This report summarises the proceedings of the 17th meeting of the Advisory Group, held 13-14 November 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand. The group's role includes reviewing disease trends and emerging threats in the region, identifying developments in global aquatic disease issues and standards, evaluating the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Reporting Programme and providing guidance on regional strategies to improve aquatic animal health management.

This year’s International Training Course on the Biology and Pathology of Penaeid Shrimp will take place from 1-12 July at Centex Shrimp, Mahidol University, Bangkok. Tailored to those interested in doing shrimp research or learning about shrimp diseases, you will get to learn from the very best in the field about major and emerging shrimp diseases, shrimp farm management, gross inspection and molecular diagnosis of infectious shrimp diseases. You will have opportunities to try your hand in a series of practical sessions.

In this issue:

30th NACA Governing Council Meeting, China; Dr Huang Jie elected as the next Director General of NACA; Expert Consultation on Genetically Responsible Aquaculture; Launch of AGRISI: Aquatic Genetic Resource System of India; Aquatic animal epidemiology training course held at NBFGR; Asia-Pacific Laboratory Proficiency Testing Workshop; Proceedings of the FishAdapt Conference; Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report, July-September 2018; Centex Shrimp International Training Course on Biology and Pathology of Penaeid Shrimp; INFOFISH World Shrimp Trade Conference and Exposition.

The 79th edition of the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease report contains information from eleven governments. The foreword discusses the outcomes of the 17th Meeting of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health, held in Bangkok, 13-14 November 2018.

The 78th edition of the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report contains information from twelve governments in the Asia-Pacific region. The foreword discusses three recent aquatic animal health consultations: The ASEAN Regional Technical Consultation on Aquatic Emergency Preparedness and Response Systems for Effective Management of Transboundary Disease Outbreaks in Southeast Asia; the Regional Consultation and Related Study on Antimicrobial Resistance Risk to Aquaculture in Asia; and the Preliminary Consultation on Monitoring of Antimicrobial Resistance in Bacterial Pathogens in Aquaculture.