African aqua conference finally set to take place
The first Aquaculture Africa Conference and Exposition 2021 (AFRAQ21) will finally take place in Alexandria, Egypt in 10 days’ time, after twice being postponed due to Covid-19.
More than 700 participants have registered for both conference and exhibition visits, with over 70% being Africans, ranging from state officials, researchers and academics to consultants, private sector operators, farmers, exhibitors, development partners and other actors interested or active in African aquaculture.
The exhibition space is now fully booked with more than 50 international exhibitors expected to pitch their stands in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina for the event, which runs from March 25-28.
The event is organised by the World Aquaculture Society - African Chapter (WAS-AC) and in addition to the usual WAS-style conference oral and poster presentation sessions, several organisations from Africa and beyond have booked special technical sessions, seminars, and meetings - and several are sponsoring groups of people to attend AFRAQ21. The conference theme is “Sustainable Aquaculture – Feeding Africa”.
Technical sessions
“I believe the array of technical sessions resonates well with the conference theme,” said Dr Sherif Sadek, the WAS-AC president and conference co-chair, and founder and executive manager of the Egyptian Mariculture Company (Egymarine), a company based at Port-Said that produces shrimp in intensive systems.
“I can see sessions on aquatic animal health, feeds and nutrition and environmental management in sync with the conference theme and being among some of the hot topics on aquaculture development in Africa today.
“Other sessions such as the finance/investment session, education/training and socioeconomics are equally important to the journey on sustainable aquaculture in Africa. We are looking forward to the presentations, and to learn lessons from each other out of these sessions.”
Future events
The conference is also expected to provide lessons on how the WAS-AC can effectively deliver future annual Africa events, with the second Aquaculture Africa Conference planned for the later part of 2023 in Zambia, and the third in Ghana in 2024.
Covid protocols are in place for next week’s inaugural event. Only visitors who are vaccinated against Covid will be allowed to enter the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and rapid antigen Covid tests will be conducted on the first day for all those entering the Convention Centre.
Learn more about AFRAQ21 here.
