Women gather at the Lahore College for Women University to attend the International Aquaculture Conference, Exhibition and Tilapia Cooking Competition hosted by ASA/WISHH in Pakistan.

The American Soybean Association’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (ASA/WISHH) program recently hosted a one-day International aquaculture conference, scientific research poster exhibition and tilapia cooking competition at the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded FEEDing Pakistan project.

The event, attended by 350 women, highlighted the students’ aquaculture research and the creation of local tilapia recipes. The winning recipes from the cooking competition will be published in a tilapia recipe book as part of an initiative to increase fish consumption in Pakistan.

Dr. Kevin Fitzsimmons, of the University of Arizona, served as a technical consultant for ASA/WISHH and presented on the “Role of Women in the Development of the Global Aquaculture Industry” during the conference.

“Although I was very impressed with the cooking and presentation skills of the young women, I was actually more impressed with the high level of science, attention to detail, analytical skill and verbal reasoning that the women had presented in the earlier poster session,” Fitzsimmons said. “It was quite clear to me that these women were working with their faculty to become top scientists, engineers and community leaders for their country. Their cooking skills were to be applauded, but the commitment that each and every student was making to becoming top scientists, engineers, physicists and professors was truly inspiring.”

LCWU is the largest women’s university in Pakistan having over 14,000 registered students. Over 400 students are part of the Zoology Department; two years ago fisheries and aquaculture was added as a new degree program within the zoology department at the university in response to the growing aquaculture industry in Pakistan. This academic program, and others like it, are building local capacity which will lead to sustained growth in the industry.