXICO: AwF-UA Farmer-to-Farmer Programme (Trip Report, September 2010) PDF

Toleo Foundation funded project showing great success

The Toleo Foundation funded project, Aquaculture for nutrition and supplementary income for the rural poor in Sundarban, West Bengal, India, has submitted its progress report for January 2008 to December 2009, to read it click here. 28 farmers were specially trained to produce fish seed for ponds and 72 farmers were trained in pond preparation, fish culture, marketing, and more. All of them are now involved in fish farming. Other success stories demonstrate that the local poor farmers are able to learn and practice scientific fish farming, which means that the project has the potential to provide lessons to other regions of India.

We are deeply appreciative of the support from the Toleo Foundation, whose generous donation has enabled this project to succeed.

Proud fish farmers in Sundarban

AwF project in Bangladesh enters its fourth year

We recently received a progress report from our project in Bangladesh, Poverty Alleviation through Small Scale Aquaculture (PATSSA), that you can read by clicking here, and are extremely pleased to hear that the number of participating farmers has increased by 22 in the fourth year, from 89 farmers in the third year, for a total now of 111 participants. The ponds we have helped to build are sources of income for many marginal families as well as their primary source of nutrition. Support from the project has made the farmers more confident fish culturists and helped forge strong links between fingerling producers, government officials and fish traders. This in turn will strengthen efforts to develop this sustainable approach to fish culture, which is very importnant for continued success.

To all who have supported this work, our sincere thanks!

Farmers selling their harvest of fish

Second phase of AwF project in Nepal successfully begun

A report on the initiation of this project has been received from Drs. Ram Bhujel and Madhav Shretha. This can be read in full by clicking here.

We are gratified to read the words of one committed farmer, Khrishna Raj Pandey, who said – “Fish farming is 5 times more profitable than vegetable farming and at least 15 times more profitable than rice.”  Consequently, he has decided to stock more fish in other plots as well. He believes that if farmers know this fact then almost all the people will adopt fish farming in the village and other areas of the country.

Meeting with Farmers

AwF T-shirts now on sale to support ongoing projects in Nepal

T-shirts with the AwF logo are now available, courtesy of Dr Ram C. Bhujel at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). Your first opportunity to purchase one (or as many as you like!) will be at the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 in Phuket, Thailand, in September.

Don’t fear, if you are not going to Phuket, they will be available at future conferences and fundraising events.

Or if you like, you can order and pay via PayPal using credit cards or debit card from anywhere in the world. The T-shirt costs US$30 each and has been added as an item of the Thai Store/Shop run by Ram’s wife; go to http://www.see-thailand.com/whcove.html.

The initial run of 100 T-shirts is going fast, and why not – it is for a good cause!  With the funds generated from T-shirt sales, Ram plans to expand the AwF project in Nepal to more locations on a continuous basis so that they do not need to worry about the long-term sustainability of the project. Please show your support for this initiative with a purchase today!

First trip report from AwF-UA farmer-to-farmer programme now available

The first trip report from the AwF-UA Farmer-to-Farmer Programme [see news item dated May 26 2010: AwF and University of Arizona receive farmer-to-farmer aquaculture niche award from US-AID for details of this programme] has been received. It can be read in full on the Projects page of this website, see THAILAND: AwF-UA Farmer-to-Farmer Programme (Trip report June 2010).

Marlow mothers support AwF again!

Having given Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) a donation of £500 in 2005, Third World Aid made a second donation to AwF (UK) of £750 recently, following an appeal by the AwF Founder. The Directors of AwF are most grateful for the continued interest and support that we have received from this group of mothers in Marlow (England) and wish them every success in the selfless work that they do for the poor in developing countries.

Third World Aid (TWA) began life as the Ethiopian Aid Project (EAP) in 1974. A small group of young mothers from St Peter’s Church in Marlow responded to a cry for help from Father Gerry Stones, a priest working with the poor and impoverished in Ethiopia. Most of the mothers had young children at Primary School in Marlow.

Aquaculture talk raises funds for AwF

AwF (UK) Director Scott Peddie (sitting, far right) with some of those who attended the presentation and donated to AwF

AwF (UK) director, Rev. Dr. Scott Peddie, gave a talk on aquaculture and the work of AwF to a number of interested individuals at Dromore First Presbyterian Church in County Down, Northern Ireland on Wednesday 9th June. Commenting on the event, Scott said that “at the outset, most of the audience admitted that they had only a vague idea of what aquaculture actually was, never mind its role in alleviating poverty in some of the poorest parts of the world. However, by the end of the presentation people were clearly very impressed by the projects undertaken by AwF and the potential to do more if the resources were available.” 

A collection taken at the end of the presentation amounted to £ 135. Not only that, some of those present at the meeting indicated that they would like to raise money for AwF projects in the future. For his part, Scott looks forward to giving more of these presentations in churches, schools and community groups in the near future.