Category Archives: Updates

Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers to support fish farming in Kenya

From June 2017 to June 2018, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) will implement a new Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) project enhancing the development of the aquaculture sector in western and central Kenya. FAU will work in conjunction with Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) to send eleven volunteers on twelve-day assignments to provide practical training for Kenyan fish farmers. This F2F program is funded under Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA)’s Special Program Support Project (SPSP) and will build upon AwF’s previous experiences in Kenya to continue expanding opportunities for fish farmers.

Uni of Eldoret Fish Farm

Despite aquaculture’s growing popularity worldwide, it is an underutilized resource and livelihood in Kenya. Around 40 percent of Kenya’s population of 46 million is considered in poverty, while ongoing drought has increased food insecurity for about four million people. Currently, agriculture provides income for about 75 percent of Kenyans and comprises 25 percent of the national GDP. Expansion of aquaculture could result in increased income, better nutrition and enhanced food security for rural communities. The Kenyan government has already demonstrated its commitment to developing aquaculture by establishing programs to construct small-farm ponds as well as aquaculture research facilities across the country. However, fish farmers continue to face obstacles like poor marketing strategies and lack of training on pond management.

Fish Farmers’ Day – India

July 10th is a significant day in the life of Fish Farmers in India.

Aquaculture without Frontiers congratulates India, all the fisheries scientists/researchers and all of the fish farmers on its aquaculture success – long may this continue!

We are reminded by our good friend, Professor Dinesh Kaippilly, Head of Aquaculture, KUFOS of this very special day in India.

AwF Preferred Charity – Building the Innovation Century Summit

AwF has been named as preferred charity for the “ISPIM Innovation Summit: Building the Innovation Century” to be held at RMIT in Melbourne 10-13 December 2017.

AISP (Association of International Seafood Professionals) has joined forces with ISPIM (International Society for Professional Innovation Management) in this annual event in which AISP will drive The ‘Blue Economy’ section of ISPIM’s innovation theme.

AwF volunteers have the opportunity to engage through the Scientific Committee (if you apply, please make sure to mention that you are an AwF volunteer). You are also able to make Submissions to the Summit. AwF will be the preferred charity for this and next year’s summit in Fukuoka, Japan 2-5 December, with an extra event in Hiroshima 6-7 December 2018.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There is no link between our organization and Aquaculture without Frontiers CIO based in the UK

We are aware that the UK organization is continuing to use the name ‘Aquaculture without Frontiers’ or as we are known ‘AwF’ instead of their full and correct name.

The Boards of Aquaculture without Frontiers, Aquaculture without Frontiers (Australia) Ltd and Aquaculture without Frontiers (Latin America) are in total agreement that the UK organization calling itself ‘Aquaculture without Frontiers’, ‘Aquaculture without Frontiers CIO’, or ‘AwF’ has nothing to do with our organizations.

Our Boards have not made this decision without good reason but, because there are legal issues involved, we will not go into the details now.

We also point out that due to Michael New O.B.E. having resigned from our organization on several occasions and requesting that we remove his name from our website, any suggestion that he has any connections with any of our organizations is incorrect.

If you have any questions regarding this, please contact us at email – comms.awf@gmail.com.

Yours sincerely

Aquaculture without Frontiers (http://www.aquaculturewithoutfrontiers.org/about/board-of-directors/ )
Aquaculture without Frontiers (Australia) Ltd (http://www.aquaculturewithoutfrontiers.org/awf-aust/board/ )
Aquaculture without Frontiers (Latin America)

Aquaculture without Frontiers: Helping Develop “Restructured” Fish Products in Mexico

Universidad Tecnológica del Mar de Tamaulipas (UTMarT)

In Mexico Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) has developed a Memorandum of Understanding with the new Universidad Tecnológica del Mar de Tamaulipas (UTMarT) based in La Pesca, Soto La Marina in the state of Tamaulipas.

Newly appointed UTMarT Rector, Dr. Antonio Garza de Yta, has created a buzz, which you can feel with both the staff and students and extends to the local industry and community.

