Category Archives: Updates

Global perspectives on sustainable food security and nutrition for fisheries and aquaculture

Excellent presentation given at North Atlantic Seafood Forum in Bergen by Gro-Ingunn Hemre (FSN Presentation), National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) based on the United Nations Committee on World Food Security and their High Level Panel of Experts.

The full report, ‘The Role of Sustainable Fisheries & Aquaculture for Food Security and Nutrition’ will be released in Spain during April 2014.

One of the bold statements made is that ’Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.’

AwF Session at American Aquaculture, Seattle – 12 February 2014

Gleyn Bledsoe, Joseph R Sullivan & others Seattle AwF 2014

Co-Chairs Antonio Garza d’Yta and Roy Palmer welcomed everyone to the session and opened with Gleyn Bledsoe presenting “Aquaculture as a Successful and Sustainable Instrument for Affecting Economic Recovery and Development in a Post War Environment”.

What a harrowing story this was highlighting how women, children and the poor/needy are always the most disadvantaged in these circumstances. Additionally the stories of survival from horrific injuries to re-build a new beginning were quite stirring.

Gleyn ended with some bright hopes for the future in Sri Lanka as you will see in the presentation, and indicated that entrepreneurial individuals would likely succeed in the long run. A similar story unfolded from Joseph R Sullivan in his presentation regarding Liberia, entitled “Bootstrapping Aquaculture from Production to Marketing in Developing Nations”.

Aquaculture 2013: Aquaculture’s role in the ‘First 1000 Days of Life’

Speaking at the ‘Aquaculture 2013: To the Next 40 Years of Sustainable Global Aquaculture’ conference in Gran Canaria, Spain, Shakuntala Thislted, Worldfish, the ‘1000 days’ project and discussed how aquaculture can contribute to giving children the best start in life and help raise a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The ‘1000 days’ project promotes good nutrition for mother and child during the first 1000 days of life. The period covers the nine months during pregnancy and the first 0-24 months.

The good health and nutrition of a woman during pregnancy and breastfeeding can be linked to eating nutritious fish. Read more …

Shakuntala Thislted is an AwF Ambassador.

Start Friday 13th with some Stirring Stories of Aquaculture

Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) Executive Director, Roy Palmer said, “It is fantastic that we have so many excellent contributors for the AwF session at the Asian Pacific Aquaculture Conference and Trade Show scheduled from 10-13 December 2013 in Ho Chi Minh City. The conference emphasizes the need for the whole industry to take a more strategic approach to expansion with the theme ‘Positioning for Profit’ and we will attempt to show how aquaculture plays a role in alleviating poverty and malnutrition, which is a clear profit for society, through our aquaculture activities.”

The Session will be jointly chaired by AwF Founder Michael New, OBE and Roy Palmer and commences at 8:30 am on Friday 13 December as part of the World Aquaculture Societies Asian Pacific Chapter’s exciting conference at the Saigon Exhibition and Conference Centre. There are ten presentations in the session that concludes at the lunch break. 

AwF Directors use plenary sessions to get message out at Gran Canaria conference

Around 400 participants joined last week’s meeting held in Las Palmas to mark the first four decades of the journal Aquaculture which continues to be the mainstream journal of the sector. This period parallels the rise of modern aquaculture and gave an opportunity to reflect on progress and celebrate the future. The conference was marked by the high quality of both oral and poster presentations and was designed around only two parallel oral sessions giving choice but also stimulating cross disciplinary discussion. This indeed was the theme of AwF Director Dave Little’s plenary where he reflected on what the various types of integrated research were and how they have been used in the field – the challenges and the successes. As supporters of research’s increasing demands for evidence of impact, some level of integration becomes inevitable; simple mono-disciplinary work rarely solves complex real world issues. 

New AwF column by Roy Palmer in International Aquafeed Nov-Dec 2013

Our regular column in International Aquafeed magazine’s Nov-Dec 2013 issue contains an update about our first Aquaculture Learning Center (ALC) in Mexico written by AwF executive director Roy Palmer. To read it click here.

Aqua-Spark global investment fund launches new website

A new innovative investment fund that addresses the planet’s health and food security while generating a high economic return through investing in AQUACULTURE.

Aqua-Spark is a global investment fund based in Utrecht, the Netherlands that makes investments in sustainable aquaculture businesses that generate investment returns, while creating positive social and environmental impact. The fund invests everywhere (no regional focus) in small to medium enterprises that are working, toward the production of safe, accessible fish and other marine life in a way that does not harm the health of the planet. For more info visit the new website.

Aquaculture without Frontiers WAS Nashville session now online

The Aquaculture Communications Group (ACG) is pleased to announce that the multimedia proceedings of the Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) special session held during the World Aquaculture 2013 conference in Nashville, USA, are now available for viewing online; please click here.

The special session, containing 7 presentations by AwF Directors and Ambassadors, provides an overview of AwF activities past, present, and future with emphasis on the new business direction of developing a network of Aquaculture Learning Centers (ALCs).

AwF Executive Director Roy Palmer said, “Having the session presentations available on the Web for our sponsors and supporters to see and hear is fantastic! It provides us with a reach right round the world so that many more people can learn about the great work we are doing.” 

AwF Director Dave Conley attends McGill Conference on Global Food Security

McGill’s 6^th Conference on Global Food Security took place in Montreal, Canada on 8-9  October 2013 with about 300 participants from Canada, USA, UK, Ethopia, Kenya, Haiti and numerous other nations in both developed and developing regions of the world. The theme of the conference this year was Strategies against Food Security and Hunger and began with a public lecture by Marco Ferroni, executive director of Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture in Switzerland, on the topic of Government and other Obstacles to Food Security: A Tale of Leadership and Cooperation. 

Aquaculture hub to assist in fight against hunger

As we approach World Food Day (16 October), Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) is excited to announce that we have joined the Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition (AAHM).

AAHM Coordinator, Ms. Marie-Christine Laporte, said, “The Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition is a forward-thinking global initiative that links like-minded organizations and institutions that are involved in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition provides a unique middle ground – a multi-stakeholder platform and forum where those who run top-down and bottom-up development initiatives can meet in a neutral and open environment, share ideas, learn from each other’s successes and lessons, and establish networks for supportive communication within countries, across national borders or with countries in distant parts of the world. We are very pleased to have a dedicated non-governmental aquaculture organization (NGO) to assist our partners and through them a devoted and effective aquaculture ‘hub’.”