My first and foremost duty today is to convey to you the greetings of FAO Fisheries Department and of ADCP and wish you very fruitful discussions at this 4th seesion of the NACA Advisory Committee. You are meeting at a very crucial time in the life of the Network and your advice and assistance will be essential for moulding its future.
Personally speaking, it is a special occasion for me, for more than one reason. First of all, I had the privilege of being associated with the project from the formulation stage and with this, have attended all previous meetings of your Committee, which completes the full cycle with the present one. Secondly, this meeting is hosted by the Institution, where I had the good fortune to work for a good part of my professional life in India and so it is a great pleasure to be here again. Thirdly, this will probably be the last time I will be able to attend a session of this Committee on behalf of ADCP, as I will be retiring from FAO service at the end of this month. It is a matter of some satisfaction to see that this network with which I have been closely associated, has reached this stage in its development. Many of you know that, there were many sceptics and critics of the concept of this Network. We should all be proud of the fact that we have been able to demonstrate that it is a feasible idea not only in the Asian context, but also elsewhere. The World Conderence on Fishery Management and Development that met in Rome earlier this year, recognized the contribution that the Network of Aquaculture Centres can make to aquaculture development in third world countries and recommended its expansion and continuation. It is also of interest to see that networking has now become quite fashionable. However, there seems to be all types of networks, ranging from a ‘Club of penpals’ to the implementation of a well planned programme of work, through cooperative arrangements with suitable institutions. This last category, which is more difficult to organize has been the model that NACA has adopted and despite various problems, has shown to be feasible and appropriate to achieve its objectives.
As you are all aware, the project performance has been evaluated by a high-level Mission and their report is on your agenda for discussion. Besides this, NACA's role is also under study by a team of evaluators, as part of the auspices of FAO, UNDP and the Government of Norway. If this study is done as a forward working exercise, one can expect policies and actions that would give a further impetus to aquaculture development.
In the last session of the Committee in Wuxi, I reported on proposed actions to establish a suitable mechanism for the continued financing and operation of NACA, as well as other regional aquaculture centres. As the future framework of ADCP activities became the central theme of the Aquaculture Action Plan of the World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development, consultations with interested donors and formulation of an operational plan, had necessarily to be postponed, till the Action Plan was discussed and adopted by the Conference. As was expected the Plan was adopted by the Conference, with recommendations for its expansion and strengthening. Now the consultations with donors and participating governments are being resumed. You will of course be discussing this matter at this session and I am sure, you will be able to decide on a suitable mechanism for the future. In view of the delays that have occurred in these negotiations, we have suggested to our main donors, especially the UNDP, to continue the regional and interregional fundings for the programme for the remaining part of the current programming cycle, i.e., upto 1986, by which time we hope that a long-term solution would be found. UNDP support with financial contributions by participating governments, should make it possible to mobilize the necessary backing of other donors.
The Coordinator of NACA and the Centre Director, will as usual report on the accomplishments under the project. I would not like to anticipate them, but would like to emphasize a couple of points which may be of special interest. In our previous meetings, we had recognized that although well-designed interdisciplinary research had been initiated in all the Centres, the stage had not been reached when the regional centres would be in a position to offer packaged technologies for testing in national centres. I am glad to find that some substantial progress has been made in this regard. Packaged technologies for some of the selected systems have now been described for the use of workers in national centres, to test under local conditions. After the necessary modifications are made to suit local needs, with the help of the regional centre staff, if required, these technologies should be ready for transfer to farmers. The most appropriate means of such transfer have to be decided at the national centres or by the national agencies. We hope that the Regional Centres, would have the resources to offer some assistance in this as well.
The long-term and short-term training programmes continue to be the centre piece of NACA activities and obviously fulfills a major need. The placement of past trainees in the national organizations clearly show this.
The computerized information system is the one that has taken more time than was originally expected. As a pioneer activity, it is still struggling with some of the teething troubles, but this activity has aroused considerable interest also in non-participating countries, including industrially advanced ones, and therefore offers the possibility of becoming a fully global information system.
When judging the progress of the information programme, one has to take into account the fact that the project had no provision for specialized staff for information work and the collection and dissemination of data and information were expected to be carried out through voluntary cooperation of workers. Further, this was and continues to be a new type of activity in all the participating institutions, involving the use of new equipment and procedures. The design of the system had also to be changed, as the project gained experience in the orgainzation of this pioneering effort. Although the system was originally designed as recommended by a group of information specialists, as we went along, we found the need for a number of changes. As you may recall, originally only one Centre in the network was to be developed for the information work. But, then we recognized that all the centres have to participate if adequate coverage of information is to be achieved. The software and programme also had to be changed. These have all contributed to the delays. But, I do not feel too worried about it, as all the changes and delays appear to me to be only contributing to the improvement and usefulness of the system, and promise to be of benefit to the sector as a whole. Once it is fully established in respect of data inputs and retrieval, one can expect it to become a self-supporting activity.
I would not like to take any more of your time. Let me take this opportunity on behalf of FAO, and on my personal behalf to thank all institutions and agencies for their cooperation and assistance, which have made this effort feasible and worthwhile.
