This workshop is the first of a planned 3-part series seeking to highlight shellfish disease issues from the North American west coast and Hawaii, bringing together interested regulators, researchers, and industry representatives. The goals of the workshop series are to pool expertise to identify management priorities; discuss prevention and response strategies; and to invest in regional communication and coordination among West Coast entities in the interest of advancing regional biosecurity and preparedness.

The goals of discussion are to advance understanding of the current shellfish disease risk management approaches, priorities, and needs of each regional state; and to identify priorities and opportunities for advancements at the state and regional levels. Desired outcomes of discussion are to identify next steps in advancing regional biosecurity and advise a follow-up workshop in October 2020.