The ASEAN Regional Consultation on Aquatic Emergency Preparedness and Response Systems for Effective Management of Transboundary Disease Outbreaks in Southeast Asia was held in Bangkok, 20-22 August. The objective of the consultation was to bring together ASEAN member states and technical experts to discuss the current status of emergency animal disease preparedness and response systems, and to identify gaps and opportunities for regional cooperation in management of transboundary disease.

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing issue with significant implications for both human and animal health. However, data on pathogen resistance in aquaculture and other livestock industries has not been routinely or systematically collected. The purpose of these regional consultations, held in Bangkok, was to initiate action on this issue, identifying interventions to assess antimicrobial usage in Asian aquaculture, monitor antimicrobial resistance and develop guidelines and a strategy to minimise the long term risks. 

In this issue:

29th Governing Council Meeting held in Malé, Maldives; Proceedings of the Emergency Regional Consultation for Prevention and Management of Tilapia Lake Virus in the Asia-Pacific; NACA signs MOU on cooperation with the Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation; Aquaculture in China: Success Stories and Modern Trends; Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report; Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries 2018; International Training Course on the Biology and Pathology of Penaeid Shrimp; ASEAN-India Research Training Fellowships and more.

NACA’s 29th Governing Council Meeting was held in the Maldives capital, Malé, from 26-27 June, with attendance by fifteen member governments. This was the first official NACA meeting in the Maldives, since it became a member in 2014, and also the first time that most of the delegates had visited the country, affording participants a fascinating glimpse of a very different lifestyle in the archipelago, and a very different development context.

The Center for Excellence for Shrimp Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Centex Shrimp) will organise this training course from 10-21 September, 2018. Tailored to those involved in shrimp research, you will learn from the very best in the field about major and emerging shrimp diseases, shrimp farm management, gross inspection and molecular diagnosis of shrimp infectious diseases. You will have opportunities to try your hand in a series of practical sessions, including anatomical inspection using digital slides, nucleic acid detection, and many more. 

Health and safety within the global aquaculture industry is widely overlooked – despite the sector posing a great risk to workers, according to University of Stirling-led research. The project found the world’s estimated 18 million aquaculture workers regularly contend with “highly hazardous” conditions and workplace injury and disease risks are high. While some aquaculture workers are highly trained and in secure jobs globally, most are from vulnerable populations in precarious work, including women, indigenous people, children, seasonal workers, migrant workers, rural and remote workers.

This symposium will focus on the function and form of fish gills in the face of a changing ocean environment with emphasis on ocean warming and acidification. The goal is to create small teams of discipline experts to co-author topic reviews to be submitted as part of a special research topic in Frontiers of Marine Science. Priority will be given to early and mid career researchers and developing country scientists. For more information please download the flyer below or visit the symposium website.

The 76th edition of the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report contains information from 14 governments. The foreword discusses the outcomes of a Stakeholder Consultation on Progressive Management Pathway to Improve Aquaculture Biosecurity, organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Mississippi State University and the World Bank.

Since 2009, tilapia aquaculture has been threatened by mass die-offs in Israel and Ecuador, caused by a novel Orthomyxo-like (RNA) virus named Tilapia lake virus. An Emergency Regional Consultation for Prevention and Management of Tilapia Lake Virus in the Asia-Pacific was undertaken in September 2017, China, to discuss and plan actions on the overall prevention and management of the disease, and to prevent its further spread. These are the technical proceedings of the workshop.

Mahseer in recreational fisheries and ecotourism in India; Small-scale aquaculture of wild fish in Myanmar: A preliminary report from the Bago Region; Current know how and possibility for growout culture of an endangered catfish, Horabagrus brachysoma; Accelerated poverty alleviation of tribal households - cage fish farming by displaced fishers in reservoirs of Jharkhand; Adaptive learning in sustainable aquaculture: Best practices for small-scale shrimp farmers in Thailand; NACA Newsletter.