Aquatic Animal Quqrantine and Health Certification in Asia

Quarantine programmes form part of a first time of defence against possible adverse effects resulting from the transboundary movement of aquatic species. Although codes of practice for the international movement of aquatic animals have been developed by various international organizations, in many countries they have rarely been applied. Nevertheless, they provide a starting point for designing national and regional fish health regulations as well as international agreements aimed at preventing the spread of aquatic animal pathogens. To assist the countries of Asia in formulating technical guidelines on health certification and quarantine for the responsible transboundary movement of aquatic animals, FAO, in collaboration with the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), the Aquatic Animal Health Research Institute of the Thai Department of Fisheries (AAHRI) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), conducted a workshop in January 1996 in Bangkok, Thailand to review the existing knowledge on aquatic animal quarantine and health certification in Asia and to develop an agreed-upon strategy for the formulation of technical guidelines. This document contains ten country papers presented at the workshop, some technical background information on general principles of aquatic animal quarantine, existing codes of practice, the agreed-upon strategy and the recommendations of the workshop.