Disease-Watch - Welcome

Welcome to the final monthly newsletter.This will be the last newsletter in this series hosted on the Disease-watch website. For news on aquatic animal health related subjects, readers are encouraged to visit the AQUAPLAN webpages of the DAFF aquatic animal health website (www.daff.gov.au/aquaplan) where the latest AQUAPLAN newsletter is posted on a semestral basis. You can also subscribe to the AQUAPLAN Newsletter from this website.

Don’t forget that copies of AQUAPLAN 2005- 2010 are available free of charge by contacting aah@daff.gov.au. AQUAPLAN 2005-2010 and can also be downloaded from www.daff.gov.au/aquaplan.

GLOBAL CONFERENCE

 


OIE GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON AQUATIC ANIMAL HEALTH: BERGEN NORWAY 9-12 OCTOBER 2006.

The first OIE Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health was held in Bergen (Norway), 9-12 October 2006, in a collaborative venture with the Norwegian Government.

Around 150 people attended the conference, including OIE Delegates from around the world, representatives of national veterinary services and associated competent authorities, as well as industry producers. Dr Bernad Vallat, Director General of the OIE opened the conference, and in his opening address he remarked that aquaculture now accounts for almost 50 percent of the world’s food fish and is probably the world’s fastest growing food-producing sector. Dr Vallat also highlighted that poor animal health conditions remain a major impediment to the further development of aquaculture production world-wide.

During the conference, Dr Eva-Maria Bernoth (President of the OIE Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission) delivered a keynote address titled “Structural Arrangements in Australia for Managing Aquatic Animal Disease Emergencies”. This address described Australia’s preparedness to respond to a disease incursion and was very well received, helping to emphasise Australia’s position as a world leader in the area of aquatic animal health and disease management.

The conference closed with delegates endorsing a clear set of recommendations for creating a framework for improved governance and cooperation among governments and industry stakeholders, improving mechanisms for global aquatic animal health monitoring, sharing of information, and addressing aquatic animal health and welfare issues globally.

The Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission will assist the OIE in responding to the outcomes of the first OIE Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health and implementing the newly outlined recommendations, using the organisation’s network including its regional and sub-regional offices.


 
AQUATIC ANIMAL HEALTH CAPACITY  


STRENGTHENING AQUATIC ANIMAL HEALTH CAPACITY AND BIOSECURITY IN ASEAN

Over the past twelve months, the Australian Government Department of Agriculture Fisheries & Forestry (DAFF) has been involved in the delivery of a collaborative project titled “Strengthening aquatic animal health capacity and biosecurity in ASEAN”.


The project is aimed at developing harmonised approaches to aquatic animal health management and biosecurity in ASEAN countries, and improving the capacity to implement ASEAN aquatic animal health and biosecurity strategies. The project is being conducted under the auspices of AusAid’s ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program’s Regional Partnership Scheme.


In addition to DAFF, the partners in this project are the Network of Aquaculture Centres in the Asia Pacific (NACA), AusVet Animal Health Services and the Aquatic Animal Health Research Institute (AAHRI), Department of Fisheries, Thailand.


The project consists of a series of policy and technical workshops and the conduct of technical missions in participating ASEAN member countries.


In April 2006, representatives from all 10 ASEAN countries participated in the first policy workshop, which was aimed at:

  • analysing the status of aquatic animal health management plans;
  • analysing the capacities and institutional arrangements in ASEAN member countries;
  • identifying gaps; and
  • preparing an overall workplan and detailed outputs for the project.

In May 2006, the Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer (OCVO) within DAFF contributed resource expertise in facilitating the first technical workshop, which provided participants with training in epidemiology, disease outbreak investigation and an introduction to risk analysis.

OCVO representatives also visited Cambodia, Laos PDR, Burma and Vietnam as part of small teams conducting the technical missions. The aim of these technical missions was to support the development and implementation of country specific activities in each participating country. Some key outcomes were the:

  • identification of key national issues concerning aquatic animal health in each country;
  • development of a draft national list of diseases and raised awareness among the participants of how countries can access and utilise the NACA regional network of laboratories and experts;
  • development of a draft framework for passive surveillance and reporting and the development of a project proposal, for submission of local aid agencies in each country, to pilot the passive surveillance framework; and
  • development of a draft framework for contingency planning.

The second technical and policy workshops will be held in early 2007.

