Use of models for the environmental risk assessment of veterinary medicines in European aquaculture: current situation and future perspectives

Abstract

Veterinary Medicinal Products (VMPs) are used in intensive aquaculture production to treat a wide range of bacterial and parasitic infestations. Their release into the environment poses concerns regarding their potential ecotoxicological risks to aquatic ecosystems, which need to be evaluated making use of appropriate Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) schemes and models. This study presents an overview of the major aquaculture production systems in Europe, the VMPs most commonly used, and the environmental quality standards and regulatory procedures available for their ERA. Furthermore, it describes the state-of-the-art on the development of environmental models capable of assessing the fate, exposure, ecotoxicological effects and risks of VMPs in aquaculture production systems, and discusses their level of development and implementation within European aquaculture. This study shows that the use of environmental models in regulatory ERA is somewhat limited in many European countries. Major efforts have been dedicated to assess the fate and exposure of antiparasitic compounds in salmonid cage systems, particularly in Scotland, while models and scenarios for assessing dispersal of antimicrobials, in general, and antiparasitic compounds in the Mediterranean as well as in Scandinavian regions are less available. On the other hand, the use of ecological models for assessing the effects and risks of VMPs is almost absent. Recommendations are provided to improve the chemical exposure and effect assessments and the ecological realism of the modelling outcomes, paying special attention to the protection goals set for the regulatory ERA of VMPs in Europe.

Towards Environmental Sustainability in Marine Finfish Aquaculture

“…Affect biodiversity increase risk of selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria, can affect food safety (Ferreira et al, 2007;Burridge et al, 2010) Parasiticides Can affect non-target organisms (Tornero and Hanke, 2016) Antifouling products Can affect non-target organisms (Fitridge et al, 2012;Tornero and Hanke, 2016) Disinfectants Can have negative effects on fish health and other marine organisms (difficult to assess) (Buschmann et al, 2006) Anesthetic Few associated negative effects (Burridge et al, 2010) medicines such as antiparasitics and antibiotics to disinfectants (Burridge et al, 2010;Martinez-Porchas and Martinez-Cordova, 2012;Ozbay et al, 2014;Rico et al, 2018). Antifouling chemicals are also being used at aquaculture facilities to avoid the clogging of meshes.…”

“…Antibiotics are used in aquaculture to control the spread of pathogenic bacteria (Burridge et al, 2010;Martinez-Porchas and Martinez-Cordova, 2012;Rico et al, 2018). This raises concerns about the possible effects on biological diversity and of selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria when antibiotics are used excessively over time, e.g., Erythromycin and bacterial kidney disease (Burridge et al, 2010).…”

“…These include mandatory risk evaluation and authorization processes before a particular substance can be used. There are also various modeling tools, based on the assessment of dilution and dispersion of both chemical treatments and particles (from medicated feed), that calculate chemical exposure and ecotoxicological risks close to cages (Rico et al, 2018). Even though there are only few monitoring and control requirements regarding accumulation of chemicals used, their components and derivatives (FAO, 2009).…”

Usage pattern of chemicals, biologicals and veterinary medicinal products in Indian aquaculture

“…58 Earlier study reported the use of 530 g of antibiotics per tonne of salmon harvested during 2016; Florfenicol (82.5%) and OTC (16.8%) were the most frequently used antibiotics. 59 In order to address the issue of AMR due to use of antibiotics in food animal pro- Canada, [59][60][61][62] in Asian 20 and European aquaculture, 63 Bangladesh 16 and the global trend in use of antibiotics in aquaculture. 17,36…”

Farm‐scale models in fish aquaculture – An overview of methods and applications

“…sediment, fish, pond water and effluents) and then calculates a risk quotient for each endpoint based on specific safe-exposure concentrations. Other models were developed to assess the emission, fate, exposure and ecotoxicological risks of veterinary medicinal products used in aquaculture (see the review of Rico et al 177 ). Although they are not FSMs, some of these models rely on data provided by FSMs, suggesting the potential for coupling them with FSMs.…”