In this issue:

Urgent warning: Positive PCR detection results for infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) and decapod iridescent virus 1 (DIV1) in captured Penaeus monodon from the Indian Ocean; COVID-19 news; Urgent announcement on usefulness of the lymphoid organ (LO) as an additional prime target for diagnosis of decapod iridescent virus 1 (DIV1) in diseased P. vannamei; Fresh or frozen seafood?; Report of the Eighteenth Meeting of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health; COVID-19 fallout could push half a billion people into poverty in developing countries; Simple techniques double crablet production.

Due to the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic the conference has been postponed. New dates have not been set, but it is anticipated that the meeting will be held in 2021 when circumstances allow. The venue will remain Shanghai, China. In the meantime, work on the programme will continue. Updates will be posted in due course.

Crab farmers will be happier, and the environment hopefully better, with recent improvements at the mangrove crab hatchery of SEAFDEC/AQD in Iloilo, Philippines. Crablets used in the farming of the prized mangrove crabs, Scylla serrata, are usually collected from the wild and increasing demand has threatened their natural population. However, Huervana recently revealed that simple tweaks in protocols at the SEAFDEC/AQD hatchery have led to a significant boost in their crablet production, with survival increasing twofold.

This report was prepared by the 18th Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health (AG) that met at Bangkok, Thailand on 18-19 November 2019. The group discussed OIE standards and global issues, review of regional disease status, reports on the aquatic animal health programmes of partner agencies, and disease reporting.

From a survey of wild, adult Penaeus monodon of potential broodstock size from the Indian Ocean in April 2018, we obtained positive nested RT-PCR test results for infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) and positive nested PCR test results for DIV1. As a confirmatory step, a second round of nested PCR tests was carried out using new, in-house primers designed from regions of the respective viral genomes distant from the target regions used in the first round of tests. These results suggested the possibility that the grossly normal, PCR-positive captured P. monodon specimens might be infected with the respective viruses at the carrier level. If so, they might serve as potential vehicles for introduction of IMNV and/or DIV1 into crustacean culture systems, especially if they were used in hatcheries for production of PL for distribution to shrimp farmers without proper precautions in place.