  
SURVEILLANCE WORKSHOP  


AQUAPLAN AUGUST 2006 SURVEILLANCE WORKSHOP

The importance of surveillance for aquatic animal health in Australia has been recognised by all stakeholders by its incorporation into AQUAPLAN (Australia’s National Strategic Plan for Aquatic Animal Health 2005 – 2010). AQUAPLAN Strategy 1, “Enhanced integration and scope of aquatic animal health surveillance in Australia”, specifically aims to support cost-effective surveillance activities that meet national, state and industry needs.


On 11 August 2006, a joint industry-government workshop on aquatic animal health surveillance was held in Melbourne. Representatives from the aquaculture and fisheries industry sectors, Australian, state and territory governments, CSIRO - Australian Animal Health Laboratory and the Australian Wildlife Health Network met to progress the following objectives of AQUAPLAN strategy 1:

  1. Identify gaps in current aquatic animal health surveillance against the needs (present and future); and
  2. Reach agreement on national priorities for aquatic animal health surveillance for 5 key sectors (prawns, edible oysters, pearl oysters, salmon and tuna).

    A report from the workshop is in preparation.
 
MANUAL RELEASED  


NEW AQUAVETPLAN MANUAL RELEASED

Withering Syndrome of Abalone -Disease Strategy Manual
AQUAVETPLAN is the Australian Aquatic Veterinary Emergency Plan. It is based on a similar series of manuals for terrestrial animal diseases known as AUSVETPLAN. Both plans have disease strategy manuals so that aquatic and terrestrial animal health professionals can efficiently respond to animal disease emergency situations in Australia.

In September 2006, the disease strategy manual for Infection with Candidatus Xenohaliotis californiensis (withering syndrome of abalone) was released. The manual sets out the disease control principles for use in response to a suspected or confirmed incursion of withering syndrome of abalone in Australia and has been endorsed by the industry and state, territory and Australian governments.

Other disease strategy manuals available in this series include:

  • Crayfish plague;
  • Furunculosis;
  • Viral encephalopathy & retinopathy;
  • Viral haemorrhagic septicaemia;
  • Whirling disease; and
  • White spot disease.


The series also includes a number of management and operational procedure manuals including:

  • Control Centres Management Manual;
  • Enterprise Manual;
  • Destruction Manual; and
  • Disposal Manual.


All AQUAVETPLAN manuals can be downloaded (free of charge) from: http://www.daff.gov.au/aquavetplan
CONFERENCE


AUSTRALASIAN AQUACULTURE CONFERENCE 2006
The Australasian Aquaculture Conference 2006 was held in Adelaide, South Australia 27-30 August 2006.

The main theme for the conference was ‘Innovation in Aquaculture’ for maintaining or increasing profit, entering new markets, and recruitment of skilled labour.

Australasian Aquaculture 2006 provided a forum for aquaculture farmers, processors, business operators, equipment suppliers, scientists, educators, students, consultants and government representatives to meet and discuss the latest advances and innovations in the industry.

The conference covered over 49 different themes running concurrently over the three days including: global marketing directions; risk management and surveillance; market driven quality assurance and handling; health in aquaculture; biosecurity and the ornamental fish industry; indigenous aquaculture; and, education and training.

Talks on innovations and future directions in aquaculture included topics on biomarine farming (farming for pharma/nutraceuticals), aquaponics and various advances in more traditional sectors of the aquaculture industry.

In the trade hall adjacent to the conference theatres, there were around 100 producers exhibiting the latest in humane despatching technologies, biofiltration systems, feeding systems, sea cage technologies, shellfish culture systems and health services. Several universities were on hand to provide information on courses in aquaculture and aquatic animal health, and several state government agencies also had a strong presence in the trade hall as did the Australian Government Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.

For the first time, a stall on aquatic animal welfare was featured at the conference. The aquatic animal health and welfare stall (staffed by DAFF officers from the Aquatic Animal Health and Animal Welfare sections) received a great deal of interest from producers of all sectors, illustrating a growing awareness and appreciation of the importance of welfare in production and marketing of aquaculture.

A presentation on the current position and philosophy on welfare of aquatic animals in Australia and world wide attracted a good audience, generating discussion on the implications for fisheries and aquaculture of the growing awareness of aquatic animal welfare issues. The conference provided a great opportunity to promote the work of the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy and to raise the consciousness of welfare in aquatic animal production.

For more information on the conference visit: http://www.australian-aquacultureportal.com/austaqua/aa06.html.
For more information on the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy visit: http://www.daff.gov.au/aaws