Marine Aquaculture Professionals’ Get-Together : Offshore Pen Aquaculture. Encouraging and Supporting Aqua Farming Methods Diversity.

Patrick White is a specialist in fish hatchery and fish production, responsible planning and sustainable management of aquaculture, Climate Change impacts on aquaculture and the impact of aquaculture on the environment. He has over 42 years of experience in the aquaculture sector and has worked in Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and most often in Asia and the Pacific Region in countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. He has worked in aquaculture research, in the commercial fish farming sector as well as an aquaculture consultant.
Patrick also has undertaken many projects for the FAO and World Bank, led EU research projects, undertaken development projects funded by NORAD and DANIDA. He was a major contributor to the development of the FAO Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture Development and FAO/WB Zoning Siting and Area Management strategies.
He has worked with USSEC on responsible planning and management of shared water bodies and the promotion of large scale offshore cage culture. He has helped arrange cage culture industry tours for groups of South East Asian stakeholders in Turkey, Norway, Malta and Greece.

Professor Carmelo Agius was born in 1951. He is recognised for having started the fish farming industry in Malta and as an international expert in this field.

In 1974, he graduated B.Sc in biology and chemistry and two years later in M.Sc in biology with specialization in marine biology and aquaculture, later on obtaining his Ph.D. degree from the Stirling University of Scotland through a scholarship.

After working as a senior-lecturer at the University of Kingston-Upon-Thames of London and reader in 1986, he returned back to Malta in 1989 where he was appointed professor and head of department of biology at the University of Malta and also consultant to the ministry of agriculture and fisheries on fishing and aquaculture. It was then that he established Fort St Lucian at Marsaxlokk as the National Centre of Aquaculture which gave rise to a flourishing fish industry with great potentialities. Since 1980, Agius has been giving consulting services to the United Nations, the European Council, the International Agency of Atomic Energy, and various foreign governments and universities. He also occupies numerous positions including vice-president of the executive committee of the Mediterranean Council of Fishing and member of the Committee of Mediterranean Aquaculture.

Carmelo Agius has published a great number of articles in international journals and books in England, the USA, Italy, Holland, and other countries, many of his works being translated into other languages.

Dr. JOEBERT D. TOLEDO has more than 40 years of experience in aquaculture R&D and aquaculture industry. He finished his BS in Fisheries at the College of Fisheries of the University of the Philippines and obtained his Masters and Doctoral degrees at Hiroshima University.

As a Scientist, he prepared and implemented both broad and specific research study proposals in line with the regional priorities of Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD). The results of these studies were presented in numerous local or international scientific meetings and mostly published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, books, and extension manuals. He rose from the ranks Research Assistant to become the Chief of SEAFDEC/AQD for 3 consecutive terms from 2006 to 2012. He has also been involved in collaborative work with different international research institutions such as ICLARM (now WorldFish Centre) on bangus fry stock assessment, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on grouper seed production, and Australian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) as a Project Team Leader on improved hatchery and grow out techniques for grouper in the Asia and Pacific region. He was a resource speaker in various local and international training courses, seminars, and conferences. He has served as aquaculture expert in both the private and public sectors of the fisheries industry in the Philippines as well in ASEAN member countries. He served as consultant to various WB, ADB, and IFAD funded projects. Dr. Toledo was a recipient of the prestigious Professional Regulation Commission Outstanding Professional of the Year Award for Fisheries Technologist in 2009. He is currently a member of the Professional Regulatory Board for Fisheries Professionals of the Phlippine Professional Regulation Commission aside from serving as consultant to various government and private projects.

Mohamed Razali has 22 years’ diverse experience in the aquaculture and fisheries industry - starting with a recirculating system (RAS) hatchery in Old Noarlunga, Adelaide in 2000, a live fish retailing venture in Carrefour hypermarkets in 2008, a Tilapia farm at Lake Kenyir, Terengganu in 2008, a Deep Sea Fishing tuna fleet in 2013, and most recently focused on Landbased and Offshore Mariculture in the Middle East, Tilapia Farms in Uganda and Cote d’Ivoire, and Seafood Trading between Dubai and South East Asia.

Razali travels widely and is heavily engaged in the local and regional aquaculture and fisheries industry. He is currently the Protem Secretary of the Malaysian Aquaculture Industry Federation (since 2018), and was the Deputy President of the Marine Fish Farmers Association Malaysia (www.mffam.org) (2016-2021), is a member of the Malaysian Fisheries Society (www.mfs.org.my) (since 2018), and is a member of the World Aquaculture Society (www.was.org) (since 2015).

