WorldFish

WorldFish is an international, nonprofit research organization with headquarters in Penang, Malaysia, and offices in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. WorldFish’s mission is to harness the potential of fisheries and aquaculture to reduce poverty and hunger in developing countries.^[1]

WorldFish is a member of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR), a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.^[2]

Working in partnership with private and public sectors and civil society, WorldFish uses its scientific expertise in fisheries and aquaculture to promote sustainable, evidence-based development solutions and policy recommendations that support the Millennium Development Goals.^[3] All services and solutions developed by the Center are international public goods that are made freely available to all.^[4]

WorldFish has introduced innovative technologies and practices that are brought to scale through a network of partners. The Center works on a breeding program to develop the Abbassa strain of Nile Tilapia that helped increase aquaculture productivity and improve food security for millions of Egyptians.^[5]

In Bangladesh, WorldFish trained and supported thousands of rural farmers by helping them improve the productivity of their homestead ponds and gardens.

WorldFish has been recognized with a Tech Museum Award^[6] and several World Bank Development Marketplace Awards.^[7]

WorldFish Research

WorldFish is committed to meeting two key development challenges: 1) Improving the livelihoods of those who are poor and vulnerable in places where fisheries and aquaculture can make a difference and 2) achieving large scale, environmentally sustainable, increases in supply and access to fish at affordable prices for poor consumers in developing countries.^[8]

To meet these challenges WorldFish focuses its expertise and research in the following areas:

• Building adaptive capacity to climate change in fisheries and aquaculture
• Strengthening gender equality in fish-dependent communities
• Increasing the benefits to poor people from fisheries and aquaculture value-chains
• Improving nutrition and health through fisheries and aquaculture
• Identifying and promoting policies and practices to increase the resilience of small-scale fisheries
• Sustainably increasing the productivity of small-scale aquaculture

WorldFish is one of the 15 specialized research centers of the Consortium on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR),^[9] and is also an implementing partner for the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS).^[10] This research program aims to reduce poverty and improve food security for people whose livelihoods depend on aquatic agricultural systems.^[11]

Impact and Innovation

WorldFish, with its partners, has raised incomes for millions of poor people by integrating aquaculture with agriculture and has empowered poor communities to participate in the sustainable co-management of their fisheries. At its core, WorldFish is a scientific research organization. The center works with an extensive network of donors and partners to create positive change for the millions who depend on fish in the developing world. It has helped countries cope with disaster and conflict by restoring fisheries, providing nations with tools to improve the planning and management of major river basins and strengthening national capacities for fisheries management.

Three areas of work have generated particularly large impact:

• The breeding of much higher-yielding Tilapia fish varieties, widely used in aquaculture across Asia, greatly raised productivity and incomes of poor small-scale farmers: $170 returned for each $100 invested per annum.^[12]
• The strengthening Aquatic Resource Governance (STARGO) project helped lake communities in Zambia, Cambodia and Uganda build lake capacity to manage conflicts over fish resources and lay a foundation for sustainable management of natural resources.^[13]
• In Egypt, WorldFish used selective breeding approaches to develop the 'Abbassa Strain', which grows up to 28% faster than the most commonly used commercial breed.^[14] The Improving Employment and Income through the Development of Egypt's Aquaculture Sector (IEIDEAS) project supplied 50 fish farms and 130 hatcheries with the fast-growing strain.^[15] IEIDEAS is strengthening the Egyptian aquaculture industry by providing training and by generating employment for people who depend on the sector.

Milestones

The following information provides major milestones in the development and operation of the WorldFish Center, from the conceptual phase to the present, highlighting organizational changes and developments, such as the formal establishment of the Center, the establishment and closure of sites outside the headquarters, Board Chair and Directors General, and milestones which led to the entrance of the Center into the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Some of this material is taken from 'A Lasting Catch^[16].'

1973-1974 Conceptual phase:

• The Rockefeller Foundation convenes a conference in October 1973, to review worldwide and regional needs in aquaculture and fisheries.
• 'A Proposal for the Creation of an International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM)' is published in 1974. This working document was prepared by Dr John Pino, Rockefeller Foundation.

1975-1976 Exploratory phase:

• Rockefeller Foundation Program, hosted by the University of Hawaii, commences in early 1975.
• Dr Philip Helfrich (USA) of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, accepts the post of Center Director ( January 1975-November 1976).
• Staff and consultants fly 650,000 km, visiting 500 individuals and 43 national agencies in 47 countries, developing long-range programs and selecting a suitable headquarters location.
• Research programs are set up with the following thrusts: Aquaculture, Traditional Fisheries, Resource Development and Management, Marine Affairs, and Education and Training.
• The Center produces its first publication in 1975.

1977 Establishment phase:

• On 20 January 1977 'ICLARM' becomes an independent institution. Two months later the headquarters moved to Manila in the Philippines.
• The first Director General, Dr John C. Marr (USA), is appointed (November 1976-March 1979).
• Dr James E. Johnston (USA) is appointed first Board Chair (1977-1983)

References

External links

• Official website