Disease-Watch - Welcome
Welcome once again to the July 2006 Edition of the Disease-Watch Newsletter.
Gardner Murray retires
Dr Gardner Murray, Australia’s Chief Veterinary Officer since 1993, has stepped down from the position as of 17th July. Gardner’s distinguished career has spanned more than 40 years, beginning as a general veterinary practitioner in the United Kingdom.
The many highlights of Gardner’s career include establishing the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS), the former Bureau of Resource Sciences (BRS) and the Product Integrity and Animal and Plant Health (PIAPH) Division of DAFF (including animal welfare policy, the National Biosecurity Strategy and AQUAPLAN). He has served as Executive Director of AQIS, BRS and PIAPH.
More recently, in addition to his duties as Chief Veterinary Officer, he has been a Special Adviser to the Department Secretary, Joanna Hewitt.
Of course, Gardner was the Chair of the Fish Health Management Committee in the formative years of AQUAPLAN and the development of emergency preparedness and response protocols for managing incursions of diseases in aquaculture. Gardner also chaired the Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases for aquatics and was Australia’s representative on the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). I am sure you will join me in thanking Gardner for the commitment and contribution he has made to securing health management and emergency response programs for aquaculture in Australia. The role of Acting Chief Veterinary Officer with Gardner’s departure will be filled by the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Bob Biddle.
The well received identification field guide “Aquatic Animal Diseases Significant to Australia”, released in 2004 on CD has been revised with a greater focus on distribution of diseases in the Asia Pacific region. This has been a collaborative effort between the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry under the Securing The Future “Asia Regional Initiative”. The regional edition will be released later this year and available to all NACA member and affiliated governments.The regional version of the field guide will include several diseases previously not included in the Australian version and includes all NACA listed diseases of aquatic animals.
Watch out for news of its release and details of how to obtain copies of the regional field guide or download from the internet when it becomes available.
AQUAPLAN 2005-2010 Joint Stakeholder Workshop 4-5 April 2006AQUAPLAN 2005-2010 was jointly developed by governments and the aquatic animal industries to continue to build on AQUAPLAN 1998-2003, and enhance the management of aquatic animal health in Australia. The plan and indicative budget were endorsed by the Primary Industries Ministerial Council (PIMC) in April 2005.
The first AQUAPLAN 2005-2010 Stakeholder Workshop was held in Melbourne on the 4th and 5th of April to monitor progress on the implementation of AQUAPLAN and to assess the plan’s continuing relevance. Following presentations from key industries on their current status and perceived priorities within the plan, participants worked through the plan, confirming or proposing amendments to the projects underpinning the objectives for each of the plan’s seven strategies. Each project was subsequently assigned a priority rating.
The workshop confirmed the essential nature of the national strategic plan, and that stakeholders remain supportive of the plan’s strategies and objectives. The proposed amendments to AQUAPLAN projects and priorities were discussed and endorsed by the Aquatic Animal Health Committee (AAHC) at their 10th meeting in June, in Melbourne (AAHC has oversight of AQUAPLAN 2005-2010).
Contributed by: Russell Hunter, OCVO, AGDAFF
Open this hyperlink to view AQUAPLAN 2005-2010 and watch the www.aah.gov.au website for a soon to be released summary of amendments to AQUAPLAN priorities as endorsed by AAHC in June.
MAY 2006 OIE GENERAL SESSION
The 74th General Session of the World Organisation for Animal Health (formerly the Office International des Epizooties) was held in Paris from the 20th to the 26th of May. At this session, some significant changes were made to the Aquatic Animal Health Code.
Two fish diseases (infectious pancreatic necrosis; bacterial kidney disease) were removed from the list, and one fish disease (koi herpesvirus disease, placed ‘under study’ at the 73rd General Session) was added. All three diseases are exotic to Australia.
One mollusc disease (infection with Mikrocytos mackini – exotic to Australia) was removed from the list. Another mollusc disease (abalone viral mortality) was added as an ‘emerging disease’. It is currently not known whether the herpes-like virus that has been causing abalone deaths in Victoria since December 2005 would be part of this emerging disease complex, however, the initial Victorian incident was reported to the OIE regardless, and updates are being provided.
Chapters on the recently de-listed diseases infectious pancreatic necrosis and bacterial kidney disease were retained and an updated version of infection with Mikrocytos mackini was provided.
The list of diseases relates to the reporting obligations of Member Countries of which Australia is a signatory, while the disease-specific chapters in the Aquatic Code serve to assist Member Countries to develop their import regulations.
Previous sessions of the OIE saw the de-listing of infection with Mikrocytos roughleyi, infection with Marteilia sydneyi and infection with Haplosporidium costale from the Aquatic Code. These diseases no longer appear in the Aquatic Animal Health Code 2006
The changes adopted by the 74th General Session of the OIE will not appear in the Aquatic Animal Health Code until its next publication in 2007.
Definitions for infection and susceptible species were adopted. This follows years of differences in opinion on what exactly constitutes an infection and what evidence is required to list a host species as susceptible. Because these definitions underpin all trade chapters, agreement constitutes a major step forward.
Dr Eva-Maria Bernoth (OCVO, DAFF) was re-elected as President of the Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission of the OIE for a second, three-year term.
Contributed by: Russell Hunter, OCVO, AGDAFF
Australasian Aquaculture Conference 2006,Australasian Aquaculture 2006, to be held 27-30 August 2006 in Adelaide, South Australia, will be the second in a series of international conferences, meetings, events and trade shows held biennially near the major aquaculture producing regions of Australia.
The theme for Australasian Aquaculture 2006 is “Innovation in Aquaculture”. Maintaining or increasing profit, entering new markets, obtaining skilled labour, in fact, all aspects of aquaculture require a level of innovation.
Australasian Aquaculture 2006 will provide a forum for aquaculture farmers, processors, business operators, equipments suppliers, scientists, educators, students, consultants and government representatives to meet and discuss the latest advances and innovations in the industry.
We look forward to seeing you at Aquatic Animal Health and Welfare stand at the conference trade show.
For further details please go to:
http://www.australian-aquacultureportal.com/Remember that copies of AQUAPLAN 2005- 2010 are available free of charge by contacting aah@daff.gov.au. AQUAPLAN 2005-2010 can also be downloaded from www.daff.gov.au/aquaplan.
The World Aquaculture Society Conference. 26 February - 2 March 2007Every three year the World Aquaculture Society convenes its triennial conference. In 1998, Australia hosted the conference in Sydney. In 2004 it was held in Hawaii and in 2007 the Triennial is being held in San Antonio Texas USA.
The theme for the 2007 WAS Triennial is “Science for Sustainable Aquaculture”.
The Triennial is the largest aquaculture conference held in the world with nearly 4000 attendees from over 70 countries expected.
AQUACULTURE 2007 will have one of the largest aquaculture trade shows anywhere in the world with over 200 booths.
The deadline for submitting abstracts for the conference is 25th August 2006 and abstracts can be submitted on-line. Go to www.was.org to register for the conference, or submit abstracts.
For further information visit the World Aquaculture Society website at www.was.org.