Armin Lindquist
Assistant Director-General, a.i., Fisheries Department, FAO
On behalf of the Director-General of FAO, the two hosts - the Aquaculture Development and Coordination Programme and the Norwegian Agency for International Development - and the Fisheries Department and myself, may I extend a warm welcome to you all, the participants of this first workshop on Women in Aquaculture.
I address you, primarily the principal participants, as you are all women who are active contributors to the development of aquaculture worldwide. You therefore have specific knowledge on the current status of women's participation in the sector. As you all ably demonstrate, aquaculture is proving to be a very appropriate sector for the employment of women, much to their economic and social benefits. No doubt this workshop will be the first of many on the subject.
Women are proving to be admirably suited to all the many new activities of the sector, beyond their well-established and traditional roles in fisheries in marketing and administration. Notable contributions have been made for some time in research and development, but now there is increasing evidence of the growing numbers of women in extension services, in the administration of credit and, most significantly, in farming itself. Women are also proving to be excellent production technologists in hatcheries and field stations which supply other farmers with fingerlings.
Aquaculture is a growth sector in the food industry. The projection for global production by ADCP is some 22 million metric tonnes by the year 2000. Technically this is feasible, but it will require much investment in capital and in training human resources. If this total is to be reached, there have to be innumerable opportunities for women to demonstrate their skills and to find employment. The immediate need is for women to be prepared to take advantage of these opportunities as they arise. This workshop is therefore the first step in coordinating these preparations by establishing the current baseline and identifying programme directions.
I hope that you will fulfill the many tasks you have ahead of you during these next four days, and have a productive workshop. Also, I hope that you all enjoy your visit to Rome, many of you for the first time, and to the Fisheries Department in FAO. It gives me great pleasure to declare the workshop on Women in Aquaculture open.
