This document provides guidance to assist developing countries in improving national emergency preparedness in order to maximize the efficiency of response to serious outbreaks of aquatic animal diseases. This is a product of a joint FAO, Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) and WorldFish Center (WFC) Regional Workshop on Preparedness and Response to Aquatic Animal Health Emergencies, held in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 21 to 23 September 2004. The workshop, which was hosted by the Government of Indonesia, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), was attended by national policy-makers and scientists from the Asian Region, and international experts and resource persons from both the region and elsewhere. The complete proceedings of the workshop will be published in the FAO Fisheries Proceedings series.

The Regional Workshop on Preparedness and Response to Aquatic Animal Health Emergencies focused on emergency planning and responses to serious outbreaks of aquatic animal diseases in Asia. These proceedings include all papers presented, group reports and resulting recommendations. The material covers a wide range of topics, from a review of the history, current status and socio-economic impacts of transboundary aquatic animal diseases in Asia to analyses of regional needs in areas such as contingency planning, legislation and capacity building.

This document provides guidance to assist developing countries in improving national emergency preparedness in order to maximize the efficiency of response to serious outbreaks of aquatic animal diseases. This is a product of a joint FAO, Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) and WorldFish Center (WFC) Regional Workshop on Preparedness and Response to Aquatic Animal Health Emergencies, held in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 21 to 23 September 2004. The workshop, which was hosted by the Government of Indonesia, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), was attended by national policy-makers and scientists from the Asian Region, and international experts and resource persons from both the region and elsewhere. The complete proceedings of the workshop will be published in the FAO Fisheries Proceedings series.

This report presents the results of a Round-table discussion: moving forward through lessons learned on response actions to aquatic animal disease emergencies organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) under the auspices of the project GCP/GLO/979/NOR: “Improving Biosecurity Governance and Legal Framework for Efficient and Sustainable Aquaculture Production” that was held from 16–18 December 2019 at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. The meeting was attended by 43 experts from 22 countries, representing governance authorities, intergovernmental organizations, academia, research institutions and the private sector. Twenty presentations were delivered, namely: (1) National Competent Authority: role and experiences; (2) Inter-governmental organization: role and activities/experiences related to investigating specific mass mortalities of aquatic animals; (3) Producer and research/academic sectors: role and activities/experiences related to investigating specific mass mortalities of aquatic animalsand (4) Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBAD). The meeting successfully achieved its objective of taking stock and sharing experiences and lessons learned which were used for generating recommendations for the further development and improvement of the draft FAO Decision-tree for dealing with aquatic animal mortality events and supporting guidance. The meeting generated an annotated table of contents for this decision-tree document with the following major sections, namely: Introduction; Phases in an Emergency; Elements of an Emergency Response (Preparedness Phase, Response Phase, Recovery Phase); Decision-tree for Mass Mortality Events; Conducting Field Investigation; Tools and Guidance; and Case Study Examples. It is expected that this document will be made available in 2021.

With the increase in the culture of 'new' aquatic animal species and the consequential discovery of new and emerging diseases, it appears timely to provide an update on the range of disease emergency management strategies. The main purpose of this volume of the Review is therefore to provide a state-of-the-art compilation and assessment of aquatic animal disease emergency management strategies, covering policies as well as operational tools, from international to farm levels. It aims to provide useful generic information on the different issues surrounding the management of aquatic animal disease emergencies, written by world specialists.

Aquaculture is developing, expanding and intensifying in almost all regions of the world, except in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the sector appears to be capable of meeting the gap between future demand and supply for aquatic food, there are many constraints and challenges which must be addressed in order to at least maintain the present level of per capita consumption at the global level. Key issues are the need for enhanced enforcement of regulation and better governance of the sector, as well as greater producer participation in the decision-making and regulation process. This publication examines past trends in aquaculture development as well as the current global status, drawing on a number of national and regional reviews.

Offers an overview of the FAO's work with regard to natural and human-induced disasters in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, together with the lessons learned and experience gained on how to improve disaster response, preparedness and prevention in these sectors.

The contents of this Shrimp acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease strategy manual provides information and guidance relevant to the development of policies to respond to outbreaks of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) in farmed marine shrimp. The etiologic agents for AHPND are virulent strains of bacteria belonging to the genus Vibrio parahaemolyticus and related species, which harbor specific toxin genes. While these bacterial species are part of the normal microflora of the marine environment, they may cause substantial mortalities in whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) and giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) cultured in countries in Asia and the Americas. These strains of these Vibrio bacteria secrete a PirABvp binary toxin resulting in sloughing of tubule epithelial cells and dysfunctions of the hepatopancreas in the acute form; mortality can reach 100 percent in affected ponds. Chronic presentation of this disease involves secondary bacterial infection of hepatopancreas and running mortality over the culture cycle. Acute or chronic presentation would greatly depend on the culture conditions. This disease can be considered a toxicosis rather than an infection. Economic losses due to this disease have amounted to over USD 7 billion annually. Further outbreaks of AHPND, particularly in areas that are currently free of the disease, would be expected to experience similar devastating effects on local shrimp producers and the surrounding communities; and thus, there is an urgent need to develop a contingency plan to control and eradicate this disease. This manual includes information on: 1) the nature of AHPND: a brief review of current knowledge in disease etiology, susceptible species and global distribution; 2) diagnosis of disease: a description of gross clinical signs and laboratory methods; 3) prevention and treatment: farm management, the use and development of antibiotics, bacteriophages, probiotics, disease-tolerant shrimp, shrimp immunity and vaccination; 4) epidemiology: AHPND’s geographic distribution, genotype, persistence in the environment, reservoir hosts, modes of transmission, risk factors, and economic impacts; 5) principles of control and eradication: methods for containment, mitigation and eradication of AHPND, and trade and industry considerations; and 6) policy development and implementation: AHPND-specific objectives, options and strategies for eradication and control, education, capacity building, funding, and compensation.

This Shrimp infectious myonecrosis strategy manual provides key information for national policy-makers relevant to the development of contingency plans for countries, producers and other stakeholders with regard to outbreaks of infectious myonecrosis (IMN), a viral disease of farmed marine penaeid shrimp that is listed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). IMN is a viral disease, discovered in 2002, that has caused substantial mortalities in populations of cultured Pacific whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) initially reported in Brazil (2002) and Indonesia (2006) and recently in India (2016) and Malaysia (2018). The purpose of this manual is to provide support for the various components of a national contingency plan. The information provided includes: (1) the nature of IMN: providing a brief review of disease etiology, susceptible species and global distribution; (2) diagnosis of infection: describing the gross clinical signs of disease, field diagnostic methods, differential and laboratory methods for diagnosis; (3) prevention and treatment: providing information on vaccination, and resistance and immunity of the hosts; (4) epidemiology: providing information on IMNV’s geographic distribution, persistence in the environment, modes of transmission, vectors and reservoir hosts, factors influencing disease transmission and expression, and impact of the disease; (5) principles of control and eradication: describing the methods and (6) policy development and implementation: summarizing the overall policy, IMN-specific objectives, problems, overview of response options, strategies for eradication and control, capacity building and funding and compensation.