Razali is a firm believer in sustainable aquaculture and fisheries and is an active participant of regional programs organized by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s).
Mohamed Razali is currently an Advisor to the UCSI University (https://www.ucsiuniversity.edu.my/)’s Centre of Research for Advanced Aquaculture based in

Kuala Lumpur. UCSI is the No. 1 private university in Malaysia, since February 2018.
Razali is also an Industry Advisor to the Universiti Putra Malaysia (https://cirnet.upm.edu.my/industry_upm/ceo_ptj/list_of_ceo_ptj_upm_term_2021_2023-65561) ’s Centre of Industry Relations and Networks (CiRNeT) CEO@PTJ program, for the 2021-2023 term.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Dzung is Founder and President of the Vietnam Seaculture Association (VSA).
He is also one of founders the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) in 1998, had been VASEP’s General Secretary and Vice President in period 1998 - 2015. From 1984 to 2005, Dr Dzung was the leader of the Department for Science and Technology, Ministry of Fisheries (MOFI). In the years 1971-1984, Dr Dzung was lecturer at the National Fisheries University of Vietnam.
Dr Dzung has made fundamental contribution to improve quality, marketing and export of Vietnam seafood, leading the long-term process of development and implementation of quality, safety and hygiene standards in seafood sector, setting-up and strengthening capacity of the NAFIQAD - Vietnamese competent authority in the fishery and agriculture sector.
In the region, Dr Dzung actively contributed to establishment and activities of the ASEAN Seafood Federation (ASF) and Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative (ASIC). Dr Dzung also is a well-known international expert in the fields of seafood farming, processing, exporting, strategy development and planning.
Mr. Dzung has graduated the National Fisheries University in 1971 and has Ph.D degree in Poland in 1980. He became an Associate Professor in 1992. Having hundreds technical publications and articles, he made also contribution to the Vietnamese Agricultural Encyclopedia.
In October 2014, Dr Nguyen Huu Dzung has been awarded Lifetime Achievement by Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA)

Lukas is the Technical Director for the USSEC Southeast Asian Aquaculture Program and has a global role to advise the USSEC Global Aquaculture Director on aquaculture technical matters. He was involved in the expansion of the both the USSEC Aquaculture Program from China to a global program in 2002 and in the expansion of the In-Pond Raceway System technology from China to a global program starting in 2015. He is based in Thailand, but travels often in the Southeast Asian region and regularly to other global regions for USSEC. He is the Managing Director of Seafood Consulting Associates and has worked professionally in the aquaculture industry since 1995. He has worked closely with the key IPRS experts to formalize a standardized approach to the IPRS system for better adoption and profitability. He holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and Auburn University in the USA.

YIANNIS CHRISTODOULOU. Yiannis, an accomplished agribusiness executive, is currently the Managing Director of Agentis Innovations®, Progressus®, and Athene Consulting, all companies he founded since 2011. Yiannis core strengths and specialization is established in the field of leadership, people and business development as well as in the application of digital technology in agriculture.

Yiannis has held a number of technical and senior management positions in the livestock and aquaculture farming and feed milling industry in Asia over the last 25 years. Before starting his own agribusiness companies, Yiannis worked with reputable international animal nutrition companies in roles such as poultry specialist, sales professional, general manager and director of Asia Pacific region.

Yiannis graduated from Scottish Agricultural College in Poultry Production and Management, from Wye Collage-University of London with a BSc in Animal Agriculture and in 2014 obtained his Post Graduate Diploma in Leading Innovation and Changes in Organization from York St. John University in UK.

Today, Yiannis is in a unique position whereby through his own organizations, he can directly assist agribusinesses to act on two of their success fundamentals; their people development and the adoption of digital technology and automation systems.

Hsiang Pin Lan is the Asia Marine Aquaculture Specialist based Taiwan. He has a BS in Electrical Engineering (with a minor in Aquaculture) from Ping Tung Technology Institute and MS in Fisheries from Auburn University. He is an AquaMed Certified (2010) by Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine in Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. He joined the ASA-IM/USSEC aquaculture program in China in the year 2000. His main responsibilities are in marine cage culture and disease management research, soybean product application in marine fish feeds and field trials of the ASA-IM/USSEC offshore cage aquaculture technology (OCAT) project in Asia, including countries in Southeast Asia, including Philippines. He is a member of the Fish Breeding Association, Taiwan and is certified by that organization as a Hatchery QC Inspection Professional. His main interests are in learning more about the use of soy product in marine fish feed (with proper weaning and feeding methods) and alternative offshore aquaculture device development and application.