Distinguished Participants,
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the first World Symposium on Warm-water Pond Fish Culture.
The Conference that governs FAO has, in successive sessions in recent years, emphasized the need for the Organization to pay greater attention to the development of inland fisheries, particularly fish culture, and in fact it is because of Conference recommendations that this Symposium has been convened.
It is obvious that one reason for the emphasis on fish culture is recognition of its role in the economy and nutrition of developing countries. What is probably not so well realized is its importance - actual or potential - in industrially advanced nations. Even in countries with well-developed marine fisheries, adequate facilities for fish distribution and limited manpower resources, fish culture has developed into important and expanded industries. I think that the presence at this Symposium of large delegations from developed countries in Europe and North America indicates support for this statement. And, as another example, it is said that in the U.S.S.R., by 1970, it is planned to produce an amazing 1.3 million tons of fish from the confined waters of ponds and reservoirs. Furthermore, scientists are now giving fresh thought to the role of fish culture in augmenting the fishery resources of natural inland waters, and, based on encouraging results obtained recently, even the possibility of farming fringe areas of the seas is now being seriously considered.
In FAO's history, fish culture has had a significant part from the very beginning. One of the first steps in its program was to prepare a review of fish cultural practices of the Far East, leading eventually to the well-known “Handbook on Fish Culture in the Indo-Pacific Region” and FAO has continued to disseminate informative papers and provide ad hoc advice on the subject.
On the action side, in its field program, the Organization's first technical assistance project in fisheries - in fact one of the first FAO technical assistance projects in any field - was in fish culture in Latin America. Since that time (1950) the Organization has given technical aid to a large number of developing countries, and in the field of inland fisheries the largest number of our technical assistance missions has been and continues to be in fish culture. We believe that a number of these projects have made substantial contributions to man's fight against hunger.
Today several fish culture projects are also being developed under the Freedom From Hunger Campaign (FFHC), and a large training program in fish culture in French-speaking Africa will be inaugurated this year under the Special Fund sector of the United Nations Development Program. Furthermore, under the new Indicative World Plan for Agricultural Development (IWP) and in line with the aims of the International Biological Program (IBP) it is hoped that we can make a realistic assessment of the potentialities of food production through pond fish culture.
We are well aware, however, that much more remains to be done, and the Organization is determined to do everything possible within the limits of its resources to assist member countries in their plans for the development of fish culture for food.
Returning to my previous statement that the Conference has asked us to give greater attention to fish culture, the holding of this Symposium marks the beginning of our intensification of such activities in response to the request of our Member Nations. This is the first world meeting to be organized exclusively on the subject, and we have been greatly encouraged by the enthusiastic response of countries and contributing scientists.
This first Symposium has been restricted to fish culture in ponds for food, and that too only of warm-water fishes, due to the difficulties of covering such a vast subject as fish culture in one session. I should mention, however, that FAO's general interests also cover the cold-water fishes and their culture both commercially and for recreation. But, since the pressing need of more than three-quarters of the world's population is for better nutrition, we shall naturally have to devote initial attention to pond fish production for food - which, generally speaking, means the culture of warm-water fishes.
During the meetings before you, you will pool your knowledge and experience, enter into debate, and - finally - formulate practical means of gaining more knowledge and utilizing it for the benefit of mankind.
A small group of consultants has helped us in planning this Symposium; I should like to express our appreciation of their services. The Rockefeller Foundation has generously financed the travel of a selected group of specialists to Rome, and we are grateful to them for this assistance. I am encouraged to hear that the Foundation is considering support for fish culture research in some of the Asian countries, and their representative, who is here with us today, can expect to have an ample choice of projects for future support, if this should be desirable.
In concluding, ladies and gentlemen, may I wish you an instructive, useful and enjoyable time in Rome. And, may I further remind you that although the original seat of pond cultivation may have been in the Far East, Rome also has its place in the history of fish culture. Over two thousand years ago, the ancient Romans held and fattened in ponds, not far from this city, the moray eel, the wrasse and the mullet. In those days such fish were primarily a luxury, and even in this century a number of cultivated fish are still luxury products. But today, of even greater importance, is the fact that fish culture, scientifically designed and intelligently developed, may be a major factor in alleviating the hunger of the world.
