Capacity building is a cross cutting theme which is one of the major elements for  sustainable development of aquaculture. FIMA undertakes various capacity building activities using various mechanisms. These include provision of training courses within Technical Cooperation Projects (TCPs), preparation of training materials (e.g. simple methods in aquaculture series, disease diagnostic guides, surveillance methods, extension manuals, technical manuals, etc.), awareness raising through training/workshops, financial and technical support to existing training programmes carried out by partner institutions (e.g. Integrated Fish Farming course in Wuxi, China), as well as custom training courses on specific areas of aquaculture.

Technical assistance to member countries and Regional Fisheries Bodies

Through TCPs (Technical Cooperation Programme) and unilateral or multi-lateral funded field projects, the Department provides technical information, advice and training to member countries and regional fisheries bodies in the field of aquaculture. There are 60-70 requests or projects implemented annually. The output from this activity will be used by fish farmers, resource managers and policy makers to improve production, conservation and policy making on aquaculture. The immediate results are expected to improve food supply and rural livelihoods through increasing aquaculture production, better management practices and improved environmental sustainability.

Publications

FAO. 2006. FAO Training Series: Simple methods for aquaculture CD-Rom.

Bondad-Reantaso, M.G., McGladdery, S.E., East, I. & Subasinghe, R.P. (eds). 2001. Asia Diagnostic Guide to Aquatic Animal Diseases. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 402, Supplement 2. Rome. FAO, 236p.