Our mission is to reduce poverty and hunger by improving fisheries and aquaculture.
We began in 1977 as the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) based in the Philippines. In 2000 we shortened our name to The WorldFish Center and established our new headquarters in Penang, Malaysia.
We’re an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization working in partnership with a wide range of government and non-governmental agencies at regional, national and local levels in the developing world, and with advanced research institutions worldwide.
We have 250 staff members, including 50 Ph.D. scientists based in 15 offices in 13 countries across Asia, Africa and the Pacific. From these bases, we work in more than 25 countries with more than 200 partners representing 50 countries. We currently have regional or country offices in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Malawi, Malaysia (HQ), New Caledonia, The Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Zambia.
We are one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a group of farsighted and caring investors worldwide including governments, development banks, philanthropic organizations and development institutions. Our annual budget is approximately US$20 million.
With our partners, we carry out research-for-development to improve small-scale fisheries and aquaculture. Our key competencies are in Policy Economics and Social Sciences, Natural Resource Management, and Aquaculture and Genetic Improvement. This inter-linked set of disciplines work together to provide a wide range of research and analysis, some of which are summarized below.
Policy, Economics, and Social Sciences
Connecting the fisheries and aquaculture sector to poverty reduction initiatives at local to global scales
Social and economic analysis of the aquaculture and fisheries sectors
Policy and institutional analysis for the improved governance of aquatic resources
Assessing the potential impacts of climate change on fisheries, and adaptive measures that can be taken
Human health consequences of fisheries, reducing risks, and fisheries options that benefit health-impaired populations (HIV/AIDS and malaria)
Working with communities to manage fisheries
Natural Resources Management
Integrated assessment and management of small-scale fisheries
Design and management of global information systems on aquatic resources (FishBase, ReefBase)
Post-disaster livelihood recovery in fisheries-dependent regions
Assessment of impacts of built structures on aquatic resources in river basins
Analysis of external drivers such as climate change on livelihoods of fishery-dependent households
Aquaculture and Genetic Improvement
Methods for breeding improved fish strains for aquaculture
Aquaculture technologies for the poor, including women and the landless
Integrating aquaculture with terrestrial small-scale agriculture
Strategies and options for aquaculture production and national action plans
Connecting small-scale producers to markets
Technologies that improve water productivity while protecting environmental flows
Our work uncovers basic principles that have international utility and, as a result produce global impacts, with high returns on investment. Such knowledge, technologies, methods and tools, made freely available to all, are referred to as “international public goods.?/p>
We apply our expertise in ways that build human and institutional capacities at all levels within partner agencies, for example by helping networks, advising partners on institutional development, training, and learn-by-doing research partnerships.
To achieve this we work closely with partners, and build connections between the developing and developed worlds. We organize our work geographically in six regional portfolios: Pacific, East & Southeast Asia, South Asia, Greater Mekong, Southern and Eastern Africa, West and Central Africa (Contact our regional offices).
What makes us special? Our vision is to be the science partner of choice for delivering fisheries and aquaculture solutions for developing countries. Realizing that vision requires us to be different in significant ways from others —without such strong differentiation there is no reason to choose WorldFish as a partner. Specifically, we offer a unique combination of attributes:
We can provide pro-poor technologies and tools in areas that others do not focus on.
We can add greater value to our partners?efforts through our capacity to synthesize and integrate knowledge at global and regional levels.
We can more effectively help develop and implement the research for development agenda through the convening power that our partner network and international status provides.
We can better focus research to the poverty and hunger reduction agenda due to the complete alignment of these goals with our mission.
Our distinguished Board of Trustees provides guidance and oversight to our programs.
The Board is composed of a minimum of seven (7) members from the international community. Membership in 2008 is as follows:
Chairman Prof. Trond Bjorndal: Director, CEMARE, The University of Portsmouth, England, U.K. (until 30th April 2008)
Vice Chairman
Dr. Wendy Craik: Chief Executive, Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Australia
Members Dato' Junaidi Bin Che Ayub: Director General, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Malaysia. Dr. S. Ayyappan: Deputy Director General (Fisheries), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India. Dr. Stephen J. Hall: Director General of the WorldFish Center, Malaysia. Dr. Asger Kej: Managing Director of DHI Water & Environment, Denmark. Ambassador Remo Gautschi: Deputy Director General, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Dr Ezzat Awwad Ibrahim: Chairman, The General Authority for Fish Resources Development.
