Designing & Implementing Aquatic Veterinary Biosecurity Programs to meet Producer, National & International Needs  

A. David Scarfe PhD. DVM, MRSSAf, CertAqV
Aquatic Veterinary Associates LLC & USDA-APHIS-VS
Bartlett, IL 60103, USA.  dscarfe@ameritech.net  

Facing progressively increasing risks and impacts of disease on aquaculture productions in all countries, over more than a decade at numerous conferences, symposia and workshops, a large number of individuals have discussed and debated what procedure that should be incorporated into biosecurity programs. A key feature has been determining which procedures will meet International Standards (i.e. processes and procedures in OIE Codes & Manuals) and National regulations. In balancing these requirements with practical approaches that aquaculture producers can implement, and are effective and useful for all stakeholders around the world (from producers to governmental regulators), the following were recognized as priorities for all biosecurity programs:

a)      be practical and economic;

b)      focus only on infectious and contagious diseases;

c)      include procedures that address disease prevention, control and eradication in definable epidemiological units;

d)      be based on well-established, sound scientific-justifiable veterinary procedures;

e)      incorporate internationally accepted standards in the OIE Code and Manual; and,

f)      involve public-private partnerships and collaboration between producers, aquatic veterinarians and paraveterinary professionals, and governmental regulators.

In focusing on these principles, the International Aquatic Veterinary Biosecurity Consortium (IAVBC) has tested the procedures in Figure 1 with stakeholders at several conferences and workshops in Norway, South Africa, Chile, and elsewhere, that involve an integrated approach for developing, implementing, auditing and certifying effective aquaculture biosecurity program. At the core of a biosecurity program is defining an epidemiologic unit (EpiUnit), a well-defined geographical population of animals, on which all biosecurity steps or processes will be implemented.

Figure 1.  Integrated steps for developing, implementing, auditing and certifying an effective biosecurity program intended to prevent, control and possibly eradicate disease in any epidemiological unit (a defined population of animals, separated to some degree from other populations, in which infectious and contagious diseases can be easily transmitted - e.g. a tank/pond, farm, state/province, zone, region or country).