The long term viability of Yellowtail Kingfish production is in question given the significant and unprecedented health issues Cleanseas has experienced in recent times. This is demonstrated by the fact that the cumulative mortality is presently 39.2% in the 2011 year class and 37.71% in the younger 2012 year class. Though the primary cause for poor fish performance remains unclear, disease investigations conducted but Future Fisheries Veterinary Services have provided insight in to the disease picture. It is known that the disease picture is different between the year classes and investigations have found a mixture of disease agents, a high occurrence of intestinal disease and abnormalities, lesions and inflammation of major organs. Given the complex and potentially multifactorial nature of the disease picture CST seeks the advice from experts in the field of fish nutrition, pathology, aquatic health, enteritis, virology, and protozoan parasitology. To this end, CST wishes to hold a workshop to review the information gathered thus far in order to develop remedial strategies for immediate implementation. The workshop will also formulate a disease investigation plan to elucidate the cause of its disease issues. In addition to the workshop, CST wishes to conduct nutritional analysis of its diets as dietary factors maybe a significant contributor to the disease profile being observed.
Final report
This project addressed the need to further CST's understanding of the disease issues severely impacting YTK production. It also provided an environment to share ideas and peer review CST's approach to dealing with the outlined case history and its proposed remedial strategies and R&D activities. As a consequence of this project, CST is significantly more confident that it is dealing with a nutritional deficiency that has resulted in immuno-disregulation