Q-quatics revved up the year with a mini-symposium, “Q-quatics 2019: Road ahead”, which gathered local and international marine and freshwater scientists, and introduced the various avenues Q-quatics seeks to carry out its fisheries and oceans research mandate through valuable collaborations and partnerships with the global scientific community. The said event provided a venue to address issues confronting our ocean environment and fisheries strategies worldwide trends from the perspective of valuable Q-quatics experts and partners.
This symposium was organized by Q-quatics and held on the 31st of January 2019 at IRRI Swaminathan Hall, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. Partners from the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD), University of the Philippines – Open University (UPOU), National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Wetlands International, Oceana Philippines, RARE Philippines, Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), BFAR- National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI), National Social Assistance Programme(NSAP) Region IVA, Haribon Foundation, National Museum, ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB), Amanpulo Resort, and IRRI, attended and actively participated in the discussions.
Diverse but equally important and engaging topics were presented by seven (7) prestigious speakers namely, Dr. Cornelia Nauen (President of Mundus maris and Q-quatics’ Board Chair), Dr. Deng Palomares (Project Manager of Sea Around Us – UBC and Science Director of Q-quatics), Dr. Peter Sorensen (Professor at the University of Minnesota), Dr. Benjamin Vallejo Jr. (Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman and Q-quatics’ Board Member), Dr. Lucas Brotz (Scientist at Q-quatics), Mr. Rodolofo Reyes Jr. (Research Associate at Q-quatics), and Dr. Nicolas Bailly (Taxonomy Coordinator at Q-quatics). Read abstracts of their presentations from here.
Ardent discussions on these selected topics which include the next steps inherent to the declaration of ASEAN being a “safe risk area” for international shipping, call for increased awareness in the importance of freshwater fisheries, conducting jellyfish population studies in the Philippines, and developing machine learning tools for fish identification are perceived as good platforms for possible collaborations between Q-quatics and the participants.
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| More photos in the FishBase Project’s Facebook album. |
Related blogs: Q-quatics holds a mini-symposium (by SeaLifeBase) and Road ahead – Q-quatics mini-symposium 2019 (by Mundus Maris)
