Development Of An Experimental Aquaculture Facility (EAF) Specific Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) Challenge Model That Can Reliably Evaluate Treatment Interventions To Support Industry Focused AGD Studies
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$250,000.00
Summary
Commercial in confidence. To know more about this project please contact FRDC. Objectives: Commercial in confidence
Practicing Aquatic Animal Welfare: Identifying And Mitigating Obstacles To Uptake And Adoption By The Australian Fishing Industry
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$100,100.00
Summary
Recent research shows general public support for Australia’s fishing industry (Sparks 2017; Voyer et al 2016) that depends on people’s assessments of industry’s commitment to implement best practice and demonstration of being effective environmental stewards (Mazur et al 2014). The FRDC has recognised external pressure for the fishing industry to move beyond compliance with environmental and other regulations and improve its performance in key areas, including animal welfare. As noted above, th ....Recent research shows general public support for Australia’s fishing industry (Sparks 2017; Voyer et al 2016) that depends on people’s assessments of industry’s commitment to implement best practice and demonstration of being effective environmental stewards (Mazur et al 2014). The FRDC has recognised external pressure for the fishing industry to move beyond compliance with environmental and other regulations and improve its performance in key areas, including animal welfare. As noted above, the FRDC has provided support for a range of research and industry initiatives to achieve positive aquatic animal welfare outcomes. The FRDC also recognises that further improvement to the seafood industry’s aquatic animal welfare practices are required.
Recent FRDC project investments has produced valuable knowledge about how when change is called for it is very important to recognise that multiple factors influence – positively and/or negatively - people’s decisions to take up those new, innovative, and/or different practices (i.e. 2017-133, 2017-046, 2017-221). These factors typically include personal values and belief systems, access to different kinds of resources required to make changes, particular features of the recommended practices, as well as a range of macro-levels factors that while they may be outside of people’s direct control still affect their choices. FRDC Project 2017-133 generated important insights about how and to what extent these kinds of factors have been keeping the seafood industry from making more substantive progress towards building greater stakeholder and community trust (Mazur & Brooks 2018).
Further work of this nature is now needed to shed greater light on aquatic animal welfare in the seafood industry (FRDC 2017-221). In particular the research should be focused on identifying the particular features of ‘best care’ for aquatic animals, the range of factors that may be obstructing industry members’ use of those practices, and examples of recent (extension) initiatives used to encourage better aquatic animal welfare.
Objectives: 1. Identifying best practice in (aquatic) animal welfare. 2. Identify the extent to which fishers and finfish aquaculture farms are applying best practice in Australia 3. Identify factors impeding the uptake and adoption of a selection of recommended aquatic animal welfare practices in wild-catch commercial fishing and finfish aquaculture 4. Identify appropriate strategies to mitigate obstacles to improved uptake and adoption of those recommended practices 5. Help build the Australian fishing industry's capacity to design and implement extension programs, especially those targeting increased uptake and adoption of recommended aquatic animal welfare practices 6. Contribute to increased likelihood of more widespread and enduring practice-change in the seafood industry's aquatic animal welfare practices in wild-catch commercial fishing and finfish aquaculture Read moreRead less
Improving The Availability Of Safe And Effective Veterinary Medicines For Australia's Seafood Industry
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$322,764.00
Summary
Globally, disease is the major limiting factor restricting growth in aquaculture (Stentiford et al 2012; Jennings et al 2016), with impact of aquatic diseases exceeding $6 billion per annum. Aquaculture is the fastest growing livestock industry in Australia, and is expected to double in value to $2 billion by 2027 to meet global seafood demand (National Aquaculture Strategic Plan). Therefore access to safe and effective veterinary medicines is critically import to support the current industry an ....Globally, disease is the major limiting factor restricting growth in aquaculture (Stentiford et al 2012; Jennings et al 2016), with impact of aquatic diseases exceeding $6 billion per annum. Aquaculture is the fastest growing livestock industry in Australia, and is expected to double in value to $2 billion by 2027 to meet global seafood demand (National Aquaculture Strategic Plan). Therefore access to safe and effective veterinary medicines is critically import to support the current industry and its expansion.
Australia’s aquaculture industry must have access to safe and effective veterinary medicines for disease management, industry productivity and animal welfare. This need is highlighted in Australia’s national strategic plan (www.agriculture.gov.au/animal/aquatic/aquaplan) and FRDC’s strategic plan (2015-2020 and 2020-2025) including supporting the future sustainable expansion of aquaculture.
