European and Mediterranean Aquaculture data collection and reporting under the STECF

Fisheries and aquaculture are managed under the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)
Managing the exploitation of fish and shellfish stocks in European marine waters falls under the European Union (EU)’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which was formally established in 1983 (Council of the European Communities, 1983), and has since undergone reforms in 1992, 2002, and 2013 (EU, 2013). The scope of the CFP extends to joint conservation, management and exploitation of living aquatic resources by EU member states, with the objective of biological, economic and social sustainability.

The CFP requires considering scientific advice (based on Dörner et al., 2018)
The Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE – (https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs) is the European Commission’s department responsible for implementation of the CFP. The CFP explicitly requires the European Commission to take ‘into account available scientific, technical and economic advice’ (EU, 2013) when drafting legislative proposals for the European Parliament and Council. Accordingly, European Commission proposals relating to fisheries management must be based on scientific advice. Hence implementation of the CFP requires both the assistance of specialised experts and the availability of high-quality data and analyses. The European Commission’s own expert scientific independent advisory body on fisheries and aquaculture is the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF – https://stecf.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.html). The STECF is being consulted at regular intervals on matters pertaining to the conservation and management of living aquatic resources, including biological, economic, environmental, social and technical considerations (European Commission, 2016). The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) also has a role in the scientific advisory process by providing advice directly to DG MARE, through participation in the STECF and its Expert Working Groups (EWGs).Continue reading

Health forum discussion on Tenacibaculum

Dates: 11-22 February 2019
Forum coordinator: Dr. Snježana Zrnčić, HVI. Zagreb, Croatia.
Discussion moderators:
Dr. Alain le Breton, VETEAU, France
Dr. Jean-François Bernardet, INRA, Centre de Recherches Virologie et Immunologie Moleculaire, France

After a pause, with proposed discussion on tenacibaculosis, the MedAID Health Forum will again put efforts to gather field diagnosticians, laboratories, relevant authorities in charge of disease management in the Mediterranean mariculture and other stakeholders.

Tenacibaculum infection (previously known as flexibacteriosis) represents one of the first bacterial conditions being reported in marine aquaculture in a large range of species including flat fish like sole (Solea solea) and turbot (Schopthalmus maximus); and finfish, namely sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and sea bream (Sparus aurata). The disease is associated to the infection with bacteria from the genus Tenacibaculum spp. In some marine areas or in recirculation systems, the infection severely threatens production with mortalities rising over 30%.Continue reading

Tenacibaculosis in marine fish

Tenacibaculum infection (previously named flexibacteriosis) represents one of the first bacterial conditions being reported in marine aquaculture in a large range of species including flat fish such as sole and turbot; and finfish, namely sea bass and sea bream (McVicar and White, 1979;Masumura& Wakabayashi, 1977;Bernardet, 1989;Toranzo et al., 2005). More recently, at the 2018 Annual Workshop of the National Reference Laboratories for Fish Diseases (Anonymous, 2018) or from the Assessment of the disease situation made by MedAID (Cidad et at., 2018) tenacibaculosis was considered, together with vibriosis, one of the most important disease for European seabass. In some marine areas or in recirculation systems, they severely threaten production with mortalities rising over 30%.Continue reading