Disease-Watch - Welcome

Hi everyone. Welcome to Newsletter 4 of 12.

Kit Goes International!

The Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) recently held a meeting in Jakarta to discuss disease management in Asian aquaculture. The organisers requested information on Australia’s AQUAVETPLAN – Australia’s Aquatic Animal Diseases Veterinary Emergency Plan. The simplest way to provide this information was to send several copies of the Disease Watch CD-ROM. The CDs were so well received that each member of NACA’s Asia Regional Advisory Group that meets in November will receive a copy and NACA is making preliminary inquiries as to whether it is possible to distribute the CD-ROM throughout Asia.

The kit covers the basics for field operators, businesses, government workers, vets, students and academics.

With over 80 minutes of video supported by extensive documentation with links to relevant web sites and On Line resources, the kit is an important reference tool offering step-by-step processes for anyone in the aquaculture industry.

If you have not yet obtained a copy of the kit, follow this link and fill out the request form. http://www.disease-watch.com/orderKit.htm And yes the Kit is FREE!

If you have already have a copy of the kit, please take the time to visit the accompanying Web Site http://www.disease-watch.com for updates, links to other web sites and further information.

For those with questions or comments that may be helpful to others involved in the Australian Aquaculture Industry, there is an ON LINE FORUM http://www.disease-watch.com/forum.asp (or discussion bulletin board) on the web site. Here you can leave messages for others, make comments or suggestions on various topics or ask questions that other members may be able to answer for you. This is your SPACE and we encourage you to use it on a regular basis.

We’d love to get some feedback on the kit so visit the FORUM. We’d love to hear from you.

The Australasian Aquaculture conference in Sydney saw over 1100 delegates from 50 countries come together for 3 days. In his address to open the conference, Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Ian Macdonald highlighted AQUAPLAN 2005-2010 and several of its key projects on environmentally sustainable development in aquaculture and the development of a cost-sharing arrangement to provide certainty of funding in the case of an emergency animal disease incident in Australian aquaculture.

Representatives from industry, government and science could choose between the 230 talks, 97 poster presentations and 83 trade displays on offer. Topics covered in the conference ranged from fish health through farm engineering to marketing and government regulation. Sessions on finfish, mollusc and crustacean health were all well attended with standing room only at several talks.

Karina Scott of the Australian Government – Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

During the finfish health session, Karina Scott of the Australian Government – Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry presented the Disease Watch – Play Your Part awareness package. In 20 minutes, Karina provided an overview of the CD-ROM, the website and the newsletter and how they all interacted to present a coherent awareness package.

During the three days of the tradeshow, over 400 CD-ROMs were given away to interested participants.

Throughout the conference, The National Aquaculture Council played an 8 minute video loop that used video footage drawn from the Disease Watch CD ROM. This also captured a great deal of attention and further underlines the importance of the Disease Watch Awareness Kit as a resource for the Industry.

Don’t forget. The World Aquaculture 2005 conference to be held in Bali may seem a long way off, but it will be upon us sooner than expected.

The conference will be held in Bali on 9-13 May 2005.
Abstracts must be received by 1 November 2004.

For more information on the conference, check the website at http://www.was.org/Meetings/ConferenceInfo.asp?MeetingCode=WA2005