Following discussions between the leaders of the Association of International Seafood Professionals (AISP), the Iranian Union of Fisheries Scientific Societies (IUFS) and the Society for Sustainable Aquatic Research (SSAR), a unique agreement has been finalized to promote aquaculture internationally.
All parties have agreed to work together to ensure sustainable development of the aquaculture and fisheries sectors by collaborating, providing, and maintaining shared platforms for enhancing and promoting the sectors globally. The aim is to work in the mutual interests of all in collaborative research, development, education, training, and dissemination of knowledge on a long-term non–commercial basis. They recognize the critical role that academia and development partners play in the promotion of learning, technology transfer, and sharing of institutional compliance and expertise. These are the areas of mutual interest through collaboration.
Leading the IUFS, Associate Professor Shahram Dadgar, said “we are a cooperation between 10 Iranian scientific societies in the field of aquaculture and fisheries using capacities, resources, and facilities in scientific, research, consulting, and educational fields. I hope this MoU will help us reach sustainable development goals in the global aquaculture and fishery industry, improving the knowledge of farmers and experts.”
Professor Erkan Can, president of SSAR, based in Izmir, Türkiye said, “our organization emphasizes the importance of water resources, a treasured and strategic item for future generations. We recognize that science progresses only by sharing, and socio-cultural interaction can only move forward by global cooperation. Therefore, we aim to contribute to the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry through joint activities, with the belief that we can make a major difference.”
Representing AISP, founder, Hon. Professor Roy Palmer said, “my organization recognizes the importance of working globally and collaboratively. AISP is a community of professionals from all sectors of the global seafood industry, enabling knowledge sharing. We hope to be announcing specific activities that have been agreed under the MoU at Aqua Farm 2024 at Sea World Resort, Gold Coast, Queensland.”
The group will communicate regularly and review activities annually with their boards to ensure that they are considering the mutual benefits of closer institutional network linkages and interactions and faculty to enhance their problem-solving capacity and teach new methodologies and technologies for gl.obal aquaculture/fisheries development.
A joint task force (JTF) will investigate how to maximize the MoU to benefit all parties and, initially, will form sub-committees. One of the early actions for the JTF will be the consideration of an online digital joint platform for Training/Education as a global learning platform for aquaculture/fisheries and the supply chains. An Event Sub-Comm will promote each other’s events, endeavoring to offer each other members discounts for attendance and long-term collaboration in running future joint events
