Dr. Rohana Subasinghe

Honorary Life Member of the World Aquaculture Society
President of the World Aquaculture Society – Asia Pacific Chapter (WAS-APC).
Retired Chief of FAO Aquaculture Service
Managing Director, Future Fish
Sri Lanka

Rohana Subasinghe is a specialist in aquaculture development and aquatic animal health management. He retired from FAO in October 2015, while serving as the Chief of the Aquaculture Brach. Since his graduation in 1980 from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, he has worked in all parts of the world, with most experience in Asia. He joint FAO in 1994 and took responsibility in implementing many projects on aquaculture and aquatic animal health at national, regional and international levels worldwide until his retirement. Among others, at FAO, he was also responsible for analyses of trends in aquaculture development globally.

A former teacher of the University of Colombo and the Universiti Putra Malaysia, Rohana earned his PhD from Stirling University. Rohana is a strong advocate of sustainable aquaculture and its significant contribution to poverty alleviation and food and nutrition security. His passion is to empower people engaged in small-scale aquaculture value chains. He supports responsible certification of aquaculture and is also responsible for developing the globally approved FAO technical guidelines on aquaculture certification. He served as the Technical Secretary to the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries of the FAO, the only global inter-governmental forum on aquaculture. His spearheaded the development of a global partnership for aquaculture development in FAO, particularly addressing the need for a concerted effort to ensure future aquaculture development will become increasingly socially acceptable, environmentally sustainable, and responsibly managed. Rohana is still active in the field of fisheries and aquaculture, currently extending his years of experience and expertise, as a consultant, to many agencies and institutions worldwide.