On 22-25 September 2010, the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 took place in Phuket, Thailand, jointly organized by FAO, the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) and the Royal Thai Department of Fisheries. It brought together a wide-ranging group of experts and important stakeholders to review aquaculture progress and the further potential of this sector, as a basis for improving the positioning of the sector and its mandate within the global community. The conference proceedings are now available on the web, entitled "Farming the waters for people and food”, edited by R.P. Subasinghe et al. Most of the 896-page proceedings is dedicated to a series of 19 expert panel reviews, three of which consider in some detail the use of biotechnologies in aquaculture, namely expert panel review 1.2 on "Novel and emerging technologies: Can they contribute to improving aquaculture sustainability?" (by C.L. Browdy et al); 3.1 on "Promoting responsible use and conservation of aquatic biodiversity for sustainable aquaculture development" (J.A.H. Benzie et al); and 3.3 on "Improving biosecurity: A necessity for aquaculture sustainability" (M. Hine et al). See http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2734e/i2734e00.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.