Kochi: Over 2,000 delegates including many from abroad are expected for the Asia-Pacific Aquaculture 2011 (ASPA 2011) conference and Exposition to be held here from January 17 to 21, next year. The event will be jointly hosted by College of Fisheries, Kerala Agricultural University and the Kerala State Fisheries Department. Together with ASPA 2011, an exclusive conference on freshwater prawns, ’Giant Prawn 2011’ (GP 2011) would also be held, sources said here.

The annual conferences and trade fairs organised by World Aquaculture Society (WAS), the largest aquaculture organisation in the world, presents an ideal opportunity for all stakeholders in fisheries and allied industries, including researchers, academics, students and farmers to showcase their achievements and explore newer vistas of research, it said.

Aquaculture is presently the fastest growing food production sector in the world, it said. In value terms, the growth of trade in fish and fishery products in the world is greater than the increase in net exports of other staple agricultural commodites like rice, tea, coffee, banana etc. As per FAO records, the global production of fish was 145 million tonnes, of which aquaculture contributed nearly 50 percent. Almost 90 per cent of the aquaculture production came from the Asia-Pacific region, dominated by fish produced from freshwater.