NADA believes in promoting and supporting organizations who advance the science and biology of both fish in the wild and decorative fish for home hobbyists. We are currently supporting the following organizations:
Project Piaba is a community based interdisciplinary project established to understand the ecological and socio-cultural systems of the middle Rio Negro basin, Amazonas, Brazil. In order to conserve and maintain the live ornamental fishery and other renewable resources at commercially feasible and ecologically sustainable levels.
Project Piaba’s goal is to promote the sustainable harvest of aquatic resources that will ensure the survival of both the Amazonian rainforests and its human inhabitants.
Project Piaba aims to generate data relating to a wide range of issues, from population of species diversity, to the function and structure of the ecosystem, in addition to developing measures that will help improve the livelihood of the riverine people of Barcelos, Brazil. The ultimate goal is to promote at commercially and ecologically sustainable levels, and to help to reduce environmentally destructive land use and rural-to-urban migration in the Rio Negro basin of the Amazon rainforest.
The University of Florida/IFAS’s Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory, part of the University’s School of Forest Resources and Conservation (SFRC) Program in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. The Laboratory is located in Ruskin, Florida, approximately 20 miles south of Tampa in the heart of the tropical ornamental aquaculture industry.
The mission of the Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory is to enhance the understanding of tropical, ornamental aquaculture through research and education. The Laboratory performs applied research, fish disease diagnostic services, and extension education programs and promotes professionalism in Florida’s tropical aquaculture industry.
Unlike traditional agriculture where only a few animal species are grown, there are hundreds of varieties produced in ornamental aquaculture. Relatively little is known about diseases and water quality needs of many ornamental species. The TAL has a strong program investigating water quality, pathogens, and husbandry practices, and their relationships with fish health. In addition, there are few drugs or other chemicals that are approved for use in aquaculture. Researchers at TAL are working closely with the ornamental aquaculture industry, manufacturers, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Aquatic Animal Drug Approval Partnership Program (USFWS AADAP) investigating the effectiveness and safety of aquaculture drugs and therapeutants