Report of the eleventh meeting of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health, 21-23 November 2012

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 21-23 November 2012, Bangkok, Thailand. The report discusses emerging disease problems and regional response including to:

• Finfish diseases, with focus on catfish Pangasianodon hypophthalmus: Edwardsiella ictaluri, Aeromonas hydrophila, Streptococcus agalactiae, Tenacibaculum maritimum, Nocardia spp., viral nervous necrosis and iridoviruses, scale drop syndrome, Benedenia sp.
• Crustacean diseases: Whitespot syndrome virus, acute hepatopancreatic necrosis syndrome (to be listed in the Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report), yellowhead virus, infectious myonecrosis virus, Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei.
• Amphibian diseases: Ranavirus.

Other issues discussed included:

• Progress of NACA's Aquatic Animal Health Programme.
• Ten years of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health.
• Outcomes of the OIE General Session and Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission meetings, 2012.
• 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.