6.5 Emergency Response

Emergencies can arise rapidly with the incursion of an exotic disease, a change in prevalence or behaviour of an endemic disease, or the emergence of a previously unknown disease (Arthur et al., 2005). The well documented devastating impacts of diseases, such as koi herpesvirus and EUS in fish, the shrimp diseases (white spot syndrome and Taura syndrome) and abalone viral mortality, highlight the need for emergency preparedness (Mohan, Chinabut and Kanchanakhan, 2008).

Emergency response is a critical element of risk management taking into account farmlevel actions, transboundary movement of pathogens, misuse of chemicals, food safety, and compliance with regional and international obligations (Mohan, Chinabut and Kanchanakhan, 2008). To deal with an emergency, relevant policy, procedures and regulations must be in place, and adequate human, infrastructural and financial resources must be available. The roles and responsibilities of relevant stakeholders must be specified, and operational procedures should be clearly defined, taking into account relevant risk analysis principles (FAO, 2007a). Where there is limited ca pacity to deal with an aquatic animal emergency within a country, links need to be established to international consultants and organizations that have the relevant expertise. For example, after the first outbreak of EUS in Southern Africa in 2006, both private consultants (Andrew et al., 2008) and an FAO emergency response team (FAO, 2009) were tasked by the affected countries to help investigate and advise on the outbreak. A similar emergency task team of relevant specialist consultants, organized by the World Bank, assisted during the devastating outbreak of white spot syndrome in Mozambique during 2011 (World Bank/ RAF, 2013). In 2002, an Emergency Disease Control Task Force organized by the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia and the Pacific (NACA) investigated a suspected koi herpesvirus disease outbreak in Indonesia (Bondad-Reantaso, Sunarto and Subasinghe, 2007).

More recently, a Rapid Deployment Team through the FAO’s Crisis Management Centre-Animal Health (CMC-AH), in 2011, made a quick assessment of an unknown disease (later identified as AHPND) affecting cultured shrimp of the Mekong Delta provinces of Vietnam (FAO, 2013).
A rapid and timely response can reduce the potential catastrophic impacts of disease incursions and can create strong awareness on the importance of early detection and rapid response to aquatic animal epizootics both at national and regional levels (Subasinghe and Bondad-Reantaso, 2008).
National emergency reporting systems should be in place for suspected and confirmed outbreaks of disease and should constitute an important component of a biosecurity plan. The flow of critical information to national authorities tasked with aquatic animal disease control is essential to the successful implementation of early warning systems, contingency planning, and the ability to mount an effective early response, all of which are vital to the outcome of an emergency disease situation.