With assistance of the State Government, UTMarT is working with the local fishermen and their cooperative organisers in offering specific education opportunities to the children of the fishermen, helping to bridge communication between all parties.

AQUACULTURE AMERICA 2018 — 19-22 February 2018

SESSION:  Aquaculture without Frontiers – Development, Welfare and Poverty Alleviation

We are pleased to advise that AwF Directors, Sally Krueger and Dave Conley, will Co-Chair our Session in  Las Vegas, Nevada in 2018 and whilst we anticipate it will contain lots of our regular presenters we are working on some innovative ideas. We welcome your involvement in sharing your work with us in this crucially important session on Aquaculture through Development, Welfare and Poverty Alleviation.

A large part of the world daily struggles for life – one in eight people in the world, (around 850 million) are currently estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger and regularly not getting sufficient food to conduct an active life.  Almost all of them live in developing countries but even in developed countries there are pockets of people stuck in a poverty circle. In developed countries, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) put the number of undernourished people at 16 million.

Travel Award for Women’s Participation at APA17

WAS-APC is providing the opportunity for female aquaculture people to attend Asia Pacific Aquaculture 2017  in Kuala Lumpur from 24-27 July 2017.  Funding for this opportunity is provided by WAS-APC, and Aquaculture without Frontiers facilitated the process.

AwF thanks all who applied, the dedicated judges and WAS-APC for their contribution and is pleased to congratulate the following successful candidates for the Women in Aquaculture Award:

• Christaline George, Nanyang Technical University (Singapore)
• Indah Susilowati, Diponegoro University (Indonesia)
• Juli-Anne Royes, LLC (USA)

We wish all a very successful Conference. Click here to read the WAS-APC press release.

Live webcast from Melbourne: Aquaculture – getting the facts instead of opinions

Live webcast from Melbourne: Aquaculture – getting the facts instead of opinions

https://webcast.gigtv.com.au/Mediasite/Play/104f10f24a114d3b9642a22778cca12b1d

“What can we all do to support Volunteers?”

We all know how valuable volunteers are.  Their energy, innovative ideas, connections and enthusiasm are priceless; their ability to help us achieve our mission is vital.  How best can we celebrate, value, recognise and reward volunteers for their generous contribution?  Follow this link and see how you can help answer this question.

Celebrating National Volunteers Week (NVW)

Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) relies heavily on people who are prepared to devote time and effort to the cause – without this most generous gift we could never have achieved anything like what we have over the years. We salute all volunteers but we are especially keen to support our own people during this special week.

National Volunteers Week is celebrated in North America 23-29 April but is celebrated at other times in other countries e.g. in Australia it is 8th -14th May.

During this period, we reflect on our three-year engagement with Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA) which is an umbrella organization consisting of economic development organizations that integrate highly skilled volunteers into programs mainly funded through the USAID program. VEGA is involved in many and varied projects that involve one or more of the member organizations. We have not reached the lofty goals that we would have hoped in collaborating with all the VEGA members to be their ‘aquaculture’ experts but we will not stop trying.

During NVW we would like you to:

• Join in at least one of our established social media platforms and invite a friend to join
  • Twitter account @AwFVols
  • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3950994
  • Facebook – AwF Aquaponics Club – https://www.facebook.com/awfaquaponics/
  • Facebook – AwF Women’s Network https://www.facebook.com/groups/awfwomen/
  • Facebook – AwF Global Indigenous Network https://www.facebook.com/groups/indigenousAwF/
  • Facebook – Ornamental Aquaculture Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/526444844203976/
  • Facebook – AwF Students Network https://www.facebook.com/groups/1149157495123851/
  • Facebook – AwF Latin America https://www.facebook.com/AwF-Latin-America-1798941360318244/?fref=ts
• Post to social media above a relevant photograph (highlighting what volunteering means to you) during the NVW to share
• Send to us a single word or phrase that means ‘volunteer’ to you, e.g. ‘giving’, ‘satisfaction’ or ‘Yeah!’ From all the input, we will create a word cloud to add to the website, giving us a combined sense of everyone’s contribution.

Throughout the week check the stories in our Volunteer section.