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Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture

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Aquatic Animal Health Activities

Last Modified: Jun 2, 2020
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APHIS – VS is involved in several activities related to the health of aquatic animals. Those activities can generally be divided into two overarching components:   

  1. aquatic animal-health certification procedures for aquatic animals and products that are exported internationally and require attestations by the National competent authority APHIS -VS.

  2. regulations for the importation and interstate movement of aquatic animals and products and the maintenance development of a laboratory network to support the movement of healthy aquatic animals. 

These two complementary aspects of the program ensure that diseases notifiable to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) will be reported and appropriate control measures can be enacted. 

Accredited veterinarians have a vital role in certifying documents based on information gathered from farm inspections, onsite sample collections and laboratory submissions. In many cases, aquatic animal health management is provided by accredited veterinarians for a variety of aquaculture commodities including the tropical and ornamental fish, crustaceans, mollusks, amphibians, and aquatic reptiles.
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