Veterinary medicines are required for prevention (for example, vaccines), therapeutic treatments (for example, antibiotics, anthelmintics and antimycotics) and husbandry (for example, hormones for reproduction and anaesthetics for animal handling). Currently there is a substantial lack of access to permitted or registered products.
There is a clear need for national coordination of applications for permits and registrations for aquatic veterinary medicines that replaces the duplication, disjointed efforts, poor permit applications and restrictive minor use permits and generally wasted resources occurring in the seafood industry.
There is a need to coordinate seafood industry prioritisation and application for access and use of agvet chemicals and to establish effective relationships between the seafood industry and APVMA to progress this important issue.
A model to support the resourcing of this service to industry and regulators needs to be devised to maintain this activity after completion of this project. Objectives: 1. Document a safe and effective process for the off-label use of veterinary medicines aimed at supporting fish health, welfare and production while managing environmental risks and enabling data generation. 2. Coordinate a national effort to facilitate the progress of priority aquatic veterinary medicines in the seafood industry through to permitting or registration with the APVMA 3. Determine options for a system, framework and / or business case to effectively coordinate national data generation and applications to the APVMA into the future, and maintain current permits and registrations in the seafood industry. 4. Develop and implement a communication and awareness strategy for industry on safe and effective veterinary medicine use Read moreRead less
Selective Breeding Of Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea Gigas) - Does Mantle Colour Have A Simple Genetic Basis?
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Summary
Objectives: 1. Determine whether the mantle colour has a simple genetic basis. 2. Determine whether industry can produce oysters of preferred colour by selection of brood stock in the hatchery. 3. Gather comprehensive baseline data on shell shape, volume & meat content
SCRC: PhD : Using The Mucosal Antibody Response To Recombinant Neoparamoeba Perurans Attachment Proteins To Design An Experimental Vaccine For Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD)
Objectives: 1. Establish the causes of the annual fungus disease epizootics through a study of environmental conditions (including pollutants), pathogen densities and tolerances, and host stress
Aquafin CRC - Atlantic Salmon Aquaculture Subprogram: Model Development For Epidemiology Of Amoebic Gill Disease
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$322,051.00
Summary
The Australian salmon industry is free from the major infectious diseases affecting salmon industries in other countries. Amoebic Gill Disease is the main infectious disease affecting the salmon industry in Tasmania. While this disease occurs in other countries, it does not appear to be as severe as in Australia. The disease-related fish mortalities are greatly reduced by freshwater bathing, however the disease treatment results in greater production costs and reduces the Australian salmon in ....The Australian salmon industry is free from the major infectious diseases affecting salmon industries in other countries. Amoebic Gill Disease is the main infectious disease affecting the salmon industry in Tasmania. While this disease occurs in other countries, it does not appear to be as severe as in Australia. The disease-related fish mortalities are greatly reduced by freshwater bathing, however the disease treatment results in greater production costs and reduces the Australian salmon industry’s ability to compete in international markets. While development of a vaccine to protect against the causative agent is a desirable solution for the industry, it must be appreciated that this is a challenging task and requires a long-term view. In the meantime, the industry needs more knowledge of AGD epidemiology and more tools to improve management of fish with AGD on the farms, which would improve AGD treatment and control and decrease the risk of large outbreaks of AGD. As a direct result this should lead to reduced production costs. Improved understanding of the epidemiology of the disease will also provide a valuable basis on which to develop strategies for vaccine application in the future.
