Conference Keynote Speaker
DR. SVEIN JENTOFT
Professor Emeritus
Norwegian College of Fishery Science
Faculty of Bioscience, Fisheries and Economics
The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway
Prof. Svein Jentoft is a sociologist and a professor emeritus at the Norwegian College of Fishery Science, University of Tromsø, Norway. He has been a prominent figure in the marine social sciences, with his works influencing research and governance for small-scale fisheries sustainability. He has worked extensively on fisheries and coastal issues, including resource management, industrial organization, and community development in his native Norway, as well as in many other countries. The list of his publications is impressive, as is the extent to which his work is cited (more than 15,900 citations, h-index – 61, i10-index – 141). He has published more than 25 books and numerous book chapters and journal articles on fisheries and coastal governance. Not only are his works described as of global interest but also timeless. His 1999 SAMUDRA Report article, “Beyond the Veil”, about gender roles in fishing communities is considered a seminal article on this topic.
Prof. Jentoft has been instrumental in drafting the text of Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF Guidelines) as well as in the process leading to the official adoption in 2014. In 2018, he co-edited the book The Small-scale Fisheries Guidelines: Global Implementation. In 2019, his book Life above Water: Essays on Human Experiences of Small-Scale Fisheries was published. The articles in the book were based on talks he has given in various parts of the world. He has recently finished editing a book on Blue Justice due for release this year. Currently, he is the editor-in-chief of Maritime Studies, an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to maritime issues.
Conference Plenary Speakers
25 November 2021
8:30 am
DR. MERYL J WILLIAMS, FTSE (Australia)
Chair, Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section
Asian Fisheries Society
DR. MERYL WILLIAMS has worked for over 40 years in international fisheries, aquaculture, aquatic resource conservation and development. Currently, she is focusing on research and advocacy on women and gender equality in the fisheries, aquaculture and food value chains, and information and science for fair, inclusive and responsible fish production for food security and nutrition.
Dr Williams was Director General of WorldFish Center (1994-2004), during which time she concentrated the focus of WorldFish on eradicating poverty, improving people’s nutrition, and reducing pressure on the environment. She was previously the Director of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Executive Director of the Bureau of Rural Sciences (Australian Government), tuna fisheries statistician at the Secretariat for the Pacific Community and fisheries biologist in the Queensland state government service.
She is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and an Honorary Life Member of AFS. She has been awarded an Australian Centenary Medal, and the Crawford Medal (Crawford Fund, Australia) for contributions to international agricultural research, and named an Outstanding Alumnus of James Cook University. In 2020, the Australian Council for International Agricultural Research named a women’s leadership fellowship scheme in her honor.
She is inaugural Chair of the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of the Asian Fisheries Society (GAFS). She is also Vice Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation and member of the board of Aquaculture without Frontiers (Australia). She is leading AsiaPacific-FishWatch, the AFS project developing online authoritative information for Asia-Pacific fisheries and aquaculture (www.asiapacfish.org). She is active on several journal editorial boards.
She was educated in Australia at the University of Queensland and James Cook University.
DR. DERUN YUAN
Senior Programme Officer
Aquaculture Sustainability Program
Education and Training Programme
Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific
DR. YUAN DERUN is a senior program officer at the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), an intergovernmental organisation for sustainable aquaculture development. He is managing two work programs of NACA: (1) Aquaculture Sustainability – a program to facilitate sustainable aquaculture development in Asia-Pacific through promoting collaborative research, technology development, and farming innovations; (2) Education and Training Program – a program for regional capacity building, knowledge networking, and institutional collaboration in aquaculture and fisheries education and training. He is also a visiting professor at Shanghai Ocean University.
His professional work focuses on development and promotion of environmentally benign and ecologically efficient aquaculture technologies, improvement of aquaculture value chains, facilitation of aquaculture trade, promotion of good aquaculture practices and certification, small scale farmer empowerment, policy formation and institutional support.
