Expert contributes to UN World Consultation on Aquatic genetic Resources

Professor Gary Carvalho of the University’s School of Biological Sciences was one of 13 world-renowned experts attending a Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations State World Consultation on Aquatic Genetic Resources, at the UN Regional Pacific and Asian FAO Office in Bangkok (28 January-1 February 2013).

According to the FAO, the consultations could herald new ways of reducing hunger and poverty by cataloguing and improving aquatic genetic resources for food and agriculture. Most farmed fish have not been domesticated the way that farmed crops and livestock have been, so farmed fish remain very similar to their wild relatives. The meeting considered the benefits of genetic improvement by using traditional breeding techniques as well as modern genetic technologies to increase growth rates, reduce inputs and improve the cost-effectiveness of aquaculture.

Professor Carvalho researches the genetic makeup of different populations of fish. He is interested in both understanding the forces that shape the structures of fish populations in the wild, and how such structure may influence adaptation, population survival and distribution. He is also an expert in the genetic identification of fish. He led a 3 year 4 million Euro European funded project to safeguard fish stocks by developing tools for accurately identifying fish, its source and age, at any point from the fishing net to the plate.

Publication date: 5 February 2013