In their press release for April/May 2025, organisers of TILAPIA 2025 announced that Dr Kevin M Fitzsimmons, Director International Initiatives and Professor, Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona, USA, as the Chairperson and Keynote Speaker for the plenary session.
Fitzsimmons is a distinguished professor and research scientist who is a renowned and an almost legendary figure in the global tilapia aquaculture industry. His keynote address, entitled Global Tilapia Production, Trade and Marketing: Overcoming Challenges in the New Era, will set the stage for some very important dialogue during the three-day conference.
TILAPIA 2025 is expected to gather about 500 industry leaders, decision- makers and experts representing all the major tilapia producing countries. Themed “Innovation, Integration and Profitability in Tilapia Aquaculture: Modernisation for a New Era“, the conference will be held alongside an international trade exhibition highlighting state-of-the-art innovations. Participants will also have the option of visiting a farm to witness the latest industry developments in Thailand.
In addition to the knowledge-sharing during the plenary sessions, the event will be an exceptional platform for stakeholders in the commercial tilapia industry to unite, with a view to forming a regional tilapia association and to move forward the dialogue on re-establishing tilapia as a preferred fish for farming and food security. It will create unique opportunities to foster plenty of C-Suite networking and significant brand visibility; as well as forge vital partnerships and collaboration among the key stakeholders to build a sustainable and resilient tilapia industry.
TILAPIA 2025 is organised by INFOFISH, in collaboration with the 13th International Symposium on Tilapia in Aquaculture (ISTA13) which is co-organised by the US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and the University of Arizona. It is hosted by the Department of Fisheries, Thailand. Supporters are FAO GLOBEFISH; Tilapia International Foundation, Netherlands; Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand; Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA); China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA); and Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Update:
The venue for the 5th INFOFISH WORLD TILAPIA TRADE AND TECHNICAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2025, which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 3–5 November 2025, has been renamed as follows:
New Name: Jubilee Prestige Hotel Ratchadapisek
Previous Name: Swissotel Bangkok Ratchada
This three-day event will be held in Bangkok from November 3–5, 2025. The Fish Site, Aqua Culture Asia Pacific Magazine and Aquafeed.com are the media partners for this premier event. Conference registration is now open.
More information: https://www.tilapia.infofish.org
Dr Kevin Fitzsimmons is a Professor, Research Scientist and Aquaculture Extension Specialist at the University of Arizona, Department of Environmental Science. He also serves as the Director for International Initiatives at the College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences; and is also the co-host of Tilapia 2025 /13th ISTA in Bangkok.
Fitzsimmons conducts research, education, and development projects in sustainable aquaculture. He is also the co-founder and spokesperson for the F3 Fish Free Feeds Initiative, promoting the development and adoption of alternative ingredients to replace fishmeal and fish oil in aquaculture feeds.
He has been a leader in the development of the tilapia farming industry on a worldwide basis and has organised, hosted and co-edited the proceedings for 9 of the past 12 International Symposia on Tilapia in Aquaculture. Fitzsimmons served as an advisor to the Chinese government and tilapia industry for many years. He was a PI on multiple projects with the Aquaculture CRSP/Innovation Lab in Africa, Asia, South and Central America.
In 2017, he was awarded his second Fulbright Fellowship, a research grant working on commercialisation of alternative ingredients for aquaculture feeds with three Universities in Southeast Asia. From 2015 to 2021 he was Team Leader for aquaculture development projects funded by USAID and the EU-GIZ in Myanmar. He is a Distinguished Adjunct Professor with the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok and he serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Monterey Bay Aquarium – Seafood Watch program. Fitzsimmons is also a past President and a Fellow of the World Aquaculture Society.
