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Around a thousand pupils, teachers, and facilitators from the Philippine Society of Youth Science Clubs visited SEAFDEC/AQD on 26 October.

SEAFDEC/AQD and the Agricultural Cooperative Development International / Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA), a nonprofit international development organization based in the United States, put together a mud crab and fish cultivation livelihood project for Timor-Leste.

SEAFDEC/AQD participated in this year’s World Food Day celebrated every 16 October. For this occasion, AQD and the South East Asia Fish for Justice Network (SEAFISH) conducted a Training course on capacity building on good aquaculture practices from 11 to 15 October at AQD Iloilo station in the Philippines. In addition, AQD held a lecture on Nitrogen dynamics in shrimp and pond and environmental improvement ability of sandfish delivered by Dr. Masashi Kodama of National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Fisheries Research Agency in Japan on 13 October.

SEAFDEC/AQD will convene the International workshop on fish health management, with the theme: Accelerating awareness and capacity building in Southeast Asia, on 1-2 March 2012 in Iloilo City, Philippines. The call for papers is on these topics: (1) Accelerating awareness in fish health management through capacity building, and (2) Innovative research & novel diagnostic techniques for fish pathogens. Deadline of abstracts: 1 December 2011.

The latest to train at SEAFDEC/AQD are two government officers from Kiribati, an island-nation in the Pacific Ocean. They are at AQD’s Iloilo station for the course on milkfish farming, 26 Sept to 10 Oct 2011.

SEAFDEC/AQD and Japanese universities work together in training young researchers on sustainable aquaculture. Recently, fifteen students from Tokai University and Hiroshima University in Japan visited AQD for study tour and internship while AQD researchers set out to Japan to participate in a training program on sustainable fisheries science.

SEAFDEC/AQD advocates skip-feeding for tilapia as a good fish cage management as this cuts feed cost by half. This is the result of the collaborative 2006-2009 study among AQD, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

SEAFDEC/AQD ironed out the list of studies, proponents and activities for 2012 and a broad plan for 2013-2016 that will address the goals of its five thematic R&D programs. This was done 15-26 August at AQD’s main station in Iloilo, Philippines.

SEAFDEC/AQD and Taytay sa Kauswagan Inc. (TSKI) are working together as the technical assistance team for the Sustainable mariculture investment program that is funded by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) from a grant by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). Stakeholder consultations have been conducted in Panabo City (Davao del Norte) from 17 June to 2 July and in Digos City & Sta Cruz (Davao del Sur) from 8 to 13 August.

SEAFDEC/AQD teams up with the village resource management council of Molocaboc in Sagay, Negros Island, Philippines for a new project on the culture of abalone (Haliotis asinina) and seaweed (Gracilaria). AQD was also on hand at the launching of 12 marine sanctuaries in San Joaquin, Iloilo, Philippines on 16 August 2011 where AQD and LGU-San Joaquin collaborate on studies on giant clam and coral growth vis-à-vis climate change.

On 22 August, the 5-day course on Freshwater prawn hatchery and grow-out will start. Venue is AQD’s Binangonan Freshwater Station in Rizal, Philippines; training fee, Php 6000 or USD 500 per person. Email mreguia@seafdec.org.ph

With its partner institutions, AQD will begin focusing on six thematic areas for its research-and-development agenda in 2011 through 2020. READ THIS STORY IN THAI | BAHASA | JAPANESE | FILIPINO

AQD gets the thumbs up from the Philippine Department of Agriculture and its Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) for 38 years of developing science-based technologies for the aquaculture sector.

Good aquaculture practices (GAPs) mean production of safe aquaculture products for human consumption. This is the consensus of an international workshop organized by AQD in Iloilo in January 2011.

Five training courses for the staff of BFAR-RFTC have been completed by AQD this year. These courses are sandfish, abalone, seaweeds, mudcrab, and marine fish hatchery and/or grow-out culture.