Vets, fish farm workers, fisheries staff and scientists could gain valuable insights into aquatic animal disease events thanks to a new book and online courses from Agriculture Victoria.
Agriculture Victoria Principal Veterinary Officer Dr Tracey Bradley has specialised in aquatic animal health for over 16 years and co-authored the resources.
"These resources provide another tool for investigating and responding to emergency biosecurity events and continue to strengthen Victoria's biosecurity capability," Dr Bradley said.
"In what's believed to be an Australian-first, our book brings together the 10 essential steps for investigating aquatic disease events in the wild or on-farm and includes easy-to-understand case studies.
"Readers will discover how to define a case, collect and analyse data and describe an outbreak over both time and place – information which will help to determine the cause, relevant controls and, ideally, how to prevent future events."
Recently recognised with an Australian Government Biosecurity Commendation Certificate for her efforts supporting the farmed abalone industry to manage a viral disease of abalone, Dr Bradley drew on her experience to develop the resources.
"Even with the best biosecurity practices things can move quickly when disease hits, so it's essential to investigate as soon as you notice something is wrong," Dr Bradley said.
Complementary e-learning modules provide clear information on how to submit the best sample possible to help reach a diagnosis.
The resources were co-authored by Agriculture Victoria Senior Veterinary Officer Epidemiology Dr Nicole McLaughlin and developed with the assistance of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.
The outbreak investigation guidelines book and e-learning modules are available free on the Agriculture Victoria website via https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/fish-outbreak .
