WorldFish Annual Report 2021

Foreword

We are pleased to present the WorldFish 2021 Annual Report. In the pages that follow, we update you on the progress we have made in implementing our work plan for the year and delivering our organizational mission and vision. We also present key highlights from our country level achievements and the steps we took to expand our global outreach during the past year, despite the enormous COVID-19 related challenges.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the world into disarray. The pandemic is three shocks in one: a public health crisis, a hammer-blow to the livelihoods of people living in poverty and a stress test for the global food system. The unprecedented health and economic crises brought on by the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns led to an increase in poverty worldwide and precipitated a looming food crisis. The food system has been seriously disrupted, with reverberations experienced across global supply chains.

Working closely with the public and private sectors, we are developing innovations to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on the nutrition, health and incomes of the most vulnerable. For example, WorldFish conducted a study in Myanmar, following up on a 2020 study with 143 fish supply chain actors, to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on the availability and price of aquatic foods and production inputs. The study found evidence suggesting women’s ability to work may have been negatively affected by the pandemic.

A global shock of this magnitude puts a premium on international cooperation. It is therefore important that investments need to flow towards enhancing sustainable and equitable aquatic food production systems that deliver nutritional benefits to those who need it most.

One highlight of the year was Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, WorldFish’s Global Lead for Nutrition and Public Health, receiving the 2021 World Food Prize for her influential work on nutrition, fish and aquatic food systems. The World Food Prize is the most prestigious international award given to exceptional individuals who advance human development by improving the quality, quantity and accessibility of food for all. Thilsted is the first woman of Asian heritage to be awarded the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture”.

At the COP26 UN climate change conference, WorldFish scientists made waves by highlighting the important links between climate, health and nutrition, with aquatic foods delivering a triple win for people, planet and climate. Our scientists underscored the vital importance of climate change mitigation and resilient food systems solutions that are people-centric and that look beyond production.

In 2021, the flagship CGIAR Research Program on Fisheries Agri-Food Systems (FISH) concluded after four impactful years. FISH created evidence to improve food security, fight poverty, enhance sustainability, increase resilience to climate change and develop a new research base for fish agri-food systems. Spanning 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the program developed more than 150 innovations that will affect the lives of millions of small-scale farmers and fishers in the years to come.

In Bangladesh, WorldFish continued dissemination of the genetically improved Generation 3 (G3) rohu, part of the carp family of fish. The main impact of G3 rohu will be the increased sales of spawn from multiplier hatcheries. By the end of 2021, G3 rohu had been distributed to over 1500 enterprises, including hatcheries, nurseries and grow-out farms.

To improve the management of community fish refuge sites, WorldFish supported a 10 year USAID-funded initiative in Cambodia that concluded in 2021. Consequently, fish production of households around the country’s Tonle Sap Lake has increased by 71%.

In Malawi, WorldFish developed a technology to dry fish that uses briquettes—compact blocks of organic waste for burning on a stove or fire—made from agricultural leftovers such as rice husks and groundnut shells. Using rice husks for briquettes is healthier, more cost-efficient and reduces deforestation that results from the use of firewood.

A new hatchery in Timor-Leste launched by WorldFish is now expected to produce more than 1 million fingerlings of Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT). These will be sold to fish farmers, nearby municipalities and non-government organizations. The hatchery is now a critical part of Timor-Leste’s National Aquaculture Development Strategy (2012–2030).

WorldFish and partners supported over 2000 academicians, researchers and small-scale fishers from across Africa and the Middle East with online and offline training in 2021. Training topics included fish farming, feeding, nutrition, manufacturing, management and production for food security. These experiences underscore our role as a one-stop hub for expertise across the aquatic food sector.

The generosity of our funders, the continuous support of our esteemed partners and the incredible dedication of our staff made our accomplishments in 2021 possible. Their outstanding commitment to the advancement of research in inclusive global food security and sustainability has been recognized by the global scientific and development community.

