WorldFish Workshop: Approaches to Genetic Improvement of Fish in Africa

  • Date
    12.08.19 > 16.08.19
  • Location
    Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Globally, approximately 800 million people depend on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods. Fish supply-demand research suggests that aquaculture production may need to double by 2030 to meet the world’s growing demand, and need, for a supply of affordable, safe and nutritious fish. Projected fish supply deficits are large globally, but Africa and Asia will face particularly significant shortfalls unless investments are made in sustainable aquaculture growth. Aquaculture, in particular, has tremendous potential to promote food and nutrition security, increase incomes, be an environmentally sustainable supply of animal source food, and meet the global demand for fish.

WorldFish will be hosting the workshop on “Approaches to Genetic Improvement of Fish in Africa” in Edinburgh, Scotland from 12 to 16 August 2019. The four-day workshop funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will be led by Dr. John Benzie, WorldFish Program Leader, of Sustainable Aquaculture.

The target of the workshop is to provide the opportunity to researchers involved in active or near-planned genetic improvement programs in aquaculture in Africa the opportunity to discuss the approaches to genetic improvement in light of the latest developments in genetics and with respect to the practical issues they confront. It will address issues of increased sustainable food production in the face of environmental change and challenging policy environments.

The outcome of this workshop is to produce a short record of the meeting to identify the key issues confronting the development of practical genetic improvement programs in Africa and possible solutions to those.

Over the three-year project under Improving the technological foundations for sustainable aquaculture funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), WorldFish has improved the strains of tilapia, Indian carp and African catfish – important species of food fish that are also easy to farm – become more widely available, are farmed sustainably and are distributed equitably.