An assessment of health management and biosecurity procedures in marine fish farming in Spain

Marine fish farming in Spain has experienced problems of performance due to losses caused by infectious diseases. Biosecurity and health management are identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as current priorities for proper aquaculture governance. However, they both transcend the...

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Main Authors: Ana Muniesa, Dolors Furones, Chris Rodgers, Bernardo Basurco
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-08-01
Series:Aquaculture Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352513422001958
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author Ana Muniesa
Dolors Furones
Chris Rodgers
Bernardo Basurco
author_facet Ana Muniesa
Dolors Furones
Chris Rodgers
Bernardo Basurco
author_sort Ana Muniesa
collection DOAJ
description Marine fish farming in Spain has experienced problems of performance due to losses caused by infectious diseases. Biosecurity and health management are identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as current priorities for proper aquaculture governance. However, they both transcend the responsibility of farmers and require significant resources, concerted action and cooperation. This study presents the analysis of biosecurity practices on marine fish farms, through a questionnaire-based survey on biosecurity procedures and an analysis of health management practices for different stakeholders. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) technique was implemented, which identified the important threats and weaknesses faced by the sector, such as the risk of direct disease transmission between farms, the high likelihood of importing diseases through juvenile shipments, the chronic lack of communication between stakeholders, and the deficient coordination of health strategies. Strengths included awareness of prevention measures and the availability of expertize of health experts at most levels. On the other hand, the availability of experts together with the need to adapt governance to the current production systems were seen as opportunities. Health management measures themselves were actually already found to be adapted to the type of production but they varied between companies (i.e. categorization and diagnosis of mortalities). Nevertheless, the quality of expertize along the value chain provided by private and public laboratories, research institutes, Health Protection Groups, companies and veterinarians was noteworthy. However, there was still a need for all stakeholders involved in marine fish health to improve diagnostics, provide epidemiological information, biosecurity and prevention measures, as well as to promote transparency for better health governance.
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spelling doaj.art-f6491c7829e94d9ca7fb661ed06ec2bb2022-12-22T03:42:12ZengElsevierAquaculture Reports2352-51342022-08-0125101199An assessment of health management and biosecurity procedures in marine fish farming in SpainAna Muniesa0Dolors Furones1Chris Rodgers2Bernardo Basurco3Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón IA2 (Universidad de Zaragoza - CITA), Zaragoza, Spain; Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza - CIHEAM-IAMZ, Av. Montañana, 1005, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain; Correspondence to: Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza, Miguel Servet 177, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain.IRTA_Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Crta. Poble Nou, km. 5′5, 43540 Tarragona, SpainFish Health Consultant, Tarragona, SpainMediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza - CIHEAM-IAMZ, Av. Montañana, 1005, 50059 Zaragoza, SpainMarine fish farming in Spain has experienced problems of performance due to losses caused by infectious diseases. Biosecurity and health management are identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as current priorities for proper aquaculture governance. However, they both transcend the responsibility of farmers and require significant resources, concerted action and cooperation. This study presents the analysis of biosecurity practices on marine fish farms, through a questionnaire-based survey on biosecurity procedures and an analysis of health management practices for different stakeholders. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) technique was implemented, which identified the important threats and weaknesses faced by the sector, such as the risk of direct disease transmission between farms, the high likelihood of importing diseases through juvenile shipments, the chronic lack of communication between stakeholders, and the deficient coordination of health strategies. Strengths included awareness of prevention measures and the availability of expertize of health experts at most levels. On the other hand, the availability of experts together with the need to adapt governance to the current production systems were seen as opportunities. Health management measures themselves were actually already found to be adapted to the type of production but they varied between companies (i.e. categorization and diagnosis of mortalities). Nevertheless, the quality of expertize along the value chain provided by private and public laboratories, research institutes, Health Protection Groups, companies and veterinarians was noteworthy. However, there was still a need for all stakeholders involved in marine fish health to improve diagnostics, provide epidemiological information, biosecurity and prevention measures, as well as to promote transparency for better health governance.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352513422001958Health managementBiosecurityGovernanceAquacultureSWOTMediterranean
spellingShingle Ana Muniesa
Dolors Furones
Chris Rodgers
Bernardo Basurco
An assessment of health management and biosecurity procedures in marine fish farming in Spain
Aquaculture Reports
Health management
Biosecurity
Governance
Aquaculture
SWOT
Mediterranean
title An assessment of health management and biosecurity procedures in marine fish farming in Spain
title_full An assessment of health management and biosecurity procedures in marine fish farming in Spain
title_fullStr An assessment of health management and biosecurity procedures in marine fish farming in Spain
title_full_unstemmed An assessment of health management and biosecurity procedures in marine fish farming in Spain
title_short An assessment of health management and biosecurity procedures in marine fish farming in Spain
title_sort assessment of health management and biosecurity procedures in marine fish farming in spain
topic Health management
Biosecurity
Governance
Aquaculture
SWOT
Mediterranean
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352513422001958
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