We are delighted to present this report and we warmly invite you to learn more about our ongoing journey to transform food, land and water systems with aquatic foods.

abu bakar — **Baba Yusuf Abubakar**
Chair of the Board of Trustees

**Essam Yassin Mohammed**
Interim Director General & CGIAR Acting Senior Director of Aquatic Food Systems

Big Splashes 2021

407

partnerships

115

new partnerships in 2021

38

research innovations

105

active projects in 2021

1,800,000+

people reached via online events

462,863

households have adopted improved fish breeds and/or aquaculture or fisheries management practices

776,306

people were assisted to exit poverty

3000

capacity development initiatives

121,183people were involved
80,513 (~66%) were women

691,349

vulnerable women, children and men have increased fish consumption and/or dietary diversification because of aquaculture and small-scale fisheries interventions

416

publications during 2021

128 peer-reviewed journal articles
103 open-access publications
6 publications with an Altmetric score above 100

Big facts on aquatic foods

2021 Highlights

Reimagining food sustainability

The annual Food Systems Summit assembles UN member states and their constituencies. These include thousands of youths, food producers, indigenous peoples and researchers, as well as representatives from the private sector and civil society organizations. Together, they bring about actions to transform the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food.

Investing in sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems and transitioning to aquatic food-based diets offer a huge opportunity in putting our food systems on a low emissions pathway - delivering a triple win for nature, people and climate.

This virtual event offers a dynamic platform for heads of state, government and other constituencies to take the food systems agenda forward.

WorldFish joined the 2021 Summit to highlight the essential role of aquatic food systems in sustainable healthy diets for all. WorldFish showcased its efforts in areas such as policy action, gender-equal accessibility to resources and strengthening our commitments to provide nutrition-sensitive aquatic food systems.

The World Food Prize, also known as the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture,” is the most prestigious international award given to exceptional individuals who advance human development by improving the quality, quantity and accessibility of food for all. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, WorldFish’s Global Lead for Nutrition and Public Health, was awarded the 2021 World Food Prize for her influential work on nutrition, fish and aquaticfood systems.

Thilsted’s research demonstrated that high levels of multiple essential micronutrients and fatty acids in affordable and locally available foods offers life-changing benefits for children’s cognitive development in their first 1000 days of life and the nutrition and health of their mothers.

From this breakthrough, she developed nutrition-sensitive approaches and innovations to food production, distribution and consumption that have improved the diets, nutrition and livelihoods of millions of vulnerable women, men and children living in low- and middleincome countries across Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

Thilsted is the first woman of Asian heritage to be awarded the World Food Prize.

Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted was also named the recipient of the 2021 Arrell Global Food Innovation Award for pioneering nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquatic food systems in both fisheries and aquaculture. These approaches honor local, culturally appropriate solutions to improve the nutrition, health and development of children and mothers across Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

This award acknowledges the unmatched potential of diverse aquatic foods in food system research, policies and interventions, at national, regional and global levels. Aquatic foods offer life-changing opportunities for millions of vulnerable women, children and men to be wellnourished and healthy.

Thilsted is the first to identify the nutritional value of small fish species such as mola and Trey Changwa Plieng that are native to Bangladesh and Cambodia respectively. This breakthrough showed that these readily available small fish are rich in micronutrients and essential fatty acids that offer life-changing benefits for children’s cognitive development and the health of their mothers.

The Arrell Food Institute award program recognizes Thilsted as a mentor to many scientists and activists. It also acknowledged her efforts to advocate for better food and nutrition security solutions on the global stage.

The environmental promise

Waves at COP26

COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, concluded with a new global climate agreement. Nations reaffirmed pledges to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the number set in the 2015 Paris Accords.

At COP26, WorldFish highlighted the links between climate, health and nutrition, with aquatic foods as a nature-positive solution for all. WorldFish scientists focused on the importance of climate change mitigation and resilient food systems solutions that are people-centric and must look beyond production.

Ensuring access to climate information and enhancing climate services can promote women and youths’ involvement in daily management decisions and strengthen their abilities to adapt to and offset climate impacts.

