This project is a priority issue for the FRDC Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram Steering Committee (STC) and Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC).

The range of potential beneficiaries of the database is rather wide and varied. However, a key technical/scientific group is the National Aquatic Animal Health - Technical Working Group (NAAH-TWG). All SAC members are also members of the TWG. Another group – operating at a more strategic level – is the Australian Aquatic Animal Health Committee (AAHC). The Subprogram Leader is a member of AAHC.

In Australia, aquaculture is undergoing a growth phase (approximately 18% p.a.) where the number of aquaculture facilities, as well as the number of aquatic animal species being cultured, is increasing. The current value of the aquaculture sector is placed at $800 million and is expected to increase to $2-3 billion over the next 10 years. As the industry expands and intensifies the risk of infectious disease outbreaks also increases and there is a need for a parallel increased level of research on these diseases (c.f. Federal Budget Initiative). As part of the R&D effort nationwide, there is a need for a scientific conference during which the key aquatic animal health specialists/researchers/managers can convene and discuss current and future aquatic animal health issues and resolutions.

In addition, the development of World Trade Organisation agreements on freedom of trade between countries is seeing an increase in the use of aquatic animal disease as a de facto trade barrier and increasing demands on exporting countries to demonstrate freedom from diseases of concern. The issue of Canadian exports of salmon to Australia and the national white spot survey of prawns and crabs are recent Australian examples. The demand of Australia by our trading partners for demonstrated competence in surveillance and monitoring is going to require a much greater investment by Australia in training of expertise, standardisation of diagnostic techniques and development of new methodology to back nationwide surveillance and monitoring programs. None of this activity will happen unless we foster a team approach by the limited numbers of individuals working in the aquatic animal disease disciplines. The development of AQUAPLAN and the Federal Budget Initiative has placed Australia at the forefront of aquatic animal disease management. An opportunity exists to capitalise on these initiatives and to value-add to planned outputs.

It is proposed that the Scientific Advisory Committee of the FRDC Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram plan, organise and lead a 3-day scientific conference entitled, ‘Emergency Disease Planning and Management’, the core activity of which will be reports/scientific presentations on current projects funded by the Health Subprogram. In addition to these presentations, there is a need to highlight other aquatic health research, methodological and policy issues which may be of current or potential, future concern to Australia and which impact on emergency disease management. This conference will provide a forum for communication of project outputs, for critical review of aquatic animal health R&D currently undertaken in Australia, and will allow full discussion of the research and provide feed-back to the Principal Investigators of Subprogram projects. In this way, projects will benefit from receiving input from a relatively large number of researchers from a broad range of backgrounds. Potential future projects would be identified. In addition, an international expert with first-hand experience in management/eradication of an exotic aquatic animal disease could be invited to lead a discussion on a special topic relevant to emergency disease planning and management.

Viral diseases are among the most important of all health issues in aquaculture and fisheries. Their rapid and accurate recognition is central to the prevention of spread and the control of emerging diseases. Morphological diagnosis based on gross pathology, histopathology and electron microscopy remain vital in the diagnostic process, and are essential to complement accurate molecular aetiolgical diagnosis. Practitioners of morphological diagnosis are becoming scarce, and this application enables knowledge transfer from one of the world's foremost experts, Dr Teruo Miyazaki from Japan. This knowledge transfer requires a hand-on approach in a small group setting, using a multiheaded microscope with plenty of opportunity for discussion. for this reason a face-to-face visit is essential. Improving aquatic animal health diagnostic capacity is a priority for FRDC specifically to prevent and manage disease incursions, and to develop diagnostic procedures and techniques to rapidly detect and identify pathogens. This is also a priority for state jurisdictions.

In addition to viral diseases, Dr Miyazaki has career long expertise in general fish pathology, so his visit presents diverse opportunities for continuing education of Australian aquatic animal health diagnosticians.

The risk of importation of AMR into Australia via uncooked prawn commodities has not been assessed.
Given the existing pathway of dissemination of prawn commodities into waterways via disposal (berley)/use (bait) the release and establishment of AMR microbes could impact on prawn hatchery performance, where juvenile stages are particularly sensitive to bacterial diseases such as Vibriosis. Should AMR enter hatcheries via the use of wild broodstock, water or aerosol pathways it could contribute to great challenges in maintaining reliable hatchery production for the entire prawn farming sector, for it could render the currently available antimicrobials useless.
There is growing concern about the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in humans, and the pathways for its entry and establishment.
The trade of importing uncooked prawns for human consumption was temporarily suspended from early January to early July 2017 after the WSSV outbreaks on the Logan River in Queensland and import compliance breaches were identified. With this trade re-opening the pathway for potential entry of AMR on live bacteria warrants assessment.

A further pathway for generating enhanced risk of antimicrobial resistance is through allowing human consumption of commodities with sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotic and agricultural chemical residue.The Australian Prawn Farmers Association (APFA) are seeking to better understand the presence or absence of a range of chemical residues in imported prawn products. Insufficient data has been collected as part of the National Residue Survey to give industry confidence that the imported products do not pose a potential health risk to consumers, and hence do not pose a risk to the marketing and sales of prawns generally. Data is needed to inform the submission from the APFA to the review of the Commonwealth Import Risk Assessment of uncooked crustacean and Australia's food safety regulator (FSANZ).

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