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The pre-conference SDG-aligned Artemia Aquaculture Workshop was held on 22 September, starting at 21:00 China Standard Time (GMT+8), via Zoom. Participation was free but registration was required.

With the expansion of hatchery production, the demand for Artemia cysts has continued to increase and annual consumption is now estimated at 3,500 – 4,000 tonnes for the production of over 900 billion crustacean post larvae and fish fry by a hatchery industry valued at more than USD 2 billion and responsible for the final production of over 10 million tonnes of high-value aquaculture species. With approximately 90 percent of the current Artemia production harvested from inland salt lakes, the future of the hatchery industry could be at risk and requires urgent attention.

A new international interdisciplinary approach is needed to tackle these Artemia issues and opportunities, like the breakthrough in Artemia use in aquaculture following the 1976 FAO Kyoto conference. The purpose of the GCA+20 Artemia workshop was to explore needs and opportunities for a new international initiative to guarantee a more sustainable provision of Artemia, both from natural sources and from controlled extractive Artemia farming integrated with salt production and other fish/crustacean aquaculture.

Moderators

  • Rodrigo Roubach, FAO Rome
  • Liying Sui, AR-ARC

Organizers

  • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
  • Laboratory of Aquaculture and Artemia Reference Center (ARC), University of Ghent
  • Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA)
  • Artemia Association of China (AAC)
  • Asian Regional Artemia Reference Center (AR-ARC)

Agenda:

Time Topic Speaker
21:00 Welcome Min Jiang, Shanghai Ocean University
Qingyin Wang, Chinese Fisheries Society, China
21:05 Aim of the workshop Rodrigo Roubach, FAO Rome
21:10 From Kyoto 1976 to Shanghai 2021: brief history of Artemia use in aquaculture Patrick Sorgeloos, Ghent University, Belgium
21:30 Report of 15 June 2021, Webinar “International workshop on Artemia pond production” Meezanur Rahman, WorldFish Centre, Bangladesh
Nguyen Van Hoa, Can Tho University, Vietnam
21:40 Report of 2 September 2021, Webinar “Status of the use of Artemia cysts in fish and crustacean hatcheries around the world” Simon Wilkinson, NACA
21:50 Sustainable harvesting of natural Artemia resource: the Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA) as model case Thomas Bosteels, Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp Cooperative, USA
22:00 Artemia species and strains diversity: threats and potential Gonzalo Gajardo, Los Lagos University, Chile
22:10 Availability of Artemia genome: R&D opportunities Gilbert Van Stappen, Ghent University, Belgium
22:15 Q&A, discussion, conclusions, and recommendations Plenary session panel
22:35 Closing remarks Matthias Halwart, FAO Rome