Southeast Asia is the largest shrimp exporting region in the world. In Indonesia, shrimp exports account for more than 35 per cent of total fishery exports for the country. The Southeast Asia region is not only facing the increasing demands of the globalized food market but also the challenge of diseases spreading through shrimp farms in the region. Management of shrimp diseases including pathogen identification and protection has become a key challenge, not just to the shrimp farming industry but also to the governments who supports the industry in their countries.
The symposium brought together experts in the shrimp industry and focused on sharing their experience and good practices to meet these challenges, including discussions on the economic significance of disease management, scientific knowledge including the beneficial aspects of adopting high-throughput protocols to identify shrimp pathogens and utilizing the most advanced genetic analysis technologies for infectious shrimp disease discovery and surveillance.
More than 150 delegates from the government, aquaculture business and academic sectors in countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Australia gathered to share their views and exchange opinions with their peers.
"The Ministry is committed to progress the aquaculture industry of Indonesia and we are very happy that this collaboration between industry, institutions and the administration could happen," said Mr Maskur, Director of Fish Health and Environment, Directorate General of Aquaculture, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia, at the symposium opening.
"This is an important step forward for the shrimp industry, to exchange knowledge and best practices to overcome the challenges that we face."
"We are delighted that we could hold this joint symposium as a company that has the technology and knowledge of needed support to the aqua farming industry," saidJustin Lee, Regional Head of Southeast Asia at Life Technologies."We look forward to contributing with our expertise to the industry as a partner of finding solutions for better aquaculture."
Contributing speakers were, Dr Matthew Briggs (Ridley AgriProducts, Brisbane, Australia), Dr Siripong Thitamadee (Centex Shrimp, Thailand), Dr Yuri Sutanto (PT Central Proteina Prima Indonesia), Dr Leobert dela Pena (Aquaculture Department, SEAFDEC, Philippines), Ms Dao Thi Thanh Hue (Regional Animal Health Office No.6, Vietnam), Dr Kim Halpin and Dr Kristian Ridley from Life Technologies.
