Recognizing the importance of fish nutrition research in aquaculture development, the Tenth Session of the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission (EIFAC; Hamburg, Germany 20–27 June 1978) recommended (EIFAC recommendation 78/4) the establishment of a Working Group on Standardization of Methodology in Fish Nutrition Research in collaboration with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS).
Since the first meeting of the Working Group (Hamburg, Germany 21–23 March 1979) a variety of new and different methodological approaches have been developed by researchers for estimating the nutrient requirements of fish within intensive and semi-intensive farming systems. As a consequence of this and the interest of member countries the Sixteenth Session of EIFAC (Prague, Czechoslovakia 15–22 May 1990) recommended (EIFAC recommendation D/104) that a new Workshop be organized on Methodology for the Determination of Nutrient Requirements of Fish in Munich, Germany for the spring of 1992; however, on the recommendation of the Seventeenth Session of EIFAC (Lugano, Switzerland 19–26 May 1992; EIFAC recommendation F/61) the Workshop was postponed to the spring of 1993.
Preparations for the Workshop were made by the Organizing Committee which consisted of J.M. Gropp (Germany, Chairman), A.Schuhmacher (Germany), V. Hilge (Germany, Chairman of EIFAC), and A.G.J. Tacon (FAO/EIFAC, Technical Secretary of EIFAC). In addition, the Organizing Committee also received collaborative support from S.J. Kaushik (France, Deputy-Chairman of IUNS Fish Nutrition Committee) in the preparation of the final programme for the Workshop.
The preliminary Prospectus of the Workshop was issued in January 1993. It was widely distributed through the EIFAC correspondents, journals and meetings, inviting scientists to contribute Experience Papers. The active participation of selected experts was enroled for the preparation of Review Papers, on specific subject areas.
The objectives of the Workshop were:
to collate existing data on nutrient requirements and recommended nutrient levels in diets for economically important finfish species and to identify gaps in our knowledge;
to compare methods for the determination of nutrient requirements and to recommend guidelines to be adopted and to specify further research needs;
to evaluate the existing methodological approaches for nutrient needs of fish within semi-intensive pond farming systems.
The Workshop on Methodology for Determination of Nutrient Requirements in Fish was held from 29 June to 1 July 1993 in Eichenau, at the Burgerzentrum, at the invitation of the Government of Germany. It was attended by 121 participants from 27 countries (Annex A) and international, intergovernmental and non-governmental agencies.
The main documents (Annex B) consisted of 8 Review Papers and 47 Experience Papers. In addition, 11 Poster Papers were also presented.
At the opening of the meeting on 29 June 1993, A.G.J. Tacon, Technical Secretary of EIFAC, welcomed the participants on behalf of the Director General of FAO, Mr Edouard Saouma, and of Mr R. Welcomme, Secretary of EIFAC. He reviewed the events which led to the convening of the Workshop, outlined its general objectives, and conveyed the appreciation of the Organization to the German Government for hosting the Workshop, to the organisers of the Workshop and those who assisted. The Workshop Chairman, J.M. Gropp (Germany) then introduced the topic of the Workshop.
The Workshop was organized into nine open sessions, each session led by a session chairman (Annex C). The abstracts of the documents presented during the sessions are given in Annex D. Following each presentation, the other participants were invited by the chairman to contribute additional information or to ask questions. On the basis of the above presentations and discussions, each session chairman drafted recommendations for their respective session. In the last open session of the Workshop, the recommendations of the individual sessions were discussed, amended where necessary and then adopted (see Section 2 and 3 below). In addition to the above open sessions, an internal session was held at the end of the Workshop between the session chairmen and the Secretariat concerning the arrangements for the publication of the Report of the Workshop and future activities for consideration by EIFAC.
At the close of the Workshop, V. Hilge (Chairman of EIFAC) thanked the participants for their contributions. Acting for the participants, he also expressed gratitude to J.M. Gropp (Chairman), the local organizers and the Secretariat for arranging the Workshop.
