Seafood is in Australia’s top five most valuable primary industries. Product that is harvested in Australia is regarded as the healthiest food you can put in your mouth and is worth more than 4 billion dollars per annum. Aquaculture is the fastest growing primary industry in the world.
Food-obsessed Melbourne is therefore the perfect destination to host the Australasian Aquaculture International Conference and Trade Show from 1-4 May 2012, the largest primary industry conference in
Australia. This is the fifth biennial event held in Australia as a joint venture between the National Aquaculture Council and the World Aquaculture Society – Asian Pacific Chapter and follows on from the
excellent event held in Hobart.
Without a definitive Food Security Plan, which incorporates seafood as an integral component; Australia is struggling to keep up with the progress in the Asia Pacific region, which is the world’s leader in aquaculture production.
World aquaculture experts and industry leaders will converge on Melbourne, the ideal backdrop for the Conference and Trade Show (which includes outstanding Workshops and Tours). This is the opportunity to use this as a catalyst for Australasia to get on the front foot and plan for the future – government, industry and the services that work within the structures of aquaculture are all important sectors to make this happen. The Australian industry has dedicated itself to producing exemplary produce and will have the chance to discuss, debate and contemplate ‘The Next Ten Years’, the theme chosen for the Conference.
Conference Chair, Pheroze Jungalwalla said, “Sustainable aquaculture will play a vital role in offering a viable way to increase world seafood production and assist food security issues.”
“A focus on developments in research continues to lead to improvements in innovative aquaculture production.”
“As we celebrate our successes as an industry, it is also imperative that we look ahead to the challenges that we as an industry may face over the upcoming decade. We warmly welcome one of the global
leaders relating to fish feeds, Skretting Australia, as Conference naming sponsor and look forward to working with them and all our other important sponsors for this event”, Mr. Jungalwalla said.
The Conference, with fully integrated Trade Show will take place at the ‘6 Star Green Star’ environmental rated Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre – clearly nowhere better to display the industry’s efforts in environmental stewardship.
New initiatives for 2012 include the ‘Corporate Responsibility Project’, the inaugural ‘Blue Thumb’ AAA Awards to be held at the ‘Articulture’ networking event at the National Gallery of Victoria and the new
and improved ‘Trade Soapbox’.
The Victorian Government through the Chief Executive Officer of the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) Sandra Chipchase said “The MCVB worked with the National Aquaculture Council since 2003 to win the Aquaculture Conference.”
Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Biosciences Research Executive Director, Professor German Spangenberg, said “the world faced major challenges in feeding a growing population, expected to
reach 9 billion people by 2050, including the major humanitarian challenge to alleviate hunger, malnutrition and poverty, which is afflicting more than 1 billion people world-wide”.
Professor Spangenberg said “the Australasian Aquaculture International Conference would deal with contemporary issues around the aquaculture industry’s development and sustainability”. “Seafood is Australia’s fourth most valuable food-based primary industry, with Victorian commercial fisheries’ production worth around $87 million per year,” he said.
“This makes Melbourne a perfect destination for aquaculture leaders in industry and science, research and development to meet.”
The event now has a new website with full information on paper submissions, registration, exhibitor bookings, accommodation, tours and more: visit: http://www.australian-aquacultureportal.com
