Presentation by Ablatdyin Musaev at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

Presentation by Thomas Bosteels and Tim Hawkes at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

Presentation by Liudmila Litvinienko and Marina Korentovich at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

Presentation by Galina Tsareva at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

Presentation by Chingis Sossorbarmayev at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels. Presented by Kamila Adyrbekova.

Presentation by Nguyen Van Hoa and Patrick Sorgeloos at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

Presentation by Graham Mair at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

Presentation by Gonzalo Gajardo at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

Presentation by Sui Liying and Xuekai Han at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

Presentation by Elena Boyko at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

Presentation by Kamila Adyrbekova at the Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture, held 2-6 September 2024 in Rome / Brussels.

The first ever IAAC conference was a free half day even held in Ostend, Belgium on 9 September, as a prelude to Larvi 2024, which ran from 9-12 September. The conference featured twelve presentations introducing the IAAC and providing an overview of many of the issues surrounding Artemia, including management of salt lakes habitats that still provide the bulk of global Artemia supplies, Artemia biodiversity, hatching optimisation, and aquaculture of Artemia biomass in tanks and ponds. Video recordings of most will be posted shortly (the programme below will be updated with links).

The first IAAC Members’ Meeting was held in the afternoon following the IAAC Conference. The proceedings involved two panel discussions, by the Academic Sector and Private Sector respectively. The panels included remote members participating via Zoom.

The Training Programme on Safeguarding Salt Lake Brine Shrimp (Artemia) Resources for Aquaculture was held in Rome from 2-6 September. The course was attended by 37 participants from 15 countries. The programme was jointly organised by FAO, NACA / IAAC, and by RAOS and ANSO, which provided the financial support that made the activity possible. The programme featured a series of expert presentations on three themes: Salt lakes, management tools for Artemia cyst and biomass harvesting, and Artemia biodiversity. The full programme is appended below, and video recordings of most presentations will shortly be made available on NACA’s YouTube channel.

The programme for the first conference of the International Artemia Aquaculture Consortium is available for download. The conference will be held in hybrid mode, on the same premises as the larvi conference. The following IAAC members will give presentations: Yeong Yik Sung (Malaysia), Patric Sorgeloos (Belgium), Simon Wilkinson (Thailand), Sui Liying (China), Stephanie De Vos (Belgium), Brad Marden (USA), Phil Brown (USA), Yathish Ramena (USA) and David Johanson (Belgium), Robins McIntosh, Meezanur Rahman (Bangladesh) and Bunchonk Nissapawanich (Thailand).

Participation in the IAAC conference is free. The morning session is open to larvi participants. The afternoon session will be for IAAC members only.

Brine shrimp are crucial for the global aquaculture industry, which supplies nearly half of the world's seafood. In Uzbekistan’s Aral Sea region, ongoing dessication may increase salinity levels beyond even the capacity of the wild brine shrimp fishery to survive. Scientists are working with brine shrimp fishers to experiment with the farming of brine shrimp in small ponds. Despite the Aral Sea's continuing decline, this initiative may help sustain aquaculture by providing a new source of brine shrimp cysts, vital for feeding farm-raised fish and prawns. Learn more about this development in an article by Levi Bridges at theworld.org.