27 March 2014 William Leschen - Aquaculture Development in sub-Saharan Africa
Thu, Mar 27th 2014 at 12:00 am - 12:00 am
William Leschen, an aquaculturist from Stirling University, gave a talk on Aquaculture Development in sub-Saharan Africa.
President Colin Strachan welcomed visitors Iain Galloway and speaker for the evening William Leschen, an aquaculturist from Stirling University. Also present were Fraser Sheriff, winner of the Club's Judy Murray Tennis Cup. Fraser, accompanied by his parents, brother and Fiona Bennie from the Tennis Club, was presented with a picture of him with Judy and his Winners Cup.
Fraser with his Mum, Dad, brother and President Colin Strachan collecting his prize.
After last Thursday's final Rotary Curling league match against Perth St John's the Club has progressed from last years' Wooden Spoon winners to finishing second in the league - well done to Skip Graham Russell with President Colin, Jim Gardner and Stuart Brown playing in the last game.
After the meal, it was over to our speaker, William, who gave a very interesting talk on the development of Aquaculture in sub Saharan Africa. William had been successful fish farmer in Glen Devon and Blairgowrie before he spent 4 years in Ghana with Voluntary Services Overseas to share his skills. Following this, he returned to Scotland where he currently works at the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling as a Research and Development Projects Manager.
William explained how aquaculture, which is effectively fish farming at various community levels, had developed over the last 50 years. Currently more than 50% of fish consumed is produced by aquaculture. In Africa where the Tilapia fish is cultured, Will noted that there were various species of Tilapia, some of which matured far quicker than others, and one of the key issues was to assist farmers to choose the best species and the environment in which the fish will thrive. As well as the aquaculture, he said that one of the overriding factors to effective development is infrastructure, as without power and a route to market no real progress could be achieved.
Following a very lively question and answer session, which continued on after the meeting, Les Ferguson gave the vote of thanks, noting that this always indicated an interesting and enjoyable talk.
