Academic and scientific representatives from Colombia’s aquaculture sector created the Colombian Academic Association of Aquaculture (Asociación Académica Colombiana de Acuicultura - ACCUA) during the annual meeting of the Latin American & Caribbean Aquaculture Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society, 2018 (LAQUA18), and the VIII Colombian Congress of Aquaculture (CCA) held in Bogotá from the 23^rd to the 26^th of October 2018. Various matters were discussed during this meeting, such as the legal procedures/paperwork required for creating such association, the background to it, approving its statutes, its founding members and electing a board of directors.

ACCUA’s creation was based on the considerations of a report entitled, “Aquaculture in Colombia” (^{Pardo-Carrasco et al., 2018}) presented at LAQUA18; this dealt with the aquaculture production of exotic and native species using environmentally-friendly technologies in different areas of Colombia. This report highlighted the fact that some Colombian universities (i.e. Universidad de Córdoba, Universidad de Los Llanos, Universidad Nacional, Universidad de Nariño, Universidad de Antioquia and Universidad Magdalena) were already leading projects substantially contributing towards resolving technical and social problems regarding aquaculture reproduction/breeding and production through programmes aimed at producing knowledge and supporting productive development, thereby promoting job creation. Furthermore, its proposals sought to converge in and harmonise with government entities’ proposals for dynamising the sector’s growth.

It was stated that ACCUA’s objectives would be to promote national and international recognition of (Colombian) undergraduate and postgraduate academic programmes based on the sciences and technologies governing current sustainable and competitive aquaculture practice. In collaboration with the pertinent official entities, ACCUA would seek legislative changes promoting the development of competitive local and global aquaculture, respecting principles regarding animal health and wellbeing. ACCUA would promote academic, educational and recreational study of and research into aquaculture, promoting social, economic and cultural development in accordance with the principles of sustainability. It was also decided that ACCUA would host the Colombian Congress of Aquaculture (CCA), the activity’s main national event, and be responsible for regulating it and its permanence, guaranteeing its academic and scientific quality in line with international standards. ACCUA would also provide wholehearted support for scientific journals interested in aquaculture research.

It was hoped that a considerable amount of Colombian universities would become represented in ACCUA which was to have 58 founding partners from the public and private academic sector. Its board of directors, made up of professors/teachers from the aquaculture area, would stay in office for two-year periods. Its members during the inaugural period were to be:

Miguel Ángel Landines Parra acting as president and Adriana Patricia Muñoz Ramírez as treasurer (both from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá), Luis Felipe Collazos Lasso from the Universidad de los Llanos as vice-president, Sandra Clemencia Pardo Carrasco from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellín and Víctor Julio Atencio García from the Universidad de Córdoba as board members, Camilo Ernesto Guerrero Guevara from the Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander as director of the editorial committee and Mónica Cecilia Botero Aguirre from the Universidad de Antioquia as secretary.

Further information about ACCUA can be obtained by e-mail at accua.asociacion.academica@gmail.com, or by phone on: 57-1-3165000, ext. 19406.