The ultimate goal is to have an AGD surveillance system in place, to provide information about the host, agent and environment which is relevant to prevention and management of the disease. The results will improve our understanding of factors contributing to AGD outbreaks and will develop a best industry practice protocol aimed at the reduction of AGD effects on the salmon industry in Tasmania. Information from the surveillance system will facilitate better decisions on the timing of treatments as well as provide long term data for analysis to identify additional management strategies aimed at minimisation of disease risks and economic impacts. Specifically, farm-level surveillance data will eventually provide a basis for measuring spatial and temporal trends in AGD occurrence in both the host and potential reservoirs as well as environmental and production factors associated with changes in AGD occurrence. Analysis of retrospective data will permit the identification of improved management strategies as well as providing farm managers with a more reliable basis on which to make decisions on prevention and control. This project will provide ways of value adding to the data collected by the salmon industry in general. It will protect individual company interests with respect to privacy of commercial information. Objectives: 1. Identification of Neoparamoeba pemaquidensis reservoirs 2. Identification of risk factors for AGD including the spatial relationship between infected and uninfected cages. 3. Development of a pilot surveillance system Read moreRead less
This project will develop methods and provide information for vaccine and novel treatment development. For example, techniques for the isolation and maintenance of N. pemaquidensis are based on monoxenic cultures. This culture is highly problematic because preparations of protozoa are contaminated with bacteria. Studies to determine cell function, protein and DNA composition have been seriously compromised by the bacteria. Culture relies on the use of agar. Cell propagation and harvesting by ....This project will develop methods and provide information for vaccine and novel treatment development. For example, techniques for the isolation and maintenance of N. pemaquidensis are based on monoxenic cultures. This culture is highly problematic because preparations of protozoa are contaminated with bacteria. Studies to determine cell function, protein and DNA composition have been seriously compromised by the bacteria. Culture relies on the use of agar. Cell propagation and harvesting by this system is time consuming and inefficient. Development of practical systems for cell factory production of N. pemaquidensis is required. This is important for studies of cell wall composition and cell function, which require considerable biomass. There is no model of infection using protozoa derived from monoxenic or xenic cultures. This represents a major limitation, particularly when it is necessary to use controlled doses of a single strain. Current methods rely on the use of N. pemaquidensis harvested from infected fish. While this strategy meets an immediate need, long-term it cannot be justified. Development of a method to grow in vitro virulent protozoa capable of infecting fish is an essential objective. The current library of N. pemaquidensis isolates obtained from fish with AGD is small and in continuous culture for almost 10 years. There is an urgent need to re-isolate N. pemaquidensis and expand the library to ensure an adequate range of phenotypes and genotypes. Preservation of N. pemaquidensis is an essential requirement of the AGD programme as it will maintain strain integrity, a vital objective for vaccine development. The complexity of growing N. pemaquidensis has proved a major limitation to studies on AGD. A centre of expertise in the culture of N. pemaquidensis should result in guaranteed supply of organism. A reference laboratory will ensure standardisation of cultures and uniformity of research outcomes. Objectives: 1. To provide a knowledge base for development of novel treatments and vaccines 2. To identify factors leading to binding of the parasite to fish gills 3. To identify gill conditions which increase the susceptibility of the fish to AGD 4. To develop techniques for in vitro work on Amoebic Gill Disease 5. To expand the library of N. pemaquidensis strains 6. To implement a long term preservation for N. pemaquidensis based on freezing technology 7. To develop improved culture systems based on monoxenic and axenic techniques 8. To develop cell factory capability to produce high density cell suspensions of N. pemaquidensis 9. To develop cell purification techniques to produce pure cell suspension of N. pemaquidensis derived from cell culture and gill associated disease. 10. To implement cell characterisation techniques for strain differentiation 11. To investigate culture strategies to develop infective strains of in vitro grown N. pemaquidensis Read moreRead less
Australian Eel Aquaculture Industry Development Strategy & Associated Investment Analysis
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$60,000.00
Summary
Before proceeding to implementation of the R&D plan, FRDC has now identified the logical next step in addressing the strategic needs of the eel aquaculture industry sector. Indeed the FRDC has determined that the R&D Plan in itself is insufficient to determine an appropriate level of R&D investment in eel aquaculture in the absence of key business and economic information. Such a nexus is consistent with the vagaries of many new and developing aquaculture species. Furthermore, there are few e ....Before proceeding to implementation of the R&D plan, FRDC has now identified the logical next step in addressing the strategic needs of the eel aquaculture industry sector. Indeed the FRDC has determined that the R&D Plan in itself is insufficient to determine an appropriate level of R&D investment in eel aquaculture in the absence of key business and economic information. Such a nexus is consistent with the vagaries of many new and developing aquaculture species. Furthermore, there are few examples/templates of such information databases to support R&D investment decisions for such new commercial entrants.
Specifically, the need to describe an appropriate industry development strategy, together with an analysis of the investment potential for eel aquaculture in Australia, is now needed. This strategy is intended to complement the R&D strategy and effectively provide the commercial rationale for further investment in eel R&D and associated industry development in Australia.
Although intended to focus on the new and developing eel aquaculture sector in Australia, the proposed analysis is expected to also address attendant issues relevant to the wild glass eel and elver fishery, recognising the need for wild seedstock to support eel aquaculture at the present time. Furthermore, the analysis will consider both existing commercially significant eel species in Australia, viz., shortfinned and longfinned eels. Objectives: 1. To analyse shortfin and longfin eel aquaculture investment potential in Australia, including development of an appropriate Decision Support Information database for Government and industry 2. To determine strategic guidelines for development of the Australian shortfin and longfin eel aquaculture industry, including evaluation of national R&D priorities. Read moreRead less