Contribution of science to farm-level aquatic animal health management.

Abstract

The contribution of science to farm level disease management is a story of two worlds. The development of effective vaccines has allowed for the control of important salmonid diseases such as furunculosis, yersiniosis and vibriosis and has significantly reduced farmers' reliance on antibiotics. Control of diseases for which cost-effective vaccines have yet to be developed has been achieved through the development of increasingly targeted antibiotics and chemotherapeutants. Increasingly, accurate and rapid diagnostic and water quality tests have allowed farmers to improve farm-level aquatic animal health management. In developed countries, these achievements have been possible thanks to the strong link between science and farm management. This link has been assisted by the presence of strong farmer organizations capable of coordinating research projects and hosting meetings at which scientific information is discussed and disseminated. Although Asia is responsible for the production of about 90% of aquaculture products, it presents a rather different picture from the above. Science has indeed made significant progress in health management but the links with farm management are still weak. Management practices capable of preventing important health problems in shrimp and fish farming are still poorly adopted by farmers. This is largely due to constraints in the dissemination of information to the large number of producers involved, the limited resources of both producers and their countries and the lack of effective farmer organizations capable of liaising with the scientific world. Recently, the Asian region has witnessed some successful examples of aquatic animal health management through the adoption of simple Better Management Practices. Efforts so far have been largely focused on shrimp farming, although activities have been initiated to adopt a similar approach to other commodities. The need for both observational and experimental epidemiological studies to identify simple and affordable farm practices for the control of aquatic animal diseases is highlighted.