Much of his work experience was also related to education and training in the fields of aquaculture, aquatic resource management and aquaculture business management, with a focus on warm water species fed on low trophic level of food chains or species of commercial importance to the region, including tilapia, carps, clarias catfish, pangasius, groupers, seabass, marine shrimp and giant freshwater prawn.
Conference Plenary Speakers
26 November 2021
8:30 am
DR. NIREKA WEERATUNGE
Research Fellow, International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
DR. NIREKA WEERATUNGE is a Research Fellow at the International Centre of Ethnic Studies (ICES) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She is the qualitative lead of the ‘Social-ecological Dynamics in Rapid Economic Development: Infrastructure and Coastal Change in Southeastern Sri Lanka’ (SEDRIC) project at ICES, led by the French Institute of Pondicherry, India. She also collaborates on the research projects ‘Dried Fish Matters’ with University of Manitoba, Canada and University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka as well as ‘Improved productivity, efficiency and sustainability of the culture-based fishery for finfish and giant freshwater prawn in Sri Lankan reservoirs’ with James Cook University, Australia and a consortium of Sri Lankan universities. She was the Principal Investigator for Sri Lanka on the ‘Migration and collectives/networks as pathways out of poverty? Gendered vulnerabilities and capabilities amongst poor fishing communities in Asia’ project at ICES, led by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, from 2016-2019.
She has a PhD in anthropology from the University of Toronto, Canada with over 25 years of research and practice in the interface of gender, environment and development issues in the Asia-Pacific region. Her main areas of work are the social and cultural aspects of natural resource use, focusing on livelihood strategies in relation to poverty, vulnerability, resilience and wellbeing in fishing and farming communities. She is a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR), a global research project on ocean sustainability. She has worked in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China (Yunan), Laos, Myanmar, Solomon Islands, Philippines, and Vietnam.
DR. SUCHANA CHAVANICH
Associate Professor
Faculty of Science
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Thailand
PROF. SUCHANA CHAVANICH has a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of New Hampshire (USA). She has a broad base of ecological research interests involving the study of nearshore species from tropical to polar regions and a research focus on conservation and restoration of marine ecosystems and impact of climate change and marine debris. Currently, she has projects related to marine biodiversity and polar research under Royal Initiative of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
Dr. Chavanich is considered to be Thailand’s first female scientist to go diving in Antarctica and the Arctic. Her research work on Arctic-Antarctica and coral reefs has inspired Thai and young people on the value of marine ecosystems. With her work, she has received several awards and recognitions both nationally and internationally. These include the Explorer Award by the National Geographic Magazine Thailand, one of 17 Asia Power Women of Inspiration selected by Her World Magazine, and the UNESCO-IOC/WESTPAC Outstanding Scientist Award. Currently, she is also a Sustainable Ocean Ambassador with the task to mobilize, showcase, and endorse the sustainable use of oceans.
Keynote Speaker
Social Scientists Assembly
24 November 2021
3:00 PM
DR. ROBERT POMEROY
Professor and Sea Grant Fisheries Extension Specialist
University of Connecticut-Avery Point Campus Groton
CT USA
PROF. ROBERT S. POMEROY has a PhD from Cornell University (Resource Economics, Marketing, International Agriculture). His areas of professional interest include natural resource and environmental economics, specifically policy analysis, fisheries management and development, aquaculture economics, coastal resource management; international development; agricultural marketing; and agricultural extension.
Prof. Pomeroy has worked as Principal Scientist in WorldFish Center (June 2005 – June 2011), Senior Conservation Research Associate in Community Conservation Network (January 2003-January 2009), Senior Social Scientist at International Marinelife Alliance (January 2002-August 2002), Senior Associate, Coastal and Marine Projects, Biological Resources Program at World Resources Institute (August 1999-December 2001), and in various capacities from 1991 to 1999 at the International Center for Living Aquatic Resource Management. He also taught at the Clemson University, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics from 1984 to 1991.
