Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific

Health and Biosecurity

The Health and Biosecurity Programme assists members to reduce the risks of aquatic animal disease impacting the livelihoods of farmers, national economies, trade, environment and human health by:

  • Improving regional cooperation in aquatic animal health and welfare.
  • Developing and implementing national strategies on aquatic animal health.
  • Improving surveillance, reporting and response to disease emergencies.
  • Promoting harmonisation of diagnostic procedures and risk assessment.
  • Widespread promotion of better aquatic animal health management practices at the farm level.

Key activities

Key activities of the programme include:

  • Convening the annual meeting of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health, coordinating the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report and bringing regional issues to the attention of global standard setting bodies such as the Office International des Epizooties.
  • Establishment and expansion of a three-tier shared resource in aquatic animal health.
  • Development of farm-level health management tools for key aquaculture commodities.
  • Supporting regional disease surveillance and reporting.
  • Strengthening aquatic animal health and biosecurity in the region.
  • Facilitating harmonisation in disease diagnostic techniques.
  • Developing resource material in support of diagnosis and surveillance.

Contacts

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Related

Subject tags

A collection of subject tags relating to technical matters.

In this collection

TCRS Shrimp Summit To Spotlight Issues Driving Industry Changes

PORTSMOUTH, NH:  Shrimp experts from around the world will gather in Bali this June for the third annual TCRS Shrimp Summit—a one-of-a-kind event that explores the issues impacting the industry's health and future, from the pond to the market. The summit is unique not just because it represents the full value chain, including major buyers, but because it spotlights the topics, both technical and tactical, that are driving change.

This year's Summit, which takes place 22-25 June, 2025, introduces several new sessions that demonstrate the event's role as a singular forum for investigating the issues that matter.

One such issue is Shrimp Welfare, particularly the use of eyestalk ablation for rapid egg production. Dr. Simão Zacarias, one of the session speakers and a recipient of the 2020 Global Aquaculture Innovation Award, says that, "although eyestalk ablation can boost egg production, it is also associated with female broodstock stress, physiological imbalance, mortality, and compromised diseas resistance in offspring."

Reported Aquatic Animal Diseases in the Asia-Pacific Region during the Third Quarter of 2024

With the implementation of the new aquatic animal disease reporting in the Asia Pacific region from January 2021 NACA is publishing reported aquatic animal diseases submitted by countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This report covers the third quarter of 2024 and the original and updated reports can be accessed from the QAAD page.

NACA Newsletter, Vol. XXXX, January-March 2025

In this issue:

  • FAO programme supports national innovation and investment plans for aquaculture transformation.
  • 14th Asian Fisheries Forum, 12-15 February 2025 register now!
  • Saudi International Marine Exhibition (SIMEC) 3-5 February 2025, Riyadh.
  • Workshop on Sustainable Brine Shrimp Artemia Cultivation, 17 February, Tashkent.
  • Status, technological innovations, and industry development needs of mud crab (Scylla spp.) aquaculture.
  • Global Seaweed: New and Emerging Markets Report 2023.

NACA Newsletter, Vol. XXXIX, October-December 2024

In this issue:

  • Training Programme on Safeguarding Artemia Resources for Aquaculture held in Rome.
  • First International Artemia Aquaculture Consortium Conference and Members' Meeting, Ostend, Belgium.
  • Inception workshop: Knowledge brokering for nature-based solutions in aquaculture transformation.
  • Reported Aquatic Animal Diseases in the Asia-Pacific Region during the First Quarter of 2024.
  • 14th Asian fisheries and Aquaculture Forum, India.
  • PhD scholarships: Shanghai Ocean University PhD Programme 2025.

Videos available: First International Artemia Aquaculture Consortium Conference and Members' Meeting

The first ever IAAC conference was a free half day event held in Ostend, Belgium on 9 September, as a prelude to Larvi 2024, which ran from 9-12 September. The conference featured twelve presentations introducing the IAAC and providing an overview of many of the issues surrounding Artemia, including management of salt lakes habitats that still provide the bulk of global Artemia supplies, Artemia biodiversity, hatching optimisation, and aquaculture of Artemia biomass in tanks and ponds. Video recordings of most will be posted shortly (the programme below will be updated with links). Video recordings of the presentations are now available on the NACA YouTube channel.

The first IAAC Members’ Meeting was held in the afternoon following the IAAC Conference. The proceedings involved two panel discussions, by the Academic Sector and Private Sector respectively. The panels included remote members participating via Zoom.