First Aquaculture Learning Centre from Aquaculture without Frontiers

Roy Palmer, executive director of Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) writes for International Aquafeed on the agreement to build its first Aquaculture Learning Centre.

I have had a heavy travelling period which will not end till near the end of December. Sometimes it is difficult to find the time and place to catch up on work. I am writing this blog sitting in a hotel room in Rio de Janeiro. There are three  beds in the room and no desk so I am having to balance the computer with the wires stretched to their maximum from the awkwardly placed electric point between the beds. Oh the joys of travelling!

Time has been flying away and we have been working very hard behind the scenes at AwF of recent date without too much to show for our efforts. Frustrating times…. but all par for the business that we are in. You have spells like this then it all changes!

I arrived in Rio after having spent a very interesting week in Mexico. We had been discussing the establishment of our first Aquaculture Learning Centre (ALC) and it all seemed to be coming together well. We had on other occasions got this close but it had not come to fruition for one reason or another so you are never quite sure.

Good news. We were able to meet some of the decision makers early in the week and by the time we arrived in Tampico on Thursday everyone was ready to sign the agreement. Very excited about the possibilities. 

Here is the media release which says it all:

Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) is pleased to announce that we have signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Universidad Tecnológica Del Mar De Tamaulipas Bicentenario (UTMarT) based at La Pesca, Soto la Marina, Tamaulipas, México.

The UTMarT currently offers Technical, Bachelor and Graduate programs in aquaculture and is building a new centre in Tampico. The target of this agreement is to jointly develop food security and personnel training in the International Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer for Aquaculture (CIITTA), which will be AwF’s first Aquaculture Learning Centre (ALC). 

Roy Palmer, executive director, AwF, visiting Tampico during his Mexican business trip said, “AwF is very keen to build a strong relationship with UTMarT and be involved in capacity building, engaging in projects and working with students and establishing a firm base within Mexico. There are 130 million people in Mexico, and of those approximately 30-35 million people are considered to be in extreme poverty. We hope to make a difference in assisting with the growth of aquaculture to assist the alleviation of both poverty and hunger and we see this new partnership as a major step in this direction.” 

Dr Guadalupe Acosta Villarreal, chancellor of UTMarT, said, “This agreement will bring many benefits to the UTMarT and its students in the long term. We anticipate short interchange programs, visiting professors, joint research and projects, participation in international training programs and exchange of experience between different members and specialists of AwF around the world. This agreement fulfills the university’s goals of social awareness and extension which are part of its mission.”

At the special event in Tampico, the State Ministry of Education was represented by Dr Diódoro Guerra Rodríguez, and special witnesses for the agreements included Juan Báez Rodríguez representing the Farmer Unions of Tamaulipas, the Mayor Elect of Soto La Marina, Tamaulipas municipality where the UTMarT is located and Jorge Velez, De Camaron Tambien. CONAPESCA; representatives of the state ministries of education and health were present as well.

At the end of the event, which was attended by approximately one hundred people, Roy Palmer gave a presentation about the programmes managed by AwF to the signees, UTMarT students and media. From the comments made by the audience, the potential of the agreement will be extremely motivating for future development for Mexico, the state, the university and the industry, all of whom highlighted commitment. The group then toured the new site for the CIITTA/AwF ALC.
 

We have already started talking about what will be our priorities and aiming to get some AwF volunteers engaged October onwards and to start off the programme. 

The new site is very large, has very large volumes of fresh water available and will enable us to engage in many fronts.

Looking forward to keeping you all involved in the progress that is made in Mexico and in AwF into the future.

Roy writes a regular column on AwF for International Aquafeed magazine. You can browse past issues here.