ParaFishControl organised the Industry Forum “Mediterranean Fish Parasite Management Strategies” on the 10th September 2019 at the 19th International Conference on Diseases of Fish and Shellfish that took place in Porto, Portugal, from 9 to 12 September 2019. The industry forum was attended by 59 aquaculture experts coming from industry, research institutions and policy, interested in learning more on how to better control parasitic diseases in Mediterranean aquaculture farms. The event focused on the parasites which have been most damaging to Mediterranean farmed species populations - Amyloodinium ocellatum, Ceratothoa oestroides, Enteromyxum leei, Enteromyxum scophthalmi, Enterospora nucleophila, Philasterides dicentrarchi, and Sparicotyle chrysophrii.

During the industry forum, Alain Le Breton from Vet’au provided an overview of the most prevalent issues related to parasitic diseases in Mediterranean aquaculture farms. ParaFishControl partners presented the new tools and techniques developed within the project to diagnose, prevent and treat these diseases. The event ended with an open discussion with the participants to determine how these solutions could be implemented at farm level. The industry forum provided the attendees with new knowledge to better manage their farms, and greatly reduce population loss in a cost-effective way.

The Agenda and the Industry Forum presentations are available to download below:

Agenda

Setting the scene

ParaFishControl Project and Expected Results - Dr Ariadna Sitjà-Bobadilla, ParaFishControl Project Coordinator, IATS-CSIC

Economic Impact of Parasitic Diseases in Mediterranean Mariculture - Dr Alain Le Breton, Vet’au

Session 1 - Diagnostics

Towards an improved image of Mediterranean aquaculture products regarding food safety - Dr Andrea Gustinelli, University of Bologna

New tools for diagnosis of Enterospora nucleophila - Dr Oswaldo Palenzuela, CSIC

Session 2 - Prevention

Vaccine for Amyloodinium ocellatum - Dr Paola Beraldo, University of Udine

Vaccines for Philasterides dicentrarchi - Dr Jesús Lamas, University of Santiago de Compostela, presented by Dr Ariadna Sitjà-Bobadilla, IATS-CSIC

Economic model for risk factors in Mediterranean farms - Dr Alastair Cook, CEFAS, presented by Dr Ariadna Sitjà-Bobadilla, IATS-CSIC

Session 3 - Alternative Treatments

New treatments against sparicotylosis - Dr Ivona Mladineo, IZOR

Alternative treatments for Ceratothoa oestroides - Dr Ivona Mladineo, IZOR

Alternative treatments for Amyloodinium ocellatum - Dr Michela Massimo, University of Udine

Disease prevention and management are essential for the sustainability of the European aquaculture industry. The diversity of species and farming practices throughout Europe involves a significant number of threats related to a large variety of pathogens that hamper production and require specific preventive and curative practices and tools ensuring a high level of biosecurity of aquaculture production and related seafood products. Among other disease-related threats, parasites and related infections can cause significant damages to farmed fish species and can result in poor growth performance, impaired welfare, and high mortality rates with significant consequences in terms of production and economic performance.

Over the last four years, the EU-funded project ParaFishControl (634429) has been working to develop innovative solutions and tools for the prevention, control and mitigation of the most harmful parasitic species affecting the main European farmed fish species, namely: Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, turbot, gilthead seabream, European sea bass and common carp.

The “North European Fish Parasite Management Strategies in Aquaculture Farms” workshop will focus on the parasites which have been most damaging fresh and marine farmed species populations in North Europe (salmon, carp and trout) - Lepeophtheirus salmonis, Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae, Sphaerospora molnari, Thelohanellus kitauei, Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Paramoeba perurans, and Saprolegnia parasitica. During the workshop, industry representatives will provide an overview of the most prevalent issues related to parasitic diseases in North European aquaculture farms. ParaFishControl partners will then present the new tools and techniques developed within the project to diagnose, prevent and treat these diseases. The workshop will provide attendees with new knowledge to better manage their farms, and greatly reduce population loss in a cost-effective way.

More information about the event and full programme of the ParaFishControl workshop are available here.

More information about Aquaculture Europe 2019 – OUR FUTURE - GROWING FROM WATER can be found here: www.aquaeas.eu/uncategorised/402-welcome-to-aquaculture-europe-2019 

ParaFishControl is organising the Industry Forum “Mediterranean Fish Parasite Management Strategies” at the 19th International Conference on Diseases of Fish and Shellfish that will take place in Porto from 9 to 12 September 2019. The event will be held on the 10th September 2019 from 16:00 to 19:00.

The “Mediterranean Fish Parasite Management Strategies” industry forum will focus on the parasites which have been most damaging to Mediterranean farmed species populations - Amyloodinium ocellatum, Ceratothoa oestroides, Enteromyxum leei, Enteromyxum scophthalmi, Enterospora nucleophila, Philasterides dicentrarchi, and Sparicotyle chrysophrii. During the industry forum, industry representatives will provide an overview of the most prevalent issues related to parasitic diseases in Mediterranean aquaculture farms. ParaFishControl partners will then present the new tools and techniques developed within the project to diagnose, prevent and treat these diseases. The industry forum will provide attendees with new knowledge to better manage their farms, and greatly reduce population loss in a cost-effective way.

To attend the ParaFishControl Industry Forum event, please register for EAFP here: https://skyroscongressos.pt/eafp2019/form.php.

 Click here to download the programme of the Industry Forum.

MedAID, PerformFISH and ParaFishControl are organising the workshop “Bottlenecks in Diagnostics of Mediterranean Fish Diseases” at the 19th International Conference on Diseases of Fish and Shellfish that will take place in Porto from 9 to 12 September 2019. The workshop will be held on the 9th September 2019 from 16:00 to 19:00.

The farming of sea bass and sea bream is an important productive sector in the Mediterranean, significantly contributing to the local economy and job creation in rural and coastal areas. Sea bream and sea bass are by volume the third and fourth most farmed fish species in the European Union (EU). However, in recent years, there is a growing concern regarding the lack of growth and improvement in Mediterranean Marine Fish Farming which covers the majority of sea bass and sea bream production. For the last decade, overall production in the EU has remained stagnant and at present the industry is under a range of pressures, including technical, market-oriented, legislative and financial issues.

MedAID and PerformFISH H2020 projects aim to increase the overall competitiveness and sustainability of the Mediterranean marine fish-farming sector, throughout the whole value chain. An important aspect of both projects is managing transmissible diseases of farmed fish. On the other hand, ParaFishControl aims to improve understanding of fish-parasite interaction and to develop innovative solutions and tools for the prevention, control and mitigation of farmed fish parasitic diseases. These projects are actively cooperating in all possible aspects and the workshop will cover one of the mutual interests of these three EU H2020 projects: diagnostics.

The workshop is divided into three sessions. The first session is dedicated to present the different diagnostic techniques employed in Mediterranean fish farms for viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases. The second one will be dedicated to working group discussions on the main challenges for the implementation of standardised procedures and the bottlenecks in diagnostics of the mentioned pathogens. The discussion will be moderated by experts of MedAID, PerformFISH and ParaFishControl.The final plenary session will summarise the bottlenecks identified in the previous session and discuss the way forward to overcome them.

The summary of the discussions and conclusions is planned to be published at the EAFP Bulletin.

To attend this workshop, please register for EAFP here: https://skyros-congressos.pt/eafp2019/form.php.

 Click here to download the programme of the Workshop.