7 October 2017 | 2315 views | Freshwater finfish, Health and Biosecurity, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar
Since 2009, tilapia aquaculture has been threatened by mass die-offs in Israel and Ecuador, which have been caused by a novel Orthomyxo-like (RNA) virus named Tilapia lake virus (TiLV). This has been reported as a newly emerging virus that causes syncytial hepatitis of tilapia (SHT). As of 2016, countries affected by this emerging disease included Israel, Ecuador, Colombia and Egypt. In 2017, Thailand and Taiwan Province of China confirmed the presence of the virus among farmed tilapia, which has caused mass mortalities since 2015. This is the first report of the disease in Asia-Pacific region. NACA released a Disease Advisory as part of the awareness programme in the region. The advisory was widely disseminated to all NACA member governments, partner institutes and other interested parties in the region and beyond.
As tilapia is a highly important aquaculture species in the region, it is highly important to contain the disease and prevent its spread to other major tilapia-producing countries such as China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Lao PDR and Bangladesh. Tilapia-producing countries in the region should be able to harmonise efforts in preventing the entry of the pathogen through improved quarantine and biosecurity measures. As such, the Emergency Regional Consultation was held to discuss and plan actions on the overall prevention and management of this disease. The consultation focused on the following:
The Consultation was organised by NACA in collaboration with the National Fisheries Technology Extension Center (NFTEC), Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and Sun Yat-Sen University, People’s Republic of China. It was held at Sun Yat-Sen Kaifeng Hotel, Guangzhou, China on 27-28 September 2017, and was attended by 45 foreign and local participants. The following topics were presented and discussed:
Country representatives then presented “Tilapia Health Management with Focus on Status of and National Action Plan on TiLV”. Countries represented were China (Dr Li Qing), Egypt (Dr Shimaa Elsayed Mohamed Ali), India (Dr Pravata Pradhan), Indonesia (Ms. Ratna Amalia Kurniasih), Malaysia (Dr Azila Binti Abdullah), Myanmar (Dr Kay Lwin Tun), Philippines (Dr Sonia Somga), Thailand (Ms. Jaree Polchana) and Vietnam (Dr Pham Hong Quan). A panel discussion was held and discussed the following issues:
Panelists include representatives from regional and international organisations as well as key institutes in China including: Dr Hong Liu (AQSIQ), Prof. Jianguo He (SYSU), Dr Yan Liang (NFTEC), Prof. Hong Yang (FFRC), Dr Stian Johnsen (OIE), Dr Shimaa Ali (WorldFish), Dr Rolando Pakingking, Jr. (SEAFDEC AQD), and Dr Eduardo Leaño (NACA). The proceedings of the consultation are still under preparation and will be available on the NACA website once published.
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