The agriculture sector has diversified into horticulture, livestock, and aquaculture. Aquaculture has markable scope in fisheries for efficient and feasible methods to produce high-quality protein and it bridges a gap between long term supply, demand and it also reduces the pressure of wide capture fishes of greater demand which is consumed by over two billion people around the world. Aquaculture is breeding, raising, and harvesting of fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish, algae, and other aquatic organisms in all types of water environments. There are three types of aquaculture i.e. freshwater, brackish water, and marine aquaculture was practiced worldwide. This aquaculture will strive only to be maintaining a practice of effective biosecurity measures. On-farm biosecurity management in aquaculture is to minimize the risk of introducing a disease spreading it to the farm or aquatic animals at a facility and the risk that diseased animals or infectious agent will transfer into a facility and spread to other site or farms and to other susceptible species with such practice it will reduce the stress to animals and thus making them less susceptible to disease. It also encompasses measures designed to prevent disease of animals grown in farm devoid or exempted from contamination, exploration of new diseases and pest, and wild animal’s movements.
On-farm biosecurity guides us:
Precaution is always better than cure the problem.
Quick decision-making tree and clear guidance towards the solution.
Well, preparation and training to handle the crisis situation.
Well explained role and responsibility towards day-to-day function and environmental benefits.
Biosecurity practices more effective to keep disease outbreaks away and also cost-effective. It will exclude, eradicate, or effective management of risk posed by pests, wild animals, and disease to the economic, environment, human, and animal health. Biosecurity is not just keeping away the pest and disease, it also helps to protect breeding stock, produce high quality of fry, business, industries, and environment. Biosecurity management practices have still some limitation, but it is best practices which helps to early disease detection, and identification of disease in day-to-day farm activity, this can improve the chance of successful farm business, and ensure healthy and quality food supply.
Factors for disease and pest activities in the farms:
Stock movement: High animal density, water in and out, diet maintenance, dead and diseased animals
Water source: water quality, weed animals through water and lack of water treatments (before and after use)
Equipment: Poor maintained and hygienic farm equipment, tools and vessels
People: Staff health and visitors.
Feed: Poor feed storage, contaminated feed, and ineffective medicine.
Wildlife: Birds and animal movement between farms will bring new disease or disease outbreaks.
Farm management: Farm waste, water treatment (effluent), lack of biosecurity and dead animal.
Key points of on-farm biosecurity practice:
Biosecurity practice should be practical and fulfill the purpose.
It should be simple and low cost at the same time effective.
Level of biosecurity practice need to follow based on risk and type of risk.
Implement biosecurity needs to be a tangible improvement in the farm.
The biosecurity practices need to be implementing all other neighboring farms to get the right benefits of biosecurity and eradicate the disease outbreak.
Aquaculture especially the marine culture employees fish cages or substrate (Molluscs and Seaweed) such as stakes, rope, and raft. Most of the aquaculturist prefers fish pond culture by concentrating on:
a) Culture species
b) Site selection
c) Pond layout
d) Design of pond facilities
e) Pond management
a) Culture species:
They mainly concentrate on growing culture, such as carp, tilapia, catfish, eel, trout, goldfish, milkfish (Chanos chanos), Mullet (Mugil Spp), Penaid shrimps (Penaeus monodon, P. orentalis, P. merguiensis, P. penicillatus), Seabass, groper, Red sea bream, and marine shrimps.
b) Site selection:
In any aquaculture project soil quality, land evaluation and tidal characterization, the vegetation of the site culture system, water supply, accessibility of fry, feeds, fertilizer, markets, fish ports, processing plant, ice plant for the transportation, through hand/water is negligible.
c) Pond layout and Design:
While deciding to locate a new pond the following are taken for consideration
Landscape
Soil texture
Water supply
Designs of the pond are dug in the ground which can be made of soil or building materials such as concrete. These are applicable only when the biosecurity measures are followed by analyzing the information on diagnostic disease transmission, clean-up and eradication, inter or intranational disease zoning, national quarantine control, and global biosecurity. Investors put their money and efforts to develop pond, hatcheries, and breeding units to produce good quality of output to generate incomes. From the beginning, care must be taken to produce good quality fry, fingerlings, eggs, larvae with a high survival rate. Many factors affect the smooth operation by causing disease outbreak which causes severe economic losses and set-back to the industry growth. So, the biosecurity in place to minimize the risk of disease outbreak and pathogen entry.
The major goal of biosecurity involves:
1. Animal management involves obtaining healthy stocks (eggs, fry, and juveniles), quality feed by optimizing their health and immunity through good husbandry practice and approved vendor selection respectively.
2. Pathogen management involves in reducing pathogens through good management practice
3. People management involves educating and managing staff and visitors to the farm.
They are needed for successful output in aquaculture, a good biosecurity will help to reduce the risk of catastrophic loss from the infectious disease from the bottom line. To develop biosecurity mainly depends on promoting healthy aquatic animals, experienced professionals, production specialists, aquaculture engineer, good medical practice includes quarantine, routine observation, vaccination immunostimulant, probiotics, and diagnostics of disease.
With all these an effective bio-security processes are carries out in hatcheries, nurseries, and grow-out farms for improving animal welfare, integrity for food safety, and economic gain in aquaculture.
Benefits of Biosecurity:
Minimize the disease outbreak and pest invasions in the farm
Biosecurity practice will improve the ability to minimize the impact of disease and pest in a better way during a perilous time.
By reducing the pest and disease happening will help to get market acceptance and authorization.
Keep monitor and well aware of the root cause of disease-causing pathogens and how to avoid the contamination by hygienic practice on the farm.
Regular farm checks by a standard checklist will help and minimize the disease and pest entries.
Reduce mortality rate of aquatic animals
Protect from economic losses from the disease outbreak
Avoid operation failure and ensure the optimum profit
Optimize the quality out-puts and ensure the quality food supply chain
Maintain and clean farm condition and equipment.
Possibility of easy notice if something unusual condition or damages.
“Everything is theoretically impossible until it is done; Biosecurity is the only practical and possible solution”
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