Chamberlain Delivers Aqua India 2016 Keynote Address

Global Aquaculture Alliance President Dr. George Chamberlain delivered the keynote address at the Society of Aquaculture Professionals’ (SAP) Aqua India 2016 conference in Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, on January 29.

After his presentation, Chamberlain (picture at right) was offered a lifetime membership to SAP.

Also in attendance at Aqua India 2016 were Marcos Moya, market development manager for GAA’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification program, and Panchu Duraisamy, BAP country coordinator in India. There are more than 150 BAP-certified facilities in India, where the number of BAP-certified facilities is growing at a faster rate than any other country.

Chamberlain’s keynote address at the two-day conference centered on the major opportunities and challenges facing aquaculture globally. Elaborating on the challenge of disease management, Chamberlain said research on early mortality syndrome (EMS) in shrimp has shown encouraging results with genetically resistant stocks, pond sumps to remove organic matter and polyculture with tilapia.

Managing enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) in shrimp, he added, will require special disinfection procedures in hatcheries and farms to deactivate chlorine resistant spores.

Progress is being made on sparing the use of fishmeal in feeds through genetic selection and through nutrition studies on encapsulated amino acids and synthetic attractants, explained Chamberlain.

He also touched on market acceptance for farmed seafood, which is being driven by international certification programs such as Best Aquaculture Practices certification.

The Society of Aquaculture Professionals is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization established by aquaculture professionals in India in 2003. The organization promotes the art, science ad practice of aquaculture as an important and sustainable technology to produce food.

Clockwise from the top middle are: Chamberlain; Duraisamy; Murali Krishna Bujji, former BAP program integrity manager; Moya; Yahira Piedrahita Falquez, executive director of the National Aquaculture Chamber of Ecuador; Joao Rocha, PrimaGen, Indonesia; G. Ramesh, SAP general secretary, who also Wenger Corp.; Singaram Muthukaruppan, SAP president; and S. Santhana Krishnan, former SAP president.