In this issue:

12th Technical Advisory Committee held in Cha-am, Thailand. Audio recordings: WAS special session on regional cooperation for improved biosecurity. AFSPAN Final Technical Report now available! Pillay Aquaculture Foundation Awards for Scientists in Least Developed Countries. Gender seminar conducted and ASEAN Gender Network launched. A two-tube, nested PCR detection method for AHPND bacteria. 9th Regional Grouper Hatchery Production Training Course. Developing an environmental monitoring system to strengthen fisheries and aquaculture in the Lower Mekong Basin. Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on the Status of Aquatic Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Brett Herbert introduces the special session with a presentation on biosecurity and regional cooperation.

Transboundary aquatic animal diseases are one of the major concerns for strengthening of aquatic animal health management capacity in the region. The spread of these diseases demonstrates the vulnerability of the aquaculture industry, as well as the wild fish populations, to disease emergence where impacts have been exacerbated by the lack of preparedness. NACA's Aquatic Animal Health Programme, established in 1998, provides a mechanism for regional governments to coordinate disease preparedness, surveillance and response.

Domestication in livestock industries is the process in which animal populations change in response to the artificial environments of farming production systems. Significant and widespread economic gains have been achieved through genetic improvements made through domestication and selective breeding of commercially farmed shrimp species, particularly Litopenaeus vannamei. Different policies on the translocation of shrimp genetic resources have influenced the approaches to shrimp domestication in different countries. The present paper examines the different approaches.

In early 2013, Vibrio parahaemolyticus was discovered as the causative agent of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND). Subjecting 4 arbitrarily selected V. parahaemolyticus isolates obtained from a single farm in November 2012 to the previously reported immersion challenge protocol, we confirmed that 3 caused high mortality at different rates accompanied by characteristic lesions of AHPND while 1 caused high mortality without such lesions. Virulence may be determined by mobile genetic elements such as plasmids or bacteriophages.