Recovering sustainability after a health crisis in aquatic animals

Abstract

Chile faced a severe aquatic animal health crisis in 2007 that affected the production of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) after an outbreak of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA). The outbreak had a considerable national economic impact. The response was led by the Competent Authority, the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca), which immediately implemented surveillance and control actions to mitigate the crisis. At the end of the initial response, the Competent Authority, together with the industry, set out a roadmap to return to sustainable salmon production. The success of the response was due to early detection and the implementation of biosecurity and control measures at all stages of production and control. These measures underpin the sanitary management model for aquaculture. The Chilean Veterinary Service has analysed critical health measures for salmon production and concluded that there has been an improvement in fish health, as evidenced by decreased mortalities, reduced use of antimicrobials, and improved management and control of prevalent diseases, such as salmon rickettsial syndrome (piscirickettsiosis), caligidosis and ISA. Improvements in health have contributed to increased harvests over time, with the largest monthly harvest for Atlantic salmon being achieved in January-February 2018, with 120,000 tonnes. The ISA crisis provided salutary lessons for the continued recovery and sustainability of Chile's salmon sector. The crisis highlighted the importance of strengthened Veterinary Services and public-private links, as well as a collaborative relationship with research entities and training centres. It was also important to enact new regulations to ensure recovery and sustainability. Fundamentally, the response to this crisis was based upon having good baseline surveillance already in place, supported by a Veterinary Service trained to manage emergency disease outbreaks.

A 12‐point checklist for surveillance of diseases of aquatic organisms: a novel approach to assist multidisciplinary teams in developing countries

“…Until the sanitary crisis caused by the epidemic of infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) (Mardones et al 2009), few epidemiological studies had been published, mainly because of the lack of epidemiological data and disease reporting from salmon farmers. After the ISAV epidemic, strict mandatory surveillance programmes were in place primarily focused on ISAV, but also for bacterial and viral diseases, parasites and use of antimicrobials (Gallardo Lagno et al 2019). After approximately ten years, researchers have been using such data to characterize epidemiologically most diseases and their risk factors including sea lice (Yatabe et al 2011;Hamilton-West et al 2012;Arriagada et al 2019) China, the world's biggest aquaculture producer, accounting for about 58% of the global total production, has suffered economic losses due to diseases.…”

“…After the ISAV epidemic, strict mandatory surveillance programmes were in place primarily focused on ISAV, but also for bacterial and viral diseases, parasites and use of antimicrobials (Gallardo Lagno et al . 2019). After approximately ten years, researchers have been using such data to characterize epidemiologically most diseases and their risk factors including sea lice (Yatabe et al .…”

“…The development and establishment of comprehensive surveillance systems supported by participative salmon farmers and interacting with researchers from the academia has resulted in the advancement of updated science‐based policies in Chile (Gallardo Lagno et al . 2019).…”

The aquatic animal pandemic crisis

“…In contrast to Norway, the virus did not become endemic in farmed salmon production in Scotland and the Faroes, although recurrences -most probably due to re-emergence of the virus from a wild reservoir -have occurred. The first outbreak in Chile was reported in 1997 and limited to farmed coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) (40). ISAV infection was first identified in farmed Atlantic salmon at several sea sites in southern Chile in 2007.…”

Introduction: Improved aquatic animal health management is vital to aquaculture’s role in global food security

“…The economic and environmental consequences of disease epidemics have been severe. Disease outbreaks have had impacts at the national economic level due to a loss of jobs and knock-on socio-economic effects (see Gallardo et al, this issue [9]). It has been estimated that 21% of losses, equal to some US$ 10 billion, are incurred annually due to disease in the aquaculture sector (see Brummett and Hargreaves, this issue [10]).…”