In pursuit of lasting food security

FISH program concludes after four years

In 2021, the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH) concluded after four years. The program created evidence to improve food security, fight poverty, enhance sustainability, increase resilience to climate change and develop a new research base for fish agri-food systems.

The program developed around 150 innovations that have reached small-scale farmers and fishers. The impact of these innovations will reach millions of people worldwide.

FISH led the publication of 310 peer-reviewed Institute for Scientific Information journal articles. These public goods provide new evidence on the role of fish and other aquatic foods in improving food and nutrition security, reducing poverty and enhancing environmental sustainability. Around 70% of these were open access.

The FISH Wrap

It’s completely thanks to an amazing team of committed researchers, supporters and partners that we can now stand back and see some successes—from challenges to global structures and norms that have held back progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, to the introduction of new field-born and tested innovations into the pathways toward more sustainable and equitable futures.

Policies

New approaches to promote sustainable and equitable aquatic food systems

Cross-sector collaborations are at the heart of scientific discovery. Our partnerships range from global-level decision-making to national, subnational and household levels.

Aquaculture is the world’s fastest-growing food production sector. In February, leading international policy experts, with contributions from WorldFish, urged decision-makers to focus on aquaculture for a sustainable food system transformation. The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (GLOPAN) launched the Harnessing aquaculture for healthy diets’ policy brief to guide international decision-making related to the expansion of aquaculture.

Gender-transformative approaches (GTAs) complement and go beyond traditional gender approaches and can contribute to more potent and longer-term gender outcomes. While traditional approaches work around existing gender barriers, GTAs shift underlying social norms that perpetuate inequalities.
The innovation package on GTAs can help reshape the way that gender issues are approached in aquatic food systems. WorldFish piloted projects in the Barotse Floodplain of Zambia and the Barisal region of South-West Bangladesh, where short-term fixes to gender issues were being replaced by a shift to addressing underlying gender barriers.

Better management practices (BMPs) are an integrated way to optimize the benefits of improved genetics in sustainable aquaculture intensification. The BMPs cover fish nutrition and feeding regimes, genetics and breeding programs, fish health management, farming systems, pond management, water quality management and gender integration.
They are now widely available in multiple languages in Asia, Africa and the Pacific, through dissemination from public and private partners. They contribute to small farmers’ incomes by increasing productivity and efficient use of inputs, thus reducing negative environmental impacts.

Pioneering genetic improvement innovations in carp and tilapia (GIFT) have achieved gains anywhere from 8% and higher and have helped aquaculture to now provide half of the global fish supply. Selective breeders in the terrestrial agricultural realm are happy with gains of a few%age points per generation. GIFT is now in its 17th generation and growing 100% faster than it did before the breeding program started. Faster-growing, hardier and more disease-resistant fish will allow farmers a greater return on their investment and in some countries will lead to lower prices for consumers.

The interaction that WorldFish is having with our farmers is really having great value that will change the sector because there is really enough that I am seeing coming on the table in efforts to improve the aquaculture sector.

Fish and aquatic foods contribute a wide range of micronutrients that are essential to human health. The nutritional benefits of fish are being well documented through our set of nutrition-sensitive approaches to food system transformation for food production and processing, with an emphasis on the food, nutrition security and health and well-being of vulnerable children and women. This included expanding the production of small indigenous fish species, increasing productivity and reducing waste and loss in fish value chains and developing improved feeds to enhance the nutritional value of fish.

Being a Suchana consortium member, WorldFish has successfully contributed to promoting pro-poor nutrition-sensitive aquaculture among poor and very poor households in the first 1000 days of life to reduce chronic undernutrition among children under 2 years old.

Digital tools and innovations can help record fishing activities, improve access to aquaculture finance and markets, improve the efficiency of management and conservation planning and identify fish pathogens. A suite of digital tools and approaches for aquaculture and small-scale fisheries that improve management and policy decisions across food systems were produced, which includes a variety of tools that are increasingly being put into use to inform and connect farmers and other supply chain actors, as well as advise government entities in real time for decision-making.

