AwF – Aquaculture without Frontiers
We have received four (4) more reports from field trips sponsored by the US-AID funded Farmer-to-Farmer Programme. You can access them on our Projects page or by clicking on the links below.
Michael New, AwF Founder and Patron, has submitted the financial report for AwF (UK); it can be found on our Reports page or by clicking here.
Income was down from previous years due to the ongoing recession but commitments to provide further financial support for on-going projects in India and Nepal during the 2011-2012 financial year will be realized. AwF (UK) has also committed to provide funding for a new project in Kenya during the 2011-2012 financial year; see Kenya project to mitigate poverty by scaling-up fish farming & education.
AwF recently approved a Fish Farming Proposal submitted by the Holy Will Women Group located in South Rachounyo District in the Homa Bay County of Kenya.
The project’s objective is to scale-up fish farming activities to mitigate poverty among smallholders in the community who, through government initiatives, have been involved in fish farming but without prior training that would have enabled them to succeed. Also, there is a need for a reliable fish hatchery close-by to obtain fingerlings for stocking or restocking their ponds.
The project will establish a semi-intensive fish hatchery cum production centre where high quality fingerlings and table-size tilapia will be produced under the Happa system (net enclosure) and in earthen ponds, respectively. The project will also organize quarterly educational field days, in collaboration with the Kenyan Ministry of Fisheries, to train at least 800 smallholders in the basic practices of aquaculture, including site selection, water quality, pond construction, characteristics of certified seeds, stocking rate, feeding, predators, harvesting techniques, preservation, marketing, soil and water conservation and book-keeping.
If implemented as proposed, smallholders in the region will farm fish using tested and scientifically proven practices which will greatly improve nutritional standards and increase household incomes by over 200%, significantly reducing the overall poverty level. The initiative is expected to run for three years.
AwF Director Dr. Kevin Fitzsimmons visited Bangladesh from 24 January to 1 February 2011 to conduct field visits, tour several tilapia hatcheries, meet with several NGO’s supporting aquaculture projects, speak at Bangladesh Agricultural University and visit with partners of an AwF project.
In addition to meeting with farmers and hatchery managers who had requested assistance, and with past and present partners on AwF projects, Dr. Fitzsimmons met with many of the leading aquaculture research and development professionals in the country. The lack of aquaculture extension expertise was a constant concern thus the role of NGO’s has been critical to supporting this activity in the face of limited governmental support. Recommendations for building extension support and training were provided along with suggestions of how hatchery staff and feed companies might also contribute. The industry is growing rapidly and the level of sophistication is impressive. There is a desire to build a processing plant for value-added products for sale domestically as well as to generate foreign exchange.
The report is now posted on our Projects page:
Two more reports have been received for the AwF-UA Farmer-to-Farmer Programme, one for India and the other for New Caledonia.
AwF Director Dr. Kevin Fitzsimmons visited India from 13-24 January 2011 to conduct field visits, speak at a regional aquaculture conference and a farmer’s day convention, and meet with aquaculture extension agents from Kerala and Karnataka states. He also had meetings with Dr. M.C. NANDEESHA, co-chair of Aquaculture without Frontiers.
Jason D. Licamele PhD, from the University of Arizona, visited New Caledonia from 27 December 2010 to 29 January 2011 to meet with researchers developing sea cucumber aquaculture as an alternative to shrimp for export to Asian markets and for restocking the natural indigenous populations. New Caledonia also has a number of endemic fish and invertebrates that could potentially be good targets for aquaculture.
The two reports are now posted on our Projects page; they are:
AwF Co-Chair M.C. Nandeesha spoke in the session on Gender in the aquaculture and fisheries mainstream at the 3rd Global Symposium on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries held 21-23 April 2011 in Shanghai, China.
“India is basically a carp culture country”, said M.C. Nandheesha and India’s freshwater carp aquaculture was studied in 10 states in the north, east and north-east and south. Women’s participation varied greatly with state, being very low in Andra Pradesh (south) and Punjab (north), both states with large production. Women’s participation was considerable in Manipur, Assam and West Bengal (east and north-east), although largely in pond fertilization, nursery rearing, feeding and harvesting. Self Help Groups (SHG) were often the vehicle for women’s participation. Traditions, cultural differences and economic level of the women appeared to account for the large inter-state differences.
AwF Director Dave Conley, located in Ottawa, Canada, is planning to attend the Fourth McGill Conference on Global Food Security – Risks and Threats to Food Security – which will be held on October 4-6, 2011 in Montreal, Canada. Dave was an invited speaker at the Second McGill Conference in 2009 and gave a presentation on Aquaculture and Food Security.
Through plenary sessions and cross-sectoral dialogue, the annual Conference is designed to produce concrete outcomes that will lead to improving the availability of a secure and safe food supply for people suffering from hunger and malnutrition around the world.
It is evident that the gains made in food production over the past few years are now rapidly eroding due to higher global food prices (37% higher, on average, than one year ago), rising food price volatility, increased energy costs, reduced crop yields due to recent natural disasters in many parts of the world, and political instability in some regions. These threats and risks to food security are most serious in countries that depend heavily on food imports to meet the nutritional needs of their populations, and where food producers are faced with rising costs of production and limited access to markets. The 500-million small-farmers in developing countries who support almost 2-billion people – or one third of the world’s population – continue to be severely affected by these threats and risks.
At the recent World Aquaculture 2011 conference held in Natal, Brazil, local organizers held a fundraiser that resulted in a contribution of US$4,500 to further the activities of AwF. The Board of Directors would like to acknowledge the efforts of Ricardo Martino, Patricia Moraes-Valenti, Karina Ribeiro, Joao Manoel Alves and the Guabi team, the students, and especially Itamar Rocha and ABCC/FENACAM for organizing and managing this successful event – please click here.
A new and comprehensive analysis released by the WorldFish Center and Conservation International (CI) has investigated the environmental impact of the world’s major aquaculture production systems and species, and today offers a first-ever global assessment of trends and impacts of cultivated seafood. The analysis has found that, from the 75 species-production systems reviewed, more production means more ecological impact, but that compared to other forms of animal protein production such as livestock, aquaculture is more efficient.
The report, “Blue Frontiers: Managing the environmental costs of aquaculture”, along with a companion policy recommendations paper, was released today in Bangkok, Thailand at the ASEAN SEAFDEC Conference (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center) on “Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security Towards 2020”. It concludes that the demand for aquaculture products will continue to grow over the next two decades as a key source of animal protein for growing urban populations, and that the industry needs to meet this demand with improved efficiencies and reduced environmental impacts. 
We would like to bring your attention to the new book – The History of Aquaculture – by Colin E. Nash and published by Wiley-Blackwell. Many of you may know Dr Nash, or be familiar with his work in aquaculture research, which he did for more than four decades. He was also the chief editor for Aquaculture for ten years; the director of the program for FAO Aquaculture Development, the technical director of France’s Cofrepeche, and finally most recently NOAA.
The Washington Fish Growers Association (WFGA) is selling copies signed by the author, who lives in the Seattle area.
Information on how to order is posted at the WFGA website.