by Hans Ackefors, Stockholm, Sweden

1. At the EIFAC meeting held in Rome (Italy) on 21 May 1994 it was agreed that the Working Party on Fish Farm Effluents should change its direction of work and was renamed the `Working Party on Water Resource Management in Aquaculture� and new terms of reference drafted, including objectives and key issues to be addressed.

2. Mr M. Pursiainen indicated his wish, as an aquaculturist, to withdraw from the Convenership of the Working Party and Mr H. Ackefors (Sweden) accepted to work as the new Convenor of the Working Party.

3. An Ad Hoc Meeting of the Working Party on Aquatic Resources Management in Aquaculture met in Rome, Italy, 8-9 May 1995. The meeting was attended by representatives from Italy (Mr P. Melotti and Ms A. Roncarti), Hungary (Mr L. Varadi), Poland (Mr R. Trzebiatowski), three officers from FAO (Mr U. Barg, Ms A. Van Houtte, Mr A. Tacon), an observer from ICES (Mr H. Rosenthal) and the chairman (Mr H. Ackefors).

4. The Report of the Meeting was edited by the chairman and sent to Rome in June 1995. Issues dealt with during the meting are reported in the report of the Meeting (paragraph 5).

5. Issues for water management within aquaculture and interaction with other users of water were described under the following subheadings; A) water supply for aquaculture and other users, B) interaction (Competition) with other users of water, C) water quality and problem areas, D) pretreatment of Water, E) water management within the farm, F) water management of outgoing water, G) water management of processing plants, H) aquaculture water management for the benefit of the society, I) product quality in relation to external influences, K) the status of inland aquaculture in 1994, L) institutional and legal framework for governing the water use, M) research institutes and people dealing with various aspects of aquaculture and water use from various disciplines, N) farmers and their associations, O) concluding remarks on the prospects for inland aquaculture.

6. During the Rome meeting in 1995 the members of the Ad Hoc group also gave a comprehensive description on 1) water intake for the production unit, and its management, 2) water management, and production management in the production unit, and 3) water leaving the production unit, and its management.

7. At the Eleventh Session of EIFAC in Dublin (Ireland), 11-19 June 1996, Mr H. Ackefors (Sweden) was elected chairman for Sub-Commission II and Mr L. Varadi (Hungary) elected Vice-Chairman. Mr C. Courcol (France) informed the Commission of this country�s willingness to identify and nominate a Rapporteur for the Sub- Commission; in October, 1996, Mr R.L. Welcomme, Secretary of EIFAC, informed the Commission that Mr J. Proteau, CEMAGREF, Montpellier, had accepted to act as rapporteur for Sub-Commission II.

8. At the Dublin Session, the Commission considered the proposed Terms of Reference for the Working Party on Aquatic Resources Management in Aquaculture.

9. During the Session, an ad hoc meeting of the Working Party was held on 15 June 1996, the participants recognised that the questionnaire was too comprehensive (i.e. detailed) and as such would require considerable time and effort by persons filling out questionnaires. It was therefore decided to proceed gradually, focusing first on the problems of water supply for aquaculture.

10. It was agreed during the meeting that the questionnaire (in particular Sections A-D of Annex E of above mentioned Summary Report) be revised by the Convenor so as to focus primarily on water supply aspects in aquaculture, and that efforts be undertaken to encourage participation in the Working Party of experts from the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as Eastern and Southern European countries. The Commission recommended that all data and information on water supply aspects in aquaculture be compiled and sent to the Convenor at the latest by 31 March 1997.

11. It was recommended (Appendix K) that the EIFAC National Correspondents should identify an expert (or where possible, a group of experts) responsible for this task. Contact details (name, address, fax and telephone number, e-mail address) of this expert were to be sent to the Convener at the latest by 15 August 1996. It was also recommended that the National Correspondents ensure that the report on water supply aspects be finalised and sent to the Convenor at the latest by 15 December 1996.

12. In May 1997 the Convenor sent a revised questionnaire and a new reminder to all National Correspondents and members of the Working Party. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. part 1 to be finalised by September 1997, and part 2 to be finalised by January 1998.

13. In November 1997 another reminder was sent out to all National Correspondents.

14. A second meeting for the Working Party was planned to be held in Berlin (Germany), 18-20 February 1998 to work on a report based on the replies of the questionnaires. However, the meeting was cancelled as only one member of the Working Party announced interest to attend the meeting and only 5 comprehensive reports and 6 reports with incomplete replies had been received by the Convener by that time.

15. By April 1998 the following countries had produced national reports as replies to the questionnaires: Cyprus, Czech Republic (part 2), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and United Kingdom.

16. By April 1998 the following countries had not sent any national reports: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.

17. The convenor of the EIFAC Working Party on Fish Diseases and Their Control (EIFAC/WPFDC), Dr. R. Richards, informed the secretariat that due to various unavoidable reasons the intended ad hoc meeting of the EIFAC/WPFDC could not be organised in 1997.

18. However, during the recent discussions held between FAO/EIFAC Secretariat and the Council of the European Association of Fish Pathologists (EAFP), it was agreed, that a joint FAO/EIFAC/EAFP open workshop on "Health Management of Sturgeon and Carp Fisheries and Aquaculture" will be held from 25th to 27th September 1998, in Rhodes, Greece immediately prior to the 9th EAFP International Conference to be held in the same venue.

19. The main issues identified for discussion during the Workshop include a) health issues in reproduction and development of sturgeon in natural and artificial systems; b) health and disease problems in sturgeon aquaculture; c) vaccination and medication of cyprinids; d) transport and stress-associated infectious diseases of cyprinids; and e) transfer of cyprinids and risk of exotic disease and pathogen introduction. It was also agreed that an ad hoc meeting of the EAFP/WPFDC will be held during the proposed workshop.

20. The convenor of the EIFAC Workshop on Fish and Crustacean Nutrition Methodology and Research for Semi-intensive Pond-based Farming Systems, Dr. I. Csengeri (Hungary), informed the secretariat that the proceedings of the workshop (which was held in Szarvas, Hungary from 3 to 5 April 1996) would be published in the International Journal "Aquaculture Nutrition".

21. In view of the strict scientific editorial policy of the journal the convenor indicated that it would not be possible to publish all the papers which were presented during the workshop, as some papers had already been rejected by the journal due to their poor scientific content.

22. Dr. I. Csengeri also informed the EIFAC Secretariat that it was not possible to hold the proposed advanced training course on aquaculture feeds and feeding (targeted toward the needs of Eastern European countries) originally planned for late 1997 or early 1998 due to the lack of financial resources.

23. A review of aquaculture production within Europe and the Former USSR Area, including the EIFAC member states, has recently been published by the FAO Fisheries Department as FAO Fisheries Circular No. 886 (Rev.1) - Review of the State of World Aquaculture, FAO, Rome, 1997, 163p.