Keynote Speakers

Rohana Subasinghe is a specialist in aquaculture development and aquatic animal health management. He retired from FAO in October 2015, while serving as the Chief of the Aquaculture Brach. Since his graduation in 1980 from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, he has worked in all parts of the world, with most experience in Asia. He joint FAO in 1994 and took responsibility in implementing many projects on aquaculture and aquatic animal health at national, regional and international levels worldwide until his retirement. Among others, at FAO, he was also responsible for analyses of trends in aquaculture development globally.

A former teacher of the University of Colombo and the Universiti Putra Malaysia, Rohana earned his PhD from Stirling University. Rohana is a strong advocate of sustainable aquaculture and its significant contribution to poverty alleviation and food and nutrition security. His passion is to empower people engaged in small-scale aquaculture value chains. He supports responsible certification of aquaculture and is also responsible for developing the globally approved FAO technical guidelines on aquaculture certification. He served as the Technical Secretary to the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries of the FAO, the only global inter-governmental forum on aquaculture. His spearheaded the development of a global partnership for aquaculture development in FAO, particularly addressing the need for a concerted effort to ensure future aquaculture development will become increasingly socially acceptable, environmentally sustainable, and responsibly managed. Rohana is still active in the field of fisheries and aquaculture, currently extending his years of experience and expertise, as a consultant, to many agencies and institutions worldwide.

Dr. Albert G.J. Tacon is Technical Director of Aquatic Farms Ltd in Hawaii, and works as an international aquaculture consultant, specializing in aquatic feeds and nutrition. After obtaining his PhD in fish nutrition at University College (University of Wales, UK – 1978) he spent eight years within the UK as a university lecturer and researcher in applied fish nutrition at the University of Aston in Birmingham and at the Institute of Aquaculture in Stirling.

He has 40 years of professional experience in aquaculture research and development, with a specialty focus on aquatic feeds and nutrition, and increasing the contribution of aquaculture to global food security and poverty alleviation, including 14 years of in-house experience with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) working within National, Regional, and Inter-regional Aquaculture Development Projects, and within the Regular Program of FAO in Rome, Italy;

44 in-country work experiences with FAO & other agencies in aquaculture and aquaculture nutrition related activities, including: Africa – Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Tunisia; Americas – Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, USA, Venezuela; Asia/Oceania – American Samoa, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Nepal, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Europe – Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK, Yugoslavia; and

228 aquaculture related publications and one patent on aquaculture technology, including scientific research publications, review publications, FAO technical papers and field documents, books, book chapters and magazine articles, with a focus on aquatic feeds and feeding, aquaculture development trends, the nutritional value of aquatic food products, and aquaculture aspects related to food security and poverty alleviation.

How can food systems help people to live healthier, happier, and more productive lives? Dr. Kendra Byrd is a nutrition scientist at WorldFish and she is working to address this question, as part of a multi-disciplinary global team researching fisheries and aquaculture. Dr. Byrd obtained her PhD in Nutrition from the University of California, Davis, and has spent the past 10 years researching nutrition interventions and their impacts on diets of people living in low and middle-income countries, with a focus on women of reproductive age and young children. Her work with WorldFish has expanded to look at how to improve nutrition and health outcomes for vulnerable populations using nutrition-sensitive fisheries and aquaculture approaches.

Dr. Byrd has experience conducting research in several low and middle-income countries, such as Uganda, Kenya, and Bangladesh. Her past research has been instrumental in designing policies to reduce childhood stunting, and in designing interventions for improving child development. Her current projects are in Nigeria, Zambia, and Timor-Leste, where she is collaborating with local teams to understand the role of fish in diets, and how fish can play a role in reducing the burdens of malnutrition. In addition, she is working with the FAO on a global project elucidating the contribution of small-scale fisheries (inland and marine) to diets and livelihoods.

Through a myriad of projects, Dr Byrd is working to bridge the knowledge gap between nutrition and fisheries scientists, and conducting research that will result in future food systems that are healthier,  more sustainable, and provide adequate, safe, and high quality food to all.

Professor Upali S. Amarasinghe’s research career commenced in 1980 when he started research on limnology of major perennial reservoirs of Sri Lanka. His research was aimed at developing effective management strategies for the fisheries in reservoirs of Sri Lanka. So far, he has published over 150 research papers, edited 09 monographs and presented over 75 scientific communications in international and national conferences. He serves as a member of the editorial boards of Asian Fisheries Science and Sri Lanka Journal of Aquatic Sciences. He also served as a member of editorial board of the Journal of National Science Foundation.

In July 2010, he was awarded Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) by Bangor University, U.K. for his research on the management of tropical small-scale fisheries. In November 2019, he was awarded an honorary D.Sc. by the University of Ruhuna in consideration of his knowledge and distinguished contribution rendered to the field of fisheries biology.

He was a member of the working party of experts on inland fisheries in the Indo-Pacific Fisheries Commission of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He also served as an international consultant to the IDRC, Canada, FAO and UNIDO. Professor Amarasinghe also served as a consultant to the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asian-Pacific (NACA) in Bangkok and to the ICEIDA, Iceland.

His research findings have a high positive impact on inland fisheries of Sri Lanka and they were adopted by the government for defining management strategies. Several inland fisheries regulations in Sri Lanka have been formulated and implemented, based on his research findings.

So far, he has trained 41 postgraduates, including 11 Ph.D. degrees, 16 M.Phil. degrees and 14 M.Sc. degrees. Presently 05 students are reding for postgraduate degrees in the Universities of Kelaniya, Wayamba and Ruhuna under his supervision.

He was the recipient of several national and international awards for his research. He was awarded the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) prize for the best young scientist in biology in 1993 for his research on inland fisheries. In 2008, Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors (CVCD) excellence award for the most outstanding scientist in biological sciences was awarded to him. SLAAS awarded him the GRC Award in 2009 for the most outstanding scientist in biological sciences. He received Presidential awards for the authorship of scientific papers figuring in Science Citation Index. He was a visiting academic at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London in 2000. He was also an academic visitor in the Netherlands Institute of Ecology in 2007. He is a Chartered Biologist of the Institute of Biology of Sri Lanka and a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka.

According to Google Scholar Citations, Professor Amarasinghe h-index is 25 and upto now, there are 2091 citations of his research. The i10-index of Professor Amarasinghe is 58, the highest among Sri Lankan fisheries scientists.

Visit links : Google Scholar, ResearchGate