Workshop on Emerging Mollusc Pathogens (WKEMOP)

• Main Authors: Arzul, Isabelle, Burge, Colleen, Carnegie, Ryan, Cheslett, Deborah, Gustafson, Lori, Hilton, Zoë, Johnsen, Stian, Kirkland, Peter, Kristmundsson, Arni, Madsen, Lone, Mortensen, Stein, Mylrea, Gillian, Roque, Ana, Warg, Janet V., Wegner, Matthias, Whaley, Janet
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) 2019
• Subjects: /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water; SDG 14 - Life Below Water; Pacific; Pacific oyster
• Online Access: https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/f8eb7075-6a61-4cb1-8d72-2b1fc6ce1a3f; https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.5577; https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/files/201349153/WKEMOP_Report_2019.pdf

Emerging pathogens threaten aquaculture industries worldwide. There is urgency to become better prepared and meet these challenges, as aquaculture is growing rapidly and will contribute increasingly to food security. There are important Pacific oyster production areas today as yet unchallenged by emergent OsHV-1 microvariants, notably in the Americas, and to these areas the viruses are an immediate threat. The ICES Workshop on Emerging Mollusc Pathogens addressed fundamental questions regarding capabilities (expertise, infrastructure) and communication (among the pathology community, regulation, and industry). We sought to identify areas warranting investment and support to manage emerging diseases in shellfish aquaculture industries, and to provide justification for resources to be directed to these areas for more effective management of shellfish health. Thirty-six priorities were identified spanning four areas: i) improving communication and frameworks ii) essential infrastructure and expertise iii) key research priorities and iv) the central role of husbandry in shellfish aquaculture health management. Improving communication in every regard was recognized as the greatest need. Better coordinating efforts, improving data sharing, and improving trust on the part of industry to create buy-in and improve reporting were among identified priorities. Regulatory frameworks were recognized as needing to be flexible, given the often urgent need to act with incomplete information when a disease emerges. For essential infrastructure and expertise the workshop emphasized the continued importance of traditional fields such as pathology, bacteriology and virology, which remain foundational to aquaculture health management. Maintaining laboratory capacity is critical, in distribution as well as technologically: there is value in maintaining not just national or pan-national laboratories but provincial governmental and academic labs too, which can be more intimately engaged with local producers, and familiar with ...