PeskAAS, a low-cost digital catch monitoring and automated analytics system developed by WorldFish, has enhanced the availability of almost real-time data to fishers and fisheries managers to support management decisions. Timor-Leste has fully integrated PeskAAS into its national fisheries management after successful pilots.

Agvisely, a web-based system that converts meteorological data into a decision-making tool for fish farmers to lower associated climate risks has helped an estimated 100,000 fish farmers in Bangladesh. This climate information system has since been scaled to the Indian state of Odisha, where a mobile phone advisory system now incorporates climatic advisories, as well as Zambia and the Southern African Development Community

Co-creation of climate-smart aquaculture technologies jointly framed by WorldFish DOF-CNRS helped gain nutritional and financial benefits of the vulnerable poor households in the flood-prone haor basin of Bangladesh.

Rice-fish production practices were first used 2000 years ago to bring fish back into the rice fields. They can be integrated using a variety of innovations that can make efficient use of increasingly scarce water and land. The innovations not only address environmental and nutrition concerns but can maintain rice productivity and almost double the profitability of the landscape. Innovations combine productivity and nutritional outcomes while building resilience and enhancing biodiversity.

Thousands of Cambodian farmers, who adopted the improved rice-fish systems, saw gains of 60 percent and 27 percent in income and fish consumption, respectively. This integrated production system has opened a new frontier for climate-resilient aquatic food production in Cambodia and Myanmar

Fisheries co-management is becoming more widely adopted globally for the management of small-scale fisheries. Resource user groups, such as local fishers and other entities, such as government agencies or non-governmental organizations, share management responsibilities and authority, set the rules and make future management decisions that help improve the legitimacy of fisheries regulations at the local scale through more inclusive, transparent and mutual decision-making processes and through stewardship of natural resources, local economic development and governance activities.

WorldFish’s methodological, technological and governance innovations, such as handbooks for gender equity and social inclusion, fish aggregating devices and compensation schemes for fisheries closures, contributed to greater gender equity, nutrition and social-ecological gains in addition to the social, economic and environmental benefits of fisheries co-management.

The outcomes achieved across science, policy and communities in this single ACIAR investment is truly impressive. Strategies to engage decision-makers and building evidence for change are exemplary examples of knowledge brokering, informed by the political, institutional and socio-cultural contexts.

Scientists shaping agendas

Bangladesh

Benoy Kumar Barman

Senior Scientist

Benoy Kumar Barman works tirelessly to support projects in Bangladesh, such as scaling systems for improved tilapia strains, supporting work on the genetically improved G3 rohu, working on small indigenous species for improved nutrition, advancing climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive fish production technologies and supporting a pilot project on culturing Artemia.

Barman also advanced South-South cooperation by supporting the carp-mola indigenous small fish species (SIS) polyculture project in Assam, India and the AfricaRice integrated rice-fish farming project to improve food security and nutrition in Liberia.

Cambodia

Sarah Freed

Scientist

Sarah Freed is an applied scientist working to improve human and ecosystem wellbeing. Her current work for Cambodia and the greater Mekong region focuses on fish in agroecosystems, community empowerment and equity in fisheries and agriculture and the transformation of food systems to support biodiversity, nutrition and climate change adaptation.

Freed’s work has contributed significantly to the improvement of economic benefits and the integration of nutrition and gender aspects in rice field fisheries for close to 100,000 rural households.

Egypt

Ahmed Nasr-Allah

Egypt Country Director

In Egypt, Ahmed Nasr-Allah pioneered research and innovation in order to generate impact on sustainable development of the country’s fisheries sector. With Nasr-Allah’s contributions, WorldFish took the lead in the development of climate-smart aquaculture with the establishment of two demonstration units containing 3 cells each.

