Brunei conducts its first International Shrimp Health Workshop, lecturer Don Lightner, Ph.D., is featured

By Zasika Musdi
Borneo Bulletin

Yesterday was the last day of the International Shrimp Health Workshop, and the participants were treated to a farewell dinner and attended a certificate presentation at the Members Lounge and Grill Room, Empire Hotel.
When asked for their opinions on the workshop, there was nothing but praise from the participants.

Zaitunah bte Hj Kurus, a local teacher for aquaculture, found the histopathology methods demo done at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam labs yesterday afternoon the most interesting.

She said she learnt actual real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), and how to extract something and send it to the PCR lab.

"Before this workshop, I knew very little about hands-on practicals; I'm a teacher, and I made sure I took in most of what has been demonstrated earlier, as it might be needed in the future," she concluded.

Her reaction was shared by another local participant Sumardi bin Hj Abd Hamid, who is also a teacher. "I wanted to be certain which techniques are suitable and relevant to the identification of shrimp diseases," he said, when asked about what he thought of the UBD lab demonstration earlier yesterday afternoon.

According to Haris Muhtadi from Indonesia, the workshop was excellent. "The best part is the very low cost of participating in the workshop, for such a world-class and prestigious group of speakers and trainers. I enjoyed the demonstration at UBD the most, as we were supervised by the experts."

He said he has been to other workshops in Thailand and the Philippines, but he finds Brunei's first International Shrimp Health Workshop better.

He expressed his awe at being lectured by Dr Donald Lightner, and was very happy when he got the chance to take a picture with him.

Mr Reynaldo Rivo from the Philippines who works for a local company Sacammas Sdn Bhd, deals with fishery and agricultural department.

He said he did not have much knowledge about shrimps before the workshop. "After the workshop, I found out that it takes more than just simple knowledge to take care of shrimps. During the dissection demonstration at UBD earlier, we get to cut up the important parts of the shrimps, take samples and see from the microscope if they are normal or have diseases."

When asked what he thought of the workshop, he said, "It was excellent. Hopefully it would not be the last, as I found out the shrimp industry is definitely booming."

Dr Don Lightner who is from University of Arizona, USA and the main lecturer of the workshop, expressed his views on the matter: "Brunei Darussalam is a small country, and I feel selling broodstock is the best opportunity for it to contribute to the shrimp industry, as well as to make sustainable industry, rather than to compete with countries such as Thailand and China; it's not large enough to do so.

"I find the biggest problem is shrimp disease, which is my specialty, and I illustrated it through my lectures on the first day."

He said the workshop was smooth sailing, and he was impressed with how involved the participants were, especially during the demonstration.

The guest of honour of the farewell dinner was Pg Hjh Mariana bte Pg Dipa Negara Laila Di Raja Pg Hj Abd Momin, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources. She was accompanied by Dr George Chamberlain, Director of Operations of Integrated Aquaculture International, and Dr Donald Lightner.