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UAPB NETS THE NATIONAL AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION

By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Sunday, July 20, 2008 10:45 PM CDT

The National Aquaculture Association has chosen the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to be its new home and has planned to relocate its office beginning today from West Virginia to benefit from expertise and resources offered by the school’s Aquaculture/Fisheries Center of Excellence.

Otis Johnson places catfish from the spawning pond into a tank for transportation at UAPB’s Aquaculture Center on Friday afternoon. Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald

“When we first began considering a move to Pine Bluff, Chancellor Lawrence Davis was so welcoming and supportive of us that it really made the decision easy,” said NAA Executive Director Betsy Hart.

Hart said NAA was initially attracted to UAPB due to the outstanding worldwide reputation of its aquaculture and fisheries center. Access to the expertise of Dr. Carole Engle, director of UAPB’s aquaculture and fisheries center, and Dr. Andy Goodwin, an experienced researcher at the center, were also key factors in the decision to move to Pine Bluff, Hart said.

The chancellor said a benefit of the association coming to Pine Bluff is the people who will visit the city to work with the office and attend conferences.

“I’m happy to learn that they will be coming. How many national offices of any organization do we have in our city? I think we have really made a mark for ourselves here and think we are going to see great benefits from it,” said Davis.

NAA is a 19-year-old non-profit trade association that works with the various segments of the aquaculture industry to provide a unified voice for its members. The association works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Commerce, the Food and Drug Administration as well as regulators in Washington, D.C., in promotion of the interests of the aquaculture industry.

The association plans to offer internships to students and provide opportunities for students to help with national conferences, Hart said. She stated there are also plans to create a mentoring program that would connect students to those with field experience.

The aquaculture/fisheries center at UAPB provides services to catfish farmers and other fish growers including diagnosing fish diseases and working to discover ways of increasing production efficiency.

The center is working with feed mills and industries to produce a new low cost diet for catfish and has also undertaken research of a virus affecting fish in the Great Lakes, Goodwin said. He stated the center frequently provides scientific data to the USDA.

“The aquaculture industry is our largest stakeholder, and they (NAA) are the largest representation of aquaculture in the country, so it will be advantageous to have them nearby to interact with them,” Goodwin said.

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