World Aquaculture Magazine - September 2021

WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEP TEMBER 2021 7 Third Comprehensive Aquatic Disease Management Plan The NIFS announced the third comprehensive aquatic disease management plan in June. Infectious diseases cause about 54-70 percent of the deaths of aquaculture organisms in Korea. The first cases of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis of shrimp (AHPND) occurred in 2016 and viral endothelial necrosis of eels (VECNE) were observed in 2017. In addition, the importance of One Health, or the shared health of human-animal-ecosystems, has recently been highlighted. Therefore, the need for cross-ministerial cooperative management of infectious diseases has increased. The demand for disease prevention vaccines and natural product therapeutics is expanding. This comprehensive plan, reflecting domestic and overseas environmental conditions, has prepared three goals and 13 strategic tasks for developing aquatic disease management technology under the vision of “realizing a sustainable environment to produce safe and healthy aquatic organisms.” There are three main goals: 1) advancing disease control technology to achieve the international level of technology; 2) securing core technology and system construction necessary for infectious disease control; and 3) promoting future-oriented disease control method development and commercialization. In addition, the 13 strategic tasks include systematic monitoring and reduction of domestic aquatic diseases, blocking the introduction of new infections from overseas, research on antibiotic resistance based on the One Health concept and development of high-efficiency aquatic vaccines. Current aquaculture industries demand customized intelligent disease management with innovative technologies, responding to the Fourth Industry Revolution. So, the third comprehensive plan has newly added the intelligent aquatic life system based on the big data of aquatic disease. The second plan includes aquatic organism infectious disease purification technology and quarantine system development. With this plan and implementation, the NIFS expects a better quarantine and quarantine disease management system to block the inflow of new infections. Reinforcement of Preliminary Monitoring of Yangtze River Low-salinity Water Inflow The NIFS announced that there would be multi-dimension monitoring to detect in advance the approach of low-salinity waters near Jeju Island. There is freshwater flowing into the sea through the Yangtze River after torrential rains in China every summer. Low-salinity water refers to the case where the salinity of seawater is 28 ppt or less. Low-salinity water generated by freshwater flowing in from the Yangtze River in China may cause damage to coastal aquaculture if it travels through the sea currents and spreads to the coast of Jeju Island through the northern areas of the East China Sea. The NIFS is conducting real-time ocean observation and satellite monitoring to detect and respond in advance to the appearance of low-salinity waters in the coastal waters of Jeju Island. There is continuous salinity monitoring by research vessels, wave gliders and buoys (40 kmwest and southwest of Jeju Island). The NIFS has developed a salinity detection algorithm using VIIRS/SNPP satellite data (resolution 750 m), targeting the northern seas of the East China Sea from July, replacing the retired Chollian 1. In late May of this year, due to torrential rains in southern China, freshwater outflow from the Yangtze River temporarily increased and then decreased in June. The amount of Yangtze River freshwater runoff in 2021 was 60,700 m 3 /s on May 28, 38,000 m 3 /s on June 27, and 44,500 m 3 /s on July 19. Since July and August are affected by the rainy season, there is concern about increasing freshwater runoff. Aquaculture Disaster Protection Aquaculture emergency response guidance would protect aquaculture products from disasters. The MOF has established and now implements comprehensive measures to minimize damage to aquaculture organisms due to disasters such as high temperatures and red tides that occur mainly in summer. The MOF predicts high temperatures and red tides every year and establishes and implements countermeasures accordingly. According to the NIFS, there is no El Niño event this summer, and the early water temperature rise of 0.5-1 C greater than expected due to the influence of the warm Tsushima Currents. There will be a little earlier temperature rise than last year. Last year, due to the impact of the long rainy season and typhoons, high temperatures and red tides occurred around mid-to-late August, later than usual, and quickly disappeared. This year, the MOF started developing a water temperature prediction system and expanded the real-time water temperature monitoring network to strengthen forecasting high temperatures and red tides. The MOF plans to increase the convenience of fishermen through the operation of and “On-site mobile office for fish stocking report.” 1) Establishment of the response system. The MOF plans to pro- vide spraying equipment to local governments to prevent fish death due to the lack of oxygen caused by high temperatures and the spread of red tides. In addition, information such as market prices and supply and demand trends are continuously provided to aquaculture fishers to pre- vent damage in advance by shipping aquacultured organisms at an ap- propriate time before high temperatures occur. The MOF also encour- ages farmers to purchase disaster insurance for aquaculture products. 2) Reinforcement of forecasting. From this year to 2025, the MOF invested 1.9 billion won (KRW) to develop a water temperature prediction system that reflects the characteristics of the Korean sea and establish 20 real-time water temperature monitoring networks in Jeonnam-do and Gyeongbuk-do. Operating a “citizen’s red tide monitoring group,” it is planned to strengthen the monitoring and forecast high temperatures and red tides. The NIFS will support the red tide analysis tools such as portable foldscopes and red tide classification booklets for the citizen’s red tide monitoring group. The monitoring group will collect, analyze, and report samples during vacation and fishing activities. In addition, the MOF will continue to operate the red tide reporting web so that citizens can report red tides quickly and conveniently. In addition, the NIFS plans to continuously provide water temperature information observed at 140 locations through the website and mobile application, such as an autonomous vessel sensing system and real-time water temperature monitoring network, so that fishermen can respond in advance. 3) Joint public-private on-site response. Based on the high temperature and red tide crisis response guidelines, the MOF actively manages the situation by operating the headquarter and regional response teams. As soon as an advisory is issued, the comprehensive C H A P T E R R E P O R T S ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 8 )