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A training course on business management principles for small-scale farmers will be held from 1-10 August in Nha Trang University in Vietnam (NTU). The course is organised by NACA, NTU, Holar University of Iceland and is sponsored by the United Nations University Fisheries Training Programme.

The course aims to assist small-scale farmers to acquire additional business skills that will help them improve their efficiency and profitability and competitivness in an increasingly globalised market. The course will initially be offered to 15 participants drawn from six countries, ie. Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The course will be refined based on feedback and experience for subsequent offerings and wider use throughout the region.

For more information about the course and its content, please download the promotional brochure.

The annual report for the Aquaclimate project drafted by Dr Abery, Aquaclimate coordinator and Prof. De Silva, Director General NACA summarising project achievements of the project in its first year is now available for download from the NACA website. The Annual report covers Aquaclimate project activities from March 2009 to March 2010 and was confirmed by the project project partners at the annual project meeting. The annual meeting was held at Can Tho University (a national project partner of the project) in Can Tho City, Vietnam (the heartland of Tra catfish farming – a key case study of the project).

Participants at the meeting discussed the progress of work done in the past year and agreed on a work plan for the next 12 months.
The progress and work plan are described in the annual report (which can be downloaded from the NACA website) and outputs are included as annexes to the report.

Key outputs from the first year of the project include:

• Report of the inaugural inception workshop of the project.
• Aquaclimate generic case study methodology.
• A review of climate change model predictions and scenario selection.
• Perception of climate change impacts and adaptation of catfish farming in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Farmer focus group discussion and stakeholder workshop.
• Aquaclimate technical brief: Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change on catfish farming: Stakeholder analysis in Can Tho Province, Vietnam.
• Aquaclimate technical brief: Reducing the gap between science and policy development: Creating scenarios together with catfish farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
• Shrimp farming in Vietnam focus group discussion and stakeholder workshop report.
• Milkfish farming in the Philippines focus group discussion and stakeholder workshop report.
• Shrimp farming in India focus group discussion and stakeholder workshop report.
• Impact of extreme climatic events on brackishwater aquaculture in India.
• Multi-agency Policy Brief on fisheries and aquaculture for COP15.
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) technical reports on the impacts of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture.

• Review the present status and trends in aquaculture development
• Evaluate the progress made in the implementation of the 2000 Bangkok Declaration and Strategy
• Address emerging issues in aquaculture development
• Assess opportunities and challenges for future aquaculture development
• Build consensus on advancing aquaculture as a global, sustainable and competitive food production sector