Masterclass - Aquaculture Nutrition Master Class

Small scale aqaculture in some developing countries is providing an important source of protein to supplement otherwise meager diets. It is therefore important to have an understanding of fish nutrition and how to produce cost-effective aquafeeds by utilising locally available agricultural products. This live-in two week intensive course for invited participants from south-east Asia and Pacific Island countries will offer comprehensive training in the following aspects of grow-out aquaculture nutrition: Principles of Aquaculture Nutrition; Introduction to Diet Formulation; Pelleting and Estrusion of Commercial Feeds; Natural Feeds and Integrated Aquaculture: Analytical Techniques; Potential Feed Ingredients; Farm Made and Laboratory Feeds; Feed Management; Feeding Strategies; Research Methods. Topics will be presented as lectures, practical laboratory tutorials, discussion and revision sessions with field trips to farms and feed mills. Course material will include lecture notes, text books and bibliographic literature.

The ATSE Crawford Fund Aquaculture Nutrition Master Class was held at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, from 7-19 August 2006. The two week live-in intensive course for 27 invited participants from 10 south-east Asia and Pacific Island countries offered comprehensive training in all aspects of grow-out aquaculture nutrition. Fourteen guest lecturers (seven from Australia and seven from other countries), delivered lectures and conducted practical laboratory tutorials followed by discussion and revision sessions and enhanced by field trips to farms and feed mills. All participants had their travel, accommodation and other expenses paid for by the Master Class and in addition students were provided with extensive reading material, T-shirts and satchels. Student feedback from the course evaluation survey was very complimentary and most found the standard of content and delivery to be outstanding.

This intensive two-week course will be condensed and repackaged as short 3-day workshops providing a summary of topics covered at the longer Master Class or cover a selection of key topics of particular interest to target audiences. For example, the first of these mini-workshops will be delivered in Papua New Guinea in November this year by two students and two lecturers from the inaugural Master Class and will focus on small-scale feed manufacture.

The success of the Aquaculture Nutrition Master Class can be attributed to a number of factors including the close working relationship and good humoured camaraderie of lecturers that resulted in the compilation of a well-rounded and comprehensive program; the mutual respect and admiration that developed between lecturers and students from vastly different backgrounds resulting in friendships being forged; the cooperative and collegiate attitude of organizations like NACA, AIT and ACIAR working together to ensure the Master Class achieved its primary aim:

In acknowledging that small scale aquaculture in some developing countries is an important source of protein to supplement otherwise meager diets, the Master Class aims to equip students with the basic understanding and importance of fish nutrition and how to produce cost-effective aquafeeds by utilizing locally available agricultural ingredients.