U.S. Farm-Raised Aquatic Livestock Is Healthy
APHIS is dedicated to ensuring the health of farmed aquatic livestock raised nationwide. Our commitment is integral to positioning U.S. aquaculture producers as global leaders in aquatic livestock health and production.
About U.S. Aquaculture
The U.S. aquaculture community reported a farm gate value of approximately $2 billion in 2022 (NASS 2022 Ag Census). Almost every State has some form of aquaculture occurring for various end uses, employing a wide range of farming methods from extensive to intensive.
Producers use a wide range of systems and containment options for farming aquatic animals. In open water, farmers may use pens, nets, or cages, and on land they may use ponds, tanks, raceways, or recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) to contain animals.
Aquaculture is the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, and other organisms in all types of water environments to produce food and other products, enhance wild stocks, restore declining wild populations or species, or recover wild threatened or endangered species.
Monitoring Conditions of Water Quality in Aquaculture Systems
Farmers must actively manage the aquatic environment their animals are living in. Optimal water quality conditions for the species being raised are critical to overall animal health. Farmers must evaluate the suitability of the source water (for example, ground or surface water) as well as routinely monitor water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen, ammonia, pH, temperature, and other factors of the animal environment (for example, tank or pond).
Managing Aquatic Livestock Health
To help farmers manage the health of their aquatic livestock, APHIS has worked with the farming community to create Comprehensive Aquaculture Health Program Standards (CAHPS), which are based on five pillars of livestock health management:
- Having access to a team of aquatic animal health experts for the species being raised
- Evaluating the risks of possible pathogen entry for the species being raised and then documenting a biosecurity plan outlining mitigation practices to prevent the introduction or spread of infectious pathogens
- Establishing an early detection system and surveillance protocol to identify any early signs of disease affecting the animals
- Putting in place a predetermined process to investigate disease or health concerns at a farm—including sample collection and laboratory submission—and reporting of suspicion or pathogen detection of World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and National List of Reportable Animal Diseases (NLRAD) listed pathogens to APHIS.
- Developing a response and recovery plan for when disease events occur and the steps that need to be taken for recovery.
Implementing Biosecurity Practices To Manage Risks to Livestock
In most aquatic livestock production operations, there are five pathways where unwanted pathogens or contaminants may enter or be moved around on the farm. These pathways (or control points) are:
- Incoming animals
- Source water
- Feed
- Fomites
- Vectors
Farmers evaluate each of these pathways to understand the risk of pathogens (infectious organisms that cause disease) to ensure pathogen entry is eliminated or minimized. Farmers then develop and implement biosecurity practices on the farm at each of these control points to eliminate or reduce the risk of entry or spread of an agent within the operation. Typical biosecurity practices on an aquaculture production facility may include:
- Hand-washing stations
- Foot baths
- Net dips
- Health certification of incoming animals
- Quarantine and isolation of new or sick animals
- Pest management
Using Therapeutics and Vaccines in Aquaculture
Preventing diseases in livestock settings is always preferable to combating disease outbreaks. Vaccinating aquatic livestock is a tool farmers use to prevent outbreaks before they happen. Sometimes it is necessary to treat livestock with medicine to combat disease. In the United States, aquaculture veterinarians and others are limited to only a few drugs which are approved for use in certain fish species with diagnosis of a specific bacterial infection.
Training and Education for Aquatic Livestock Health
Farmers and farm workers are knowledgeable of the species they culture and operations they manage. Being able to quickly determine if an aquatic animal is looking or behaving normally is critical to detecting early and subtle changes in health. Everyone working with livestock should know what is normal and not normal for the species and the conditions they are being grown in.
