In this issue:

Integrated rice/crayfish farming in Hubei Province, China. Improvement of seaweedKappaphycus alvareziiculture production by reducing grazing by rabbit fish (Siganusspp.). Exploring the fisheries of Wular Lake, Kashmir, India. Golden mahseerTor putitora-希尔aquacultur物种可能的候选人e. Free primers for specific detection of bacterial isolates that cause acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease. Special session on regional cooperation for improved biosecurity. AHPND detection discussion group established.

In this issue:

25th NACA Governing Council held in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Dr Cherdsak Viripat elected as next Director General of NACA. 9th Symposium on Diseases in Asian Aquaculture 24-28 November 2014, Vietnam. NACA to convene the 11th AFS Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum. Free primers for specific detection of bacterial isolates that cause acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease. World Aquaculture Adelaide 2014: Special session on regional cooperation for improved biosecurity. AHPND detection discussion group established. OIE Regional Workshop on Emerging Aquatic Animal Disease Response, in collaboration with NACA, Bali, Indonesia. United Kingdom - Southeast Asia Workshop on Sustainable Aquaculture.

The Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health meets annually to discuss regional health issues including emerging disease threats. This report includes a review of regional disease status circa 2013, global and regional disease reporting arrangements, global issues and standards, progress in implementation of the theRegional Technical Guidelines on Health management for the Responsible Movement of Live Aquatic Animals, identification and designation of regional aquatic animal health resources and regional and international cooperation.

The workshop was held in Bali, Indonesia from 6 to 8 November 2013. The programme included reports on current aquatic animal disease situations in selected countries and presentations on the national aquatic animal health programmes of China, Japan and Korea. In addition, case studies on the molluscan diseases, shrimp diseases and finfish diseases were presented to facilitate the subsequent discussion on emergency response of those diseases in the national and regional level.

The OIE has been working to improve aquatic animal health globally through various activities including the development of Aquatic Animal Health Code and Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals. Considering that aquaculture is expanding and becoming a major food producing sector in the region of Asia and the Pacific, recent spread and outbreaks of some aquatic animal diseases in the region is our concern.

The symposium provided a venue for information sharing on extension of small-scale aquaculture targeted to those individuals and relevant organisations involved in various aquaculture development projects. The symposium also assessed and presented the effectiveness of “farmer-to-farmer extension” approaches in the implementation of relevant aquaculture development projects in the region. The symposium was organised by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), NACA and the Thai Department of Fisheries.

虾养殖在热带地区正面临着disease-induced catastrophe of lost production. There is reason to believe that current (poor) broodstock management practices may induce genetic erosion that increases susceptibility to disease and vulnerability to epizootics. The basic tenet for this consultation is that an important aggravating factor in the disease crisis is an agro-economic system that locks shrimp breeders, hatcheries and farmers into behaviour that induces high levels of inbreeding.

虾养殖在热带地区正面临着disease-induced catastrophe of lost production. There is reason to believe that current broodstock management practices may induce genetic erosion that increases susceptibility to disease and vulnerability to epizootics. The basic tenet for this Expert Consultation is that an important aggravating factor in the disease crisis is an agro-economic system that locks shrimp breeders, hatcheries and farmers into behaviour that induces high levels of inbreeding.

Efforts to control AHPND have been hampered by the lack of a specific and rapid detection method that could be used to determine the reservoirs of the causative bacterial isolates, to insure their absence in shrimp broodstock and post larvae, to monitor shrimp during cultivation and to aid research on possible control measures. Our two groups have been conducting cooperative research on possible PCR methods to detect isolates of AHPND bacteria.

This report, the 63rd in the series, contains information about the aquatic animal health status of fifteen states in the Asia-Pacific region. The foreword provides an update on acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease of cultured shrimp, including a description of an improved PCR method for detection of AHPND bacteria.