Aquatic Animal Health Training Scheme - Training for prawn farmers in sample collection

Project number: 2009-315.34

Project Status:

Completed

Budget expenditure: $2,000.00

Principal Investigator: Melony J. Sellars

Organisation: CSIRO Agriculture and Food Brisbane

Project start/end date: 30 Apr 2015 - 30 Aug 2015

Contact:

FRDC

Need

Training prawn hatchery/farm staff in collecting samples was identified as a priority need in FRDC Project No. 2012/030 (Prawn Superpowers Summit – enhancing awareness of emergency aquatic animal disease response arrangements for the Australian prawn farming industry, Matt Landos and Helen Jenkins, March 2013).

Further consultation this year (2015) with the APFA, Industry members, the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF), the CSIRO Agriculture Flagship and the newly established Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Hub for Advanced Prawn Breeding coordinated by James Cook University (JCU) have reaffirmed the need for a hands-on training workshop. These parties have identified that such a workshop should cover a refresher on Emergency Response procedures including prawn sampling requirements and procedures as well as prawn sampling needs and procedures for prawn pedigree analysis and viral screening to fulfil the needs of breeding programs.

Objectives

1. Training workshop for prawn farmers in sample collection.A 3 h workshop with hands-on training components will be run for prawn farmers that will include:• A refresher on Emergency Response procedures• Emergency Response prawn sampling requirements and procedures• Prawn sampling needs and procedures for prawn pedigree analysis and viral infection screening as part of breeding programs• Provision of detailed sampling protocols and prawn dissection kits• Hands-on demonstrations followed by participant practice in prawn dissection and tissue sampling and preservation for PCR and histology to meet Emergency Response needs and procedural requirements• Hands-on demonstrations followed by participant practice in prawn dissection and tissue sampling and preservation for PCR-based pedigree analysis and viral screening to meet breeding program needs• Provision of postage and courier procedures and a list of QDAF and CSIRO/JCU contacts • Attendee feedback questionnaire