1. The workshop was convened in follow up to the recommendation of the Ninth Session of the Commission for Inland Fisheries of Latin America (COPESCAL), held in El Salvador in January 2003, that FAO undertake a feasibility study on the establishment of a network similar to the FAO-sponsored Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA). During review of the work of NACA at the twenty-fifth session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI), held in Rome, Italy, in February 2003, several member countries also expressed an interest in having a similar mechanism established for the Americas and the Pacific islands, and requested that FAO carry out a study on the matter.
2. The concept of a network of aquaculture centres or a cooperation network for the development of aquaculture in Latin America and the Caribbean has interested the countries of the region for a long time. There have been many attempts to establish a sustainable regional cooperation mechanism for the development of aquaculture in the region, including the prominent efforts of the Regional Programme for the Development of Aquaculture in Latin America and the Caribbean (AQUILA) between 1986 and 1994, the sessions of COPESCAL over more than a decade during which this subject was discussed, and assorted FAO-sponsored meetings and workshops held in the region since 1990. However, the lack of country commitment and difficulties in identifying donors interested in supporting regional cooperation in aquaculture have impeded the establishment of a sustainable network or regional mechanism.
3. As mandated by the above fisheries bodies, FAO conducted a study to determine alternatives for the creation of a regional cooperation network to support the development of aquaculture in Latin America and the Caribbean. The study focused primarily on assessing the technical and financial feasibility of establishing a network, adopting a flexible geographical approach that would allow interested countries from outside the region to participate in its establishment and operation. The results of the study served as input for this workshop, which set out to look at them in detail and to receive guidance from participants on the perceived interest of their countries in establishing a regional cooperation mechanism, the type of mechanism needed, its geographical scope and key elements, such as structure, operating modalities, thematic fields, forms of financing, coordination, collaboration and merger with other initiatives and immediate actions to be undertaken.
