The provision of safe and effective vaccination programmes is one of the key tools to ensure the sustainable development of the aquaculture sector and therefore help meet growing global protein demands.
The global aquaculture industry has suffered greatly from the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has also shown its capacity to adapt. It will always find ways to cope with new and constantly evolving constraints, and its potential to provide increased livelihood opportunities is not at risk. In fact, aquaculture is widely regarded as one of the most important weapons against world hunger and malnutrition.
To achieve its potential, aquaculture will need to provide both a wide range of high-value products for international markets and a copious supply of low-cost fish for domestic consumption in the Global South. The rapid growth of this sector continues to generate new challenges. Diseases are still a main issue, because they may generate extensive losses and result in a lack of investor confidence.
Pathogens in commercial aquaculture have made it necessary for farmers to use veterinary medicines to treat disease outbreaks. But there’s an increasing global perception that antimicrobial agents have been imprudently used in the industry.
Authorities should obviously promote the sustainability of aquaculture production and protect public health. In parallel, ensuring the judicious use of medicines remains the responsibility all animal producers, including fish farmers.
Favouring preventative measures and vaccine use to reduce exposure to pathogens is an important goal in animal health science. Concerns about antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance are well-known and widely documented. The main worry for animal health is treatment failure, whereas the possible presence of residues in food products is an alarming issue for humans. The development of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria that are associated with human disease is also worrying. This phenomenon can occur naturally, as microorganisms adapt to their environment; but this is compounded when inappropriate and excessive dosages of antibiotics are prescribed.
In fish farming, several strategies can be adopted to reduce antimicrobial resistance. These include the use of clean facilities, the use of immunostimulants to enhance innate immunity, the inclusion of probiotics in feeds and – of course – vaccination. Of these, vaccines are the most important weapon against fish infections, being the last barrier pathogens will encounter before causing a disease outbreak.
The emergence of vaccines has greatly reduced the dependence on antimicrobial agents. Vaccination benefits us all – as it protects animal health and welfare, the livelihoods of those who work with livestock, as well as food security. The development of some aquaculture sectors, such as the salmon industry in Norway (where, by 1994, fish farmers across the country had switched from antibiotics to vaccination), has shown the great potential vaccines have to reduce reliance on veterinary medicines.
Recent trials have been performed to test protection against Vibriosis anguillarum, involving various European sea bass groups, even under adverse temperature conditions. They demonstrated that the unvaccinated fish groups recorded a mortality rate of 95 percent, while all fish that had been properly vaccinated by intraperitoneal injection 42 days earlier survived.
Those experiences confirm that vaccination is not only essential to drastically reduce antimicrobial resistance, but is also the best method to increase survival rates and profitability. Among the vaccination methods that are available, vaccination by manual injection (intraperitoneal or intramuscular), has proven preferable, where species allow.
In summary, producing healthy farmed fish requires not only quality infrastructure and well-trained personnel, but also ensuring that the latest pharmaceutical technologies and state-of-the-art instrumentation and consumables are to the fore. Keeping the health and safety of humans and animals in mind, with no compromise to environmental commitments, is vital for reaching global sustainability goals.
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