World Aquaculture Society Conference

LACAQUA23 - LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN CHAPTER - April 2023

Jun 14, 2023

The WAC-LAC conference was held in Panama city, Panama on April 18 to 21, 2023. Thanks to our sponsor Biomar, I was able to attend for the very first time to the LAC conference. I had only attended to those in America, once to the Asian Pacific Chapter in Malaysia and another in Florence for the European chapter.

This year I also participated and gave an oral presentation in Panama.

You can watch my presentation on YouTube here

When I was a graduate student (Oh so long ago), I found these aquaculture conferences very stimulating. The idea of all sectors in the aquaculture industry of a region under one roof! I learned a great deal from the various research projects, seminars and opportunities the industry had to offer. However, after graduation and for a period thereafter, the conferences in America began to feel irrelevant - it was always the same thing, nothing new.

With my interest in Jamaica and the CARICOM region growing, I felt it was important to connect with my Caribbean and Latin American community and attend this conference.

It was truly a delight to network with scientists and Leaders in the aquaculture industry from Latin America. For the very first time I felt a real connection. It could be cultural as I am Jamaican but the content of the talks in my opinion were more relevant to the needs of the LAC region. In addition, the collaboration that one makes with persons in the industry and academia are priceless. Long after the conference is over, we can and have continued to have discussions and collaborate on projects uniting similar work happening in other LAC countries.

But there was something missing, I was the only person attending (aka English speaking) from Caribbean small island nations.

I suppose I should not be surprised considering that aquaculture has decreased at an alarmingly rate in the Caribbean. While Aquaculture production continues to increase globally in the Caribbean it is less than 0.5% of global production.

In my presentation I give some reasons as to why this is so. Primarily land space and acess to fresh water in the small islands, lack of knowledge of the advances in aquaculture and lack of technical knowledge are just a few.

There are so many opportunities for aquaculture production in the Caribbean and there are a list of reasons why aquaculture needs to become a priority. Here are just a few:

Food security
Sustainability of marine fisheries
Income creation

We need to be addressing the issues of climate change on small island aquaculture. The Caribbean sea is warming and having a negative effect on marine life. The warm waters affect oyster culture in Jamaica producing smaller sizes ( communication from Dean Morris at Kee farms).

Increased hurricanes and flooding affect coastal regions and inland aquaculture systems

Inputs such as fish feed and energy costs negatively affect tilapia and other freshwater species such as in the aquarium industry.

Our marine fisheries is in trouble. Conservation research would make a tremendous difference to the sustainability of marine species

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE

See our instagram page for captions @caribbeanaquaculture

The Caribbean is very behind in the blue revolution movement. There is an urgent need to get involved and I hope to work with the chapter to grow the Caribbean network .