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

Creative Commons Attribution.

Related

Subject tags

A collection of subject tags relating to technical matters.

In this collection

Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report, July-September 2014

This report, the 65th in the series, contains information about the aquatic animal health status of thirteen states in the Asia-Pacific region. The foreword discusses the outcomes of the 13th meeting of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health.

Aquaculture Asia Magazine, July-September 2014

In this issue:

Labour issues in the fishing and aquaculture industries. Commercial tilapia farming at take-off point in Fiji. Tank based captive breeding and seed production of the pearlspot (Etroplus suratensis). Cage culture of pearlspot in Kerala, India. Culture-based fisheries exchange visit from Lao PDR to Cambodia. National Fish Day, Cambodia. WAS Adelaide: Special Session on Regional Cooperation for Improved Biosecurity. Inbreeding and disease in tropical shrimp aquaculture: A reappraisal and caution.

NACA Newsletter, Volume XXIX, No. 3-4, July-December 2014

In this issue:

Culture-based fisheries exchange visit from Lao to Cambodia. National Fish Day, Cambodia. WAS Adelaide: Special Session on Regional Cooperation for Improved Biosecurity. Inbreeding and disease in tropical shrimp aquaculture: a reappraisal and caution. Shrimp EMS/AHPND Special Session at DAA9. 2nd International Symposium on Aquaculture and Fisheries Education. Report on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture for Food Security and Nutrition.

Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease Card (updated June 2014)

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) has recently been found to be caused by a pathogenic strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus. This updated disease card provides a summary and guidance on disease signs at the pond level, at the animal level by histopathology, molecular diagnostic tools, host range, presence in Asia-Pacific, prevention and control and links to further information.

A new and improved PCR method for detection of AHPND bacteria

We describe a new method for detecting isolates of Vibrio parahaemolyticus that cause acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND). This method is based on the gene sequence of a protein discovered in a sub-fraction of cell-free culture broth from isolates of V. parhaemolyticus that cause AHPND, but not from V. parahaemolyticus or other bacteria that do not cause AHPND. This cell-free preparation caused the typical signs of acute AHPND when administered to shrimp by reverse gavage.