He has worked on co-management and development projects in Asia, Africa, Caribbean, and Latin America. He has more than 120 refereed journal articles, 49 authored books or contributing author to a book, 89 research reports, 34 articles in proceedings, 32 extension reports, and authored a number of factsheets, and computer programs.
He has consulting assignments with World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, US Agency for International Development, US Department of State, International Development Research Centre (Canada), Tetra Tech, and the International Agriculture Center (Netherlands). He is affiliated with the American Agricultural Economics Association, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Association of Tropical Fisheries Scientists, Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, Asian Fisheries Society, Asian Fisheries Social Science Research Network, and the International Association of Aquaculture Economics and Management.
Panel Discussion:
The Importance of Social Science Research in Fisheries and Aquaculture
Social Scientist Assembly, 24 November 2021, 15:00-16:15
Panelists
DR. NIKITA GOPAL
Principal Scientist
ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology
Matsyapuri P.O., Cochin – 682 029 Kerala, India
DR. NIKITA GOPAL is Principal Scientist with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-CIFT), Kochi, Kerala, India. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics and has been working in the field of fisheries for the past 23 years. Her areas of work has been trade and markets in the fisheries sector; evaluation of fisheries technologies; and socio-economic studies among fishing communities. For the past several years she has also been actively engaged in gender research in fisheries and aquaculture and has worked on women in seafood processing sector, small scale aquaculture and fisheries, marketing and other post-harvest activities. In association with NACA she has worked on an international project on gender in aquaculture in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao PDR. She is an elected Fellow of the Society of Fisheries Technologists of India (FSFT). She has coordinated a project on gender and seaweed farming that was operational in India and Kenya. Her current research interest is on labour issues in the fishing and fish processing sectors.
She is Vice Chair of the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries (GAF) Section of the Asian Fisheries Society (AFS) and also a Member of the AFSSRN Executive Committee. She has received the AFS Gold Medal (2019), AFS Merit Award in 2013 and the AFS Certificates of Appreciation in 2016 for her contribution to gender research and for her organizational role in the GAF events at the triennial Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum of the AFS.
DR. YINJI LI
Associate Professor
School of Marine Science and Technolgy
Tokai University, 3-20-1 Orido, Shimizu, Shizuoka 424-0902, Japan
Based in Shizuoka, Japan, Yinji Li is a marine social scientist with an Economics degree from Dalian Ocean University in China, a Master’s in Fisheries Science, and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology in Japan. She is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Marine Science and Technology at Tokai University. With her multilingual skills, including Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, and English, her research interests and expertise lie in small-scale fisheries and coastal issues in Northeast Asian regions, including Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Li is also the Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) Japan Research Network coordinator as well as the Japan country coordinator of the Vulnerability to Viability Global Partnership (V2V) project and a member of the Human Dimensions Working Group of Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR) project, a member of the board of trustees of International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF).
DR. AGUS HERI PURNOMO
Principal Researcher
Research Center for Marine and Fisheries Socio-Economics
Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries
Indonesia
DR. AGUS HERI PURNOMO is a Principal Researcher at the Indonesian Research Center for Marine and Fisheries Socio-economics (RC-MFSE). With a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Food Processing Technology, he started his career in 1984 as an adjunct researcher in the field of fish processing technology. Completing his doctoral degree in fisheries economics and management in 2000, he then joined the the Socio-Economic Research Group. He led the Research Center for Marine and Fisheries Socio-economics from 2005 to 2013 and the Research Center for Marine and Fisheries Post-harvest Technoloqy from 2013 to 2015. During his research career, Dr. Purnomo has been involved in many scientific activities, including being a resource person at various scientific fora and organizing the Indonesian Marine and Fisheries Socio-economic Research Network (IMFISERN).
In addition to research activities, Dr. Purnomo is also active in teaching and supervising undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students. Finally, Dr. Purnomo is active in establishing and implementing collaborative research activities, both national and international.