Report of the tenth meeting of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health, 19-20 November 2011

The Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health meets annually to discuss regional disease issues including emerging disease threats. This is the report of the seventh meeting, held 19-20 November 2011 in Mangalore, India. The report discusses emerging disease problems and regional response including to:

• Finfish diseases: Infectious skin and kidney necrosis virus, red sea bream iridovirus, scale-drop syndrome, Tenacibaculum maritimum, ranaviruses.
• Crustacean diseases: Whitespot syndrome virus, infectious myonecrosis virus, early mortality syndrome, muscle cramp syndrome, Macrobrachium rosenbergii nodavirus, Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei.

Other issues discussed included:

• Progress of NACA's Aquatic Animal Health Programme.
• Outcomes of the OIE General Session and Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission meetings, 2011.
• Disease reporting, including changes to the OIE list of notifiable diseases and establishment of a global online reporting system (WAHIS) by OIE.
• Review of the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Reporting System.
• Progress in implementation of the the Regional Technical Guidelines on Health management for the Responsible Movement of Live Aquatic Animals.
• Identification and designation of regional aquatic animal health resources, including experts, centres and reference laboratories.
• Regional and international cooperation.