Establishment of a Network of Aquaculture Centers in Central-Eastern Europe

Background

Central-Eastern Europe is a diverse region, which constitutes 63% of the territory and 36% of the population of Europe. In spite of the diversity among the countries of the region, there are also great similarities. All countries have gone/ are going through a difficult transition from centrally planned- to market economy, which process has great effluence on the development of aquaculture and related R&D activities. Pond culture of cyprinids is a dominant form of freshwater aquaculture in this region, which has a great potential in sustainable aquaculture development. Central-Eastern Europe is the second region after Asia, where integrated freshwater fishpond technologies are commonly applied. Tremendous knowledge and experience has been available in various aquaculture institutions in the region, however there are serious constraints in the R&D field, which hamper the utilisation of research results and the transfer of technologies in the region with special regard to the less developed areas. These constraints include financial, infrastructural and language factors. The R&D sector in this region is still very far from being integral part of the European Research Area. This is indicated well with the low number of publications in Aquaculture Magazine (1% between 1991-1996) and the low participation in EAS conferences (about 4% between 1996-2002). There have been efforts to stimulate the better integration of Central-Eastern European institutions and scientists into European level research programs (e.g. EU 5 and 6 Framework Programs), however there is still a long way to go in order to bridge the gap and to eliminate the existing disparities between the R&D spheres in Western and Central-Eastern Europe. The idea of the establishment of a Network of Aquaculture Centers in Central-Eastern Europe has been developed during the activity of the Central-Eastern European Committee of European Aquaculture Society (EAS), which has recently been established by the Society.

Structure and function:

The Network is a voluntary association of Central-Eastern European Aquaculture Institutions, in which all members maintain their full independence. All institutions, which are involved in aquaculture research and development could be member regardless of their main mandate (education, research or development) and their size. Activities are coordinated by the Research Institute for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Irrigation (HAKI) in Hungary. All member institutions assign a liaison person (speaking English and Russian) who is in regular contact with the coordinating institution HAKI.

The main communication means among members are e-mail and fax. The language of the communication is English and Russian, which means that members can use either English or Russian. Members inform the coordinator about all events, which may count for the interest of other members. The coordinator then distributes the information among the members of the Network. The coordinator also disseminates major information from European organisations and institutions (EU, FAO, EAS, FEAP), which may be relevant for members of the Network. The directors of the Network will meet once a year in different member countries. In the initial stage of the operation of the Network there is no membership fee, however member institutions are expected to cover all the cost closely related to their participation. HAKI will cover the costs, which are emerging in relation to coordinating activities. The structure and function of the Network could further be defined and regulated upon the decision of the directors of the member institutions. When the Network is established by founding members, new members can join to the Network later upon the consensus of the directors of member institutions.

Members (as 1 December 2003)

1. Belarus
* Institute of Genetics and Cytology of National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk

2. Bulgaria
* Branch of Freshwater Fisheries of the Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Plovdiv

3. Croatia
* Department of Fisheries, Beekeeping and Special Zooloogy, University of Zagreb

4. Czech Republic
* Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology, University of South Bohemia, Vodnany

5. Hungary
* Research Institute for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Irrigation, Szarvas

6. Lithuania
* National Center for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Vilnius

7. Moldova
* Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of Republic of Moldova, Chisinau

8. Poland
* Institute of Ichthyobiology and Aquaculture, Golysz, Poland
* The Stanislaw Sakowicz Inland Fisheries Institute, Olsztyn, Poland

9. Romania
* Institute of Research and Development for Fish Culture and Fish Processing, Galati

10. Russian Federation
* Russian Federal Centre for Fish Genetics and Selection, Ropsha;
* State Research Institute on Lake and River Fisheries, Sankt Peterburg, Russia
* All-Russian Research and Development Institute for Freshwater Aquaculture, Ribnoje

11. Ukraine
* Fishery Research and Design Technological center Tekrybvod, Kiyv, Ukraine.