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

Free webinar on Fish Welfare: What we need to know?

FAI and NACA will convene a webinar on fish welfare issues on 8 March from 9:30-11:30 am Bangkok time (GMT+7). The webinar will address the relationship between welfare, health, quality and profit in aquaculture production. The programme will feature talks on:

  • Animal welfare applied to aquaculture.
  • Preliminary tilapia welfare assessment results in Thailand.
  • A practical framework for assessments on aquaculture productions.
  • Communicating welfare to the aquaculture industry.

Participation is free but registration is required, please download the attached flyer for details.

Improving aquaculture production performance through welfare assessment

NACA is set to embark on a journey with FAI Farms to educate, train and support fish and shrimp farmers on animal welfare. NACA and FAI are currently working on a program for the coming year to educate and train farmers on fish and shrimp welfare through a series of workshops and webinars. Furthermore, the series of online training courses “Welfare in tilapia production guideline” will be freely available to the NACA network to disseminate knowledge on the welfare of aquatic animals. In addition to trainings, workshops and online courses, FAI has developed a Tilapia welfare application that will put welfare directly into the hands of the farmer.

Reported Aquatic Animal Diseases in the Asia-Pacific Region during the Third Quarter of 2022

With the implementation of the new aquatic animal disease reporting in the Asia Pacific region from January 2021, and in lieu of the published QAAD Reports (last issue published was 4th quarter of 2020), NACA is publishing reported aquatic animal diseases submitted by countries in the Asia-Pacific region.  This report covers the third quarter of 2022 and the original and updated reports can be accessed at the QAAD page

NACA Newsletter, Vol. XXXVIII, January-March 2023

In this issue:

High-level meeting on aquaculture transformation in the Asia-Pacific region; Developing a regional strategy for aquatic organism health: Progressive management pathways; Job opportunity - health management and husbandry researcher; 2022 China-ASEAN International Forum on Sustainable Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture Under the Blue Transformation Strategy; A new progressive management pathway for improving seaweed biosecurity; Indian delegates visit Thailand for training and industry exposure; PhD scholarships: Shanghai Ocean University PhD Programme 2023; Reported aquatic animal diseases in the Asia-Pacific region during the second quarter of 2022.

Aquaculture transformation: Innovation and investment for sustainable intensification and expansion of aquaculture in Asia and the Pacific region

The document provides an overall vision and framework intended to accelerate aquaculture transformation in Asia and the Pacific region through innovations and investment, and to provide guidance to partners from the public, private and development communities to actively engage with the region in transforming aquaculture to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable food systems. The document served as background information for discussion in the High-Level Meeting on Aquaculture Transformation in Asia and the Pacific Region, 22–23 November 2022, organised by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific. The document is broadly aligned with FAO’s Blue Transformation Roadmap, paying specific attention to the context and needs of aquaculture within Asia and the Pacific region. The Paper translates the Roadmap into a vision and priority actions for aquaculture transformation in the region by 2030.