On May 8, 1992,
Qingdao Aquarium invited other aquariums in China for the 60th anniversary
celebration. During the meeting, Qingdao Aquarium proposed to establish a professional association of aquariums which reached an agreement.
So Qingdao Aquarium, Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park, Beihai Aquarium, Wuxi Oriental
Aquarium, Xi 'an Aquarium and other units made a proposal, and Qingdao Aquarium
was delegated to apply to China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).
The national aquarium organization should be a second-level organization of
Chinese Association of Natural Science Museums (CANSM). Du Pengshou, the director
of CANSM and deputy curator of Qingdao Aquarium, was invited to report on the
third CANSM Standing Council
in 1994 for preparation and activities of the national aquarium organization.
This organization was entitled ‘China Aquarium Association (CAA)’,
as a second-level organization of CANSM which was affiliated with Qingdao
Aquarium.
China Aquarium Association was formally approved by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and CANSM in 1994. 29 representatives,
including Xie Yinghuan, the vice president and secretary general of CANSM and Lou
Xihu, the deputy secretary general of CANSM, took part in its preparation
meeting in Qingdao on December 21 to 22, 1994. During the meeting, 8 units,
including Qingdao Aquarium, had elected 9 committee members for China Aquarium Association Preparation Committee and their
chairman, Yuwen Sheng, who is the curator of Qingdao Aquarium.
The
funding conference of CAA was held in Qingdao during May 10 to 12, 1995, with
50 representatives from 11 cities including Beijing and Dalian. Xie Yinghuan,
the vice president and secretary general of CANSM, Zhang Songling, the vice
president of CANSM, Lou Xihu, the deputy secretary general of CANSM, leaders
from Qingdao Government, researchers and representatives from Yellow Sea
Fisheries Research Institute and other Institutions, and some fishery trading
companies’ representatives from United States, Indonesia and Singapore attended
this meeting. The conference discussed
and approved “the constitution of China Aquarium
Association”, selected the chairman and vice chairman, hired adviser,
and issued group member signs to the first groups, at the same time held the
first academic annual conference and the first committee meeting of CAA.
Since the
foundation, to promote the prosperity and development of national aquarium, CAA
actively carried out academic and training program. As a result, more than 50
group members have been absorbed into CAA so far. Hosting 20 academic annual
conferences and 6 professional and technical training, publishing 17 paper
collections, 3 internal communication material and 4 news report editions, setting
the standards of "mammal trainer", publishing The Chinese Aquarium, and carrying out training and academic
activities widely, CAA play a key role in talent training, improvement of
animals’ breeding, training and disease prevention in aquarium, which
contributes to the raising and development of Chinese aquarium.
Secretariat of the China
Aquarium Association
In November 2015