Skretting sponsorship /scholarships for the Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network
NACA has announced the extension of the sponsorship of the Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network by Skretting, Nutreco's global aquafeed division. This inaugural commercial sponsorship will continue to support the further expansion of the communications and training programs of the network.
Professor Sena S De Silva, Director General of NACA, said "this new agreement strengthens our partnership with Skretting and will enable further development of this important and increasingly active marine fish aquaculture network. The marine fish farming sector is one of the most dynamic in Asia and Skretting's support will be crucial in disseminating research, including some of the ongoing work funded by ACIAR, and building industry capacity to adopt new techniques and farming practices".
"Even though Skretting is a commercial fish feed company, we feel that we have similar objectives to NACA", said Rik van Westendorp, Managing Director of Skretting's Asian operations. We want to contribute to modern, profitable and sustainable aquaculture practices in the region. Teaming up with NACA makes sense. Together we can reach more farmers and provide local farm management training and know-how transfer".
The cooperation will continue to support development of the Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network web site and the regular marine finfish newsletters and e-magazines, and will also provide annual sponsorship of three people from developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region to attend the network’s popular Grouper Hatchery Training Course. Farmer training programs and feeding trials are also planned under the new cooperation agreement.
Skretting Scholarships for the 5th Regional Grouper Hatchery Training Course 2007
Skretting has offered two annual scholarships for the regional Grouper Hatchery Training Course in 2005 and 2006. The Skretting Scholarships have been successful in training aquaculturists from developing countries including India, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam in the production of high-value marine finfish. Because of the success of the scheme, Skretting has increased the number of scholarships to three per year for 2007 and 2008 to further assist in the development of sustainable marine finfish hatchery technology in the Asia-Pacific region.
Scholarship applications are now open
Application for the 2007 Skretting Scholarships is now open. Two scholarships will be allocated to the private sector and one to regional R&D institutes that are actively working on marine finfish aquaculture. Preference will be given to applicants from developing countries that are NACA members. The scholarships include all costs of the training, including training fee, accommodation and meals, and reasonable costs of transport between home base and Indonesia.
The two private sector scholarships will be awarded based on the following criteria:
The person should be from the private sector, actively working in aquaculture.
He or she should ideally have hands-on practical experience in brackishwater or marine aquaculture.
He or she should be able to communicate and read reasonably well in English.
He or she should come from a developing country (NACA member) in the Asia-Pacific region.
The one R&D institute scholarship will be awarded based on the following criteria:
The person should be from an institute actively involved in research, development or extension on marine finfish aquaculture.
He or she should already have hands-on practical experience in marine finfish aquaculture.
He or she should be able to communicate and read reasonably well in English.
He or she should demonstrate that the training will benefit the development of marine finfish aquaculture in their country.
He or she should come from a developing country R&D institute in a NACA member country in the Asia-Pacific region.
All participants interested in these Skretting scholarships should send a request to Mr Sih Yang Sim for a copy of the application format and instructions for applying. The subject title should mark clearly “Skretting Scholarships”. The deadline for the application is 8th June 2007. Only successful applications will be notified via email by 15th June 2007. Please send your request to: sim@enaca.org