Keynote Speakers

Chief Guest and Keynote Speaker

Albert G.J. Tacon Ph.D
Technical Director – Aquatic Farms Ltd
USA

” Aquaculture – A Fish for All Seasons: Sustaining the Growth of Aquaculture Production and Role in Global Food Supply “ 

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. In 1984 he joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and worked for fourteen years as a aquaculture feed and nutrition expert. In 1999 he moved to Hawaii and served as Director and Program Manager of the Aquatic Feeds and Nutrition Program at the Oceanic Institute. Since then Albert was has been working with Aquatic Farms Ltd (Hawaii) as an independent consultant in aquaculture and aquaculture nutrition and feed related activities. His expertise has taken him to working in over 44 countries, and has over 228 scientific publications and one patent. He currently serves as Scientific Advisor on Aquatic Resources to the International Foundation for Science, Stockholm, Sweden (since 1998), is Editor in Chief of Reviews in Aquaculture, serves on the editorial board of Aquaculture Nutrition and Aquaculture Research, and is on the board of directors of the charity Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF).

Guest Speaker

Rohana Subasinghe (PhD)

Honorary Life Member of the World Aquaculture Society
President Elect of the World Aquaculture Society – Asia Pacific Chapter (WAS-APC).
Retired Chief of FAO Aquaculture Service
Managing Director, Future Fish
Sri Lanka

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.

Keynote Speaker

Prof. Dr. Indrani Karunasagar
Director (R&D), Nitte University
Director, UNESCO MIRCEN for Medical & Marine Biotechnology, India

Born in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh on June 25, 1952, Dr. Indrani, had her early schooling in Jabalpur and Chennai. She had her University education in Karnataka, obtaining B.Sc.Ed from Regional College of Education , Mysore, M.Sc. in Medical Microbiology from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and PhD in Medical Microbiology, KMC, Mangalore University

She started her academic career as Senior Resident, Microbiology at JIPMER Pondicherry for three years and then moved as Assistant Professor and rose to Associate Professor’s post in the University of Agricultural Sciences, College of Fisheries, Mangalore. She became full Professor and Head of Department of Fisheries Microbiology in 2000 and was also the Associate Director of Research of the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal & Fisheries Sciences University. Her post doc experience includes research at the University of Stirling, UK on British Council Fellowship, UNESCO Biotechnology Fellowship at College park, University of Maryland, USA and DBT Senior Overseas Associate at Center for Marine Biotechnology, Baltimore, USA. Her outstanding work in the area of Marine Biotechnology was recognised by UNESCO and they designated her Director of UNESCO MICROBIAL RESOURCES CENTER a position she holds to this day. Presently, she is the Director of Research and Development, Nitte (Deemed to be University) and also the Director, Nitte Centre for Science Education and Research.

Prof. Indrani Karunasagar is an institution builder and academic leader in the field of interdisciplinary sciences and has developed and transferred several technologies that are patented and transferred to the aquaculture industry. She has been and continues to be the Principal Investigator of several national as well as international collaborative projects and has contributed extensively to human resource development & capacity building among young scientists, researchers and teachers from all over the world.