Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram: Tools for investigation of the nodavirus carrier state in marine, euryhaline and freshwater fish and control of NNV through integrated management
This project relates directly to the FRDC VNN Research and Development Plan, to facilitate industry profitability, sustainability, growth and development. There is an overarching need to measure and then reduce the risk to fisheries and aquaculture sectors (including natural resources) associated with transfer of nodaviruses. The aquaculture industry is proactive and responsible (eg triple bottom line reporting) and wishes to manage risks based on sound science. Industry acknowledges a residual risk that cannot be controlled: virus prevalence in the wild and natural fish movements. However, there is an immediate need for industry to conduct business in the face of unknowns with respect to true disease status. While there is a need to ensure that infected, but apparently healthy, stock are not moved to areas that are considered free of the disease/disease agent, it is of fundamental importance for the sustainability of the barramundi aquaculture industry and developing species ventures such as Australian bass that stock are translocated. Current tests for determining disease status are considered inadequate, therefore biosecurity protocols in the short-term are required to address the risk of introduction of disease with water, broodstock and fomites. As new information becomes available through R&D, these protocols will be revised and improved as needed to improve biosecurity. In the meantime, protocols are needed to manage risks with incomplete information and without overburdening industry with uneconomic or unwarranted requirements. There is need for mitigation of impacts on translocation: hatchery to nursery to grow-out; hatchery to wild (eg stocking for recreational fishing); both intra-state and interstate translocations, access to overseas markets; sourcing broodstock from the wild. Financial impacts, environmental impacts and mulitsectorial impacts at level of commercial, recreational and regulatory sectors all need to be addressed.
Final report
Planning for a Blue Future Salmon - informing R&D, regulation and industry development
Capacity Building in the surveillance, diagnosis, and management of Disease issues of pearl oysters
Disease and fish health management underpin maximizing growth and mortality of pearl sector. Given the recent Pearl oyster disease their is a need to build our knowledge and capacity in this area.
There are three main needs for this project:
1. Build the capacity of industry in undertaking disease surveilanace and management.
2. Build the capacity of national pearl oyster disease pathologists in diagnosis, survelliance and emergency reponse; and
3. Build the capacity of Pearl oyster pathology labs molecular and histopatholgy diagnostic capability, though establishment of collabourative national and international research links.
Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram: Bonamiasis in farmed Native Oysters (Ostrea angasi)
SCRC: IB: Study tour of Chile
Final report
The Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon Selective Breeding Program (SBP) operates in an environment in which there is no current high level threat of viral disease, and as such, the biosecurity level within the industry is generally low when compared to world standards. The Chilean industry has suffered from one of the greatest and most catastrophic viral outbreaks in the history of aquaculture and has since rebuilt with much greater government and industry self-regulation, leading to stringent biosecurity requirements which are monitored and enforced by government, and independent testing laboratories.
The goal of this visit was to determine which areas of biosecurity are essential to protect the Australian industry from biological threats, and how can we most effectively integrate them into our commercial systems in order to avoid the potentially catastrophic results of a viral outbreak within the Tasmanian industry.