| Naga
- The ICLARM Quarterly
Vol.
23, No. 3 (July - September 2000)
Editorial
Partnerships In Research
The world today faces the
challenge of feeding its growing population, eradicating
poverty and sustainable and equitable use of its
natural resources.
With the increasing demand for aquatic
products has come the realization that many of
the aquatic habitats have been degraded and most
fish stocks have either been overexploited or
reached maximum sustainable yields.
Researchers and planners today are faced
with the challenge of coming up with solutions
for arresting the degradation of resources and
at the same time increasing their productivity
to meet the gap between supply and demand.
While the problems facing
the sector are daunting, the resources available
to national systems to address the problems in
many cases are inadequate.
At a time when investments in research
by national and donor agencies are on the decline,
there is an urgent need for better utilization
of scarce resources, quicker gains from strategic
research and matching of complementary skills
of scientists/institutions, underscoring the importance
of national, regional and global institutions
for resolving the constraints that deter the development
and attainment of product potential.
*ICLARM has taken the approach
of addressing common/strategic issues through
multi-country, multi-site regional research projects.
An example is the project being implemented
in eight countries of South and Southeast Asia
for developing appropriate strategies and action
plans for rehabilitating coastal fish stocks.
The project partners and *ICLARM have come
up with a database of trawl catches incorporating
information collected over a number of decades
that will assist in developing national and regional
strategies for the management of coastal fish
stocks.
Another example is the regional
collaborative effort for genetic improvement of
carp species in Asia in which six countries from
South and Southeast Asia are participating.
Studies undertaken resulted in prioritization
of species, traits and farming systems for genetic
enhancement research.
Improved germplasm is being exchanged among
countries in the region for research and development,
complying with the Material Transfer Agreements.
*ICLARM has taken the initiative
of forming the Group of Fisheries and Aquatic
Research (GoFAR) in which
14 countries from the Asia and Pacific
and regional and international organizations are
partipating with the aim of identifying regional
priorities in research and capacity building,
addressing issues of common interest among agriculture
and fisheries sectors and building linkages between
national research systems and the regional/international
organizations.
What is needed is more of such partnerships
among scientists/institutions/countries.
It may be mentioned here
that publication of this issue of NAGA was delayed
due to relocation of *ICLARM headquarters from
Manila, Philippines to Penang, Malaysia in February
2000. We
are making all efforts to bring back the publication
on due dates. We hope the readers will bear with us for the delay.
Modadugu
V. Gupta
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