WOAH Collaborating Centre for Emerging Aquatic Animal Disease

The emergence of disease in farmed and wild aquatic animals poses one of the most significant threats to sustainable food production and to the stability of natural systems. Rapid detection, characterization and reporting of the causative agents of disease provide a crucial first step in their control. For this reason, efficient and accurate reporting of emergent disease threats forms the central precept of this WOAH Collaborating Centre. By working with our partners in aquatic animal health from across the globe, often in countries where aquaculture forms an increasingly critical component of food production and trade, we are focused on mitigating the yield-limiting effects of emergent diseases, improving the reporting of new threats, and ultimately reducing their transboundary spread via trade and other pathways. In doing so, we aim to function as a global resource for research, diagnostics, standardization of techniques and dissemination of knowledge in the field of aquatic animal health.

Our key functions are:

1. Securing aquatic animal health, including identifying new and emerging disease conditions, reducing the transmission of diseases through risk management, decisions based on prompt and effective scientific investigations.
2. Ensuring transparency via dissemination of listed and emerging aquatic animal disease via this website, the International Database on Aquatic Animal Diseases and the Registry for Aquatic Pathology (RAP).
3. Collecting, analysing and disseminating scientific information via the same mechanisms and directly to the WOAH.
4. Ensuring international solidarity through the ability to offer expertise to countries where aquaculture provides a critical food source threatened by disease occurrence.
5. Promotion of diagnostic services through provision of training courses and workshops.
6. Enhancing the capacity and sustainability of national diagnostic services to tackle emerging diseases in aquatic animals.

Click below to see more information on our collaborations and network