The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in collaboration with the SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research (Memorial University) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), will be hosting the 5th International Fishing Industry Safety and Health Conference (IFISH 5) in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada from June 10-13, 2018. Abstracts can be submitted electronically until 31 January, 2018.

The first ever Regional Training Course on Culture-based Fisheries in Inland Waters was held at Nha Trang University from 30 October to 8 November. The objective of the course was to provide participants with the skills to assist local communities to plan and manage culture-based fisheries. These practices are an example of a relatively simple and low cost technology that can deliver nutritional and economic benefits to rural communities, which often have few livelihood options.

The 74th edition of the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report contains information from 15 governments. The foreword describes an Emergency Regional Consultation for Prevention and Management of Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV) in the Asia-Pacific region.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending that farmers and the food industry stop using antibiotics routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in healthy animals. The new WHO recommendations aim to help preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics that are important for human medicine by reducing their unnecessary use in animals. In some countries, approximately 80% of total consumption of medically important antibiotics is in the animal sector, largely for growth promotion in healthy animals.

Since 2009, tilapia aquaculture has been threatened by mass die-offs in Israel and Ecuador, which have been caused by a novel Orthomyxo-like (RNA) virus named Tilapia lake virus. This has been reported as a newly emerging virus that causes syncytial hepatitis of tilapia. An emergency regional consultation was held in Guangzhou, China from 27-28 September 2017 to discuss and plan actions on the overall prevention and management of this disease.

In this issue:

28th NACA Governing Council, Dhaka, Bangladesh; register for the First Regional Training Course on Culture-based Fisheries; 11th Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum, Kochi, 21-24 November; audio recordings for regional feed consultation now available; tilapia lake virus; Proceedings of the International Symposium on Aquatic Animal Health and Epidemiology for Sustainable Asian Aquaculture; ICAR-CIBA launch "Vanami Shrimpapp", a mobile app on Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) farming; Pakistan officials train on aquaculture certification.

These are the proceedings of a symposium convened by the ICAR National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, India, from 20-21 April 2017. The symposium included presentations from national and international experts on aquatic animal epidemiology and related disciplines to address a range of risk factors that catalyse horizontal spread of disease, spread of transboundary pathogens and increased disease susceptibility, thereby contributing to strengthening of surveillance efforts, especially in the Indian context.

The 73rd edition of the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report contains information from 14 governments. The foreword provides a disease advisory on tilapia lake virus (TiLV), an emerging threat to farmed tilapia in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) is an emerging infectious agent that has recently been identified on three continents. While the link between TiLV and disease outbreaks in Israel and Thailand are well documented, further investigations are being undertaken to determine the significance of TiLV in the other countries. This report summarises the available scientific information on TiLV, including clinical signs, diagnostics and epidemiology. Infection with TiLV in tilapia populations may result in socio economic losses and impacts on food security.

In this issue:

Inspiring story of aquaculture in Sikkim - a journey from conservation to farming; farming of scampi and tiger shrimp together - a case study from West Bengal; Labeo pangusia - a candidate for diversification of hill aquaculture; sustainability of an integrated livestock-fish-crop farming system as a small scale enterprise; sustainable coastal aquaculture in India; potential scope and prospects of domestic fish market in Chhattisgarh.