Researchers at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University have developed a range of probiotic micro-organisms which have demonstrated protection against several fish diseases, including furunculosis, a disease affecting a wide range of salmonid species as well as certain species of carp, bream, catfish, turbot and bass.
Furunculosis are most likely to occur in fish during the critical smolting and spawning stages of their development, and are caused by the onset of higher water temperatures or during periods of rapid temperature change.
These probiotics would replace the existing antibiotic feed premix treatment, which has the disadvantages commonly associated with antibiotics – gradual disease resistance in fish and occasionally in the humans that consume them.
Heriot-Watt University are currently looking for parties interested in obtaining a licence to this technology, forming a joint venture or sponsoring continued developments.
Does anyone have any information on the recent crisis in the last couple of years where fish in Chile are dieing at a very young age due to some disease. I have only heard it second hand, but am keen to understand what the real issue is and when and if it can be solved.
Chilean Salmon farmers are under increasing pressure to manage the health of their salmon farms.
Firstly, the parasitic bacteria Rickettsia which is carried by sea lice infect the cells of Salmon. Chilean salmon ventures use a variety of antibiotics to treat this bacteria in fish farms however, at least one of these antibiotics, ivermectin, has been ban by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, the FDA tests less than 2% of salmon imported by Chile.
Secondly, Chilean Salmon farms are under siege by Infectious Salmon Anemia which is a contagious viral disease that kills up to 2% of Chilean farmed salmon. The disease is so contagious that often the whole farm population is needed to be eradicated to remove the viral disease. This disease is also prevalent in Scotland and Norway.
Supermarket chain Safeway’s reduced Chilean salmon purchases after a New York Times article about Chilean salmon sanitary conditions. Considering that the US is the biggest export market for Chile’s third biggest export, it is imperative to find solutions to these two problems.
It is very important to have a good environment for Aquaculture to develop and for the growth of aquaculture in a good and productive way. More than half of the sea food eaten today is farmed. Although Aquaculture is growing at a very fast pace, with a lot of demand for sea food, but there are a few problems in the Aquaculture in terms of aquaculture pollution, habitat degradation as well as health risks problems for customers purchasing the seafood.
It is a must to make for measures to prevent or at least work towards preventing these problems.
According to Brian Halweil, Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, fish farming is very useful, and could not only help in providing sufficient food for the fast growing population, but can also help in solving many of the problems of marine ecosystems. Fish farming is very helpful in providing different types of food such as oysters, catfish tilapia etc, as these food could help in solving the problem of a region where there has been a crop loss or problems providing food to the population.
But the main problems in fish farming is the way many of the fish farms are run, globally. Sometimes the fish farms are not run in a healthy manner and produce a lot of pollution, which in turn affect the fish and can create diseases amongst the fish. That is the reason why there should be certain standards set for running of the fish farms.
Sometimes cramped facilities can create diseases amongst fish by creating an unhealthy environment for the fish to live in. Recently shrimp farmers in China have lost US$120 million to bacterial fish diseases and $420 million to shrimp diseases.
Hence it is very necessary to either set industry guidelines for fish farming which could be made to be practiced on a global manner, or to basically come up with innovations where the fish farmers and producers can try and solve many of the problems associated with fish farming on their own.
Some of the approaches suggested by Halweil are:-
- Ecological Aquaculture- Ecological aquaculture basically means creating a fish farm in such a manner which is very similar to creating an eco system which is healthy and follows procedures which can solve problems of pollution and disease amongst the fish. This happens in such a way that the fish farm keeps complementary species and uses this to automatically take care of the disease problems. For example, Cooke Aquaculture’s salmon farm in Back Bay, Canada, takes advantage of a natural ecosystem cleansing service provided by blue mussels and kelp.
- Warehouse farming- Many of the reasearchers at Marine Biotechnology in Baltimore, Maryland, have concluded that if the fish are kept indoors and the farming is done indoors then the common problems of diseases as well of fish escape etc can be avoided.
- Cleansing Wastewater- if fish farmers can clean the water on a regular basis they may create a sound environment for the fish and avoid the problems of pollution and disease.
(More information can be obtained via this link.