Through a partnership with FAO and the Egyptian government, WorldFish developed the National Aquatic Animal Health Strategy for the sustainability of Egypt’s aquaculture sector. Under Nasr-Allah’s leadership, capacity-building initiatives were scaled across Egypt and elsewhere in Africa in partnership with development partners and the national fisheries authority. Nasr-Allah helped facilitate 24 trainings, both physical and virtual, for 2,042 people, of which a third were women.

India

Neetha Shenoy

Aquaculture Specialist

Neetha Shenoy leads the MEL and GESI aspects of WorldFish’s programs in India working with partner organizations to design field surveys, collect, collate and analyze data, as well as prepare technical reports. Shenoy works with the APART project with the government of Assam, the GIZ-funded Scaling nutrition-sensitive SIS project and the USAID-funded project on Scaling nutritionsensitive fisheries technologies in Odisha.

Shenoy collaborates with the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department in the state of Odisha in promoting a flagship government initiative — fish farming in village tanks by more than 10,000 Women Self-Help Groups engaging over 100,000 households.

Malawi

Alinafe Maluwa

Research Assistant,
Sustainable Aquaculture

Alinafe Maluwa supports the deployment of extension support services to create inclusive business and entrepreneurial models (IBEMS) among smallholder farmers and supply chain actors in Malawi. Capitalizing on the IBEMS innovation, WorldFish will continue to promote the adoption of better-quality fingerlings/ seed and feed as well as improved management practices in its effort to grow aquaculture as a business in Malawi.

Through Maluwa’s efforts, 582 farmers were trained in better management practices for aquaculture, nearly four out of ten of those being women. Maluwa also trained 18 IBEMS to produce quality seeds to sell to other farmers. From producing no quality seed at all, in the first production season, the IBEMS produced 434,171 fingerlings, of which 63,500 were monosex.

Nigeria

Bernadette Fregene

TAAT Compact Leader

Bernadette Fregene leads the capacity building program in Nigeria under the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) project to disseminate proven aquaculture technologies. The program benefitted 31,951 individuals in 12 African countries by accessing and effectively using aquaculture technology products and services.

Solomon Islands

Janet Saeni-Oeta

Senior Research Analyst

Janet Saeni-Oeta plays an important role in shaping the research and partnership agenda with the provincial fisheries officers in Solomon Islands, who provide extension services to communities.

Saeni-Oeta has worked as a key partner within that team to evaluate management planning with the respective communities. This has led to improved inclusive practices for providing technical advice and support for communities seeking to sustainably manage their coastal resources.

Zambia

Mary Lundeba

Scientist, Sustainable Aquaculture

Mary Lundeba is a versatile scientist who has played a pivotal role in building the capacity of smallholder farmers in northern Zambia in multiple disciplines, including best aquaculture practices and nutrition-sensitive fish food systems.

Lundeba helps transform the mindset of smallholder farmers, from depending on aquaculture as livelihood to practicing aquaculture as an enterprise and also supports mentoring and coaching research assistants and emerging scientists in northern Zambia.

From research to impact

Shaping agri-food systems with aquatic foods

The fish agri-food system connects supplies of aquatic foods to consumers across the planet. Launched in 2017, the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH) was a 5-year program that provided evidence of the role of aquatic food in improving food and nutrition security, reducing poverty and enhancing environmental sustainability

462,863

households have adopted improved fish breeds and/ or aquaculture or fisheries management practices

776,306

people were assisted to exit poverty

691,349

vulnerable women, children and men have increased fish consumption and/or dietary diversification because of aquaculture and small-scale fisheries interventions

51

policy and technical briefs and knowledge products disseminated widely, in multiple languages, with data products made available in open access formats

71

peer-reviewed publications, of which 68 were indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), including journal articles, books and book chapters

350,510

hectares of water were brought under improved fisheries co-management and aquaculture management

FISH research spanned 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. It focused in-depth on Egypt, Nigeria, Zambia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar and Solomon Islands.

The program championed the increased role that fish and other aquatic foods must play in securing sustainable, healthy and resilient food systems.

FISH helped position small-scale fishers, fish farmers and value chain actors, their well-being and their services as central to food system transformation.