Yves Harache IFREMER Department Aquaculture Centre de Nantes BP.21105 44311 NANTES Cedex 3 France E mail : Yharache@ifremer.fr

Yves HARACHE is the former director (1996-2002) of the Aquaculture Department of IFREMER, (French national research institute in marine science). This department has a staff of 230 people, established in 17 laboratories established on the cost of mainland France, as well as French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Martinique and La Reunion. Research carried out concerns many aspects of temperate and tropical aquaculture: physiology, genetics, pathology, coastal ecosystems and rearing systems technology applied to molluscs (national priority), crustaceans, finfish and seaweeds.

His educational background in Biological Oceanography was completed during a post-graduate grant in United States, New Hampshire, Oregon and Washington in 1970-71. He then specialized in salmonid environmental physiology and fish culture research in Brest, the main research centre of IFREMER. Director of the Fish culture laboratory between 1983 and 1993, he became coordinator of fish culture programs of the institute (including tropical fish culture), then took the head of the Aquaculture Department in 1996. He has been involved in many international activities, through ICES (International Council for Exploration of the Sea) and bilateral cooperation activities with several European countries, Tunisia, United States (NMFS/NOAA), Chile, Australia (member of the Scientific review Committee of the Cooperative Research Center), ASEAN countries (through an ADCP European Community project), South Africa and China. He has been leader in FAO expertise on marine fish farming, expert for the European Community, and member of several international review committees for aquaculture research.

Member of several French and international aquaculture associations (Association pour le Developpement de l'Aquaculture), European Aquaculture Society (EAS) and World Aquaculture Society(WAS), he was elected to the EAS Board of directors in 1994. Involved directly in the organization of several large international important conferences (EAS, WAS…), he acted as invited or keynote speaker on several occasions. He is also regularly invited as lecturer in several French or European Universities, on different aspects of aquaculture research and development.

His next position is to head the IFREMER delegation in Noumea (New Caledonia) in September 2002, where he will manage the development of research devoted to shrimp culture in connection with other thematic laboratories of the institute.