Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram: strategic planning, project management and adoption
Overseas experience demonstrates how diseases reduce profitability, sustainability and competitiveness of aquatic animal industries (for references see ATTACHMENT 6). Despite a rapid and continuous expansion in aquaculture, Australia has not experienced significant disease emergencies in farmed aquatic animal populations. However, pilchard mortality events in 1995 and 1998 have provided warning signals and demonstrated the need to increase our capability to respond to – and preferably prevent – aquatic animal disease outbreaks.
Since 1992, the FRDC as the biggest research investor has contributed more than $11million to over fifty projects related to aquatic animal health. Due to project diversity and cross-linkages to several FRDC Programs and existing Subprograms, well-facilitated project management is a fundamental requirement to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in delivering and extending results and would be facilitated by a dedicated Subprogram with its leader and supporting infrastructure.
With the development of a strategic R&D plan for aquatic animal health as a highest priority task, the Subprogram would contribute to preventing duplication of research, increase cooperation amongst researchers and thus achieve one of AQUAPLAN’s key priority objectives. It would thus underpin stability in aquatic animal health research and provide a greater level of service to research output beneficiaries.
The FRDC Subprogram would not only manage traditional R&D projects, but also develop Program Activity Plans and deliver projects under an AFFA/FRDC Agreement ([…] for the delivery of Program Activities under the Building of a National Approach to Animal and Plant Health program). FRDC will be advised by FHMC’s AQUAPLAN Business Group (ABG), chaired by ASIC and NAC, fulfilling the role of the Subprogram steering committee. Thus, the national approach can be developed in tandem to the R&D strategy, and guaranteeing links among the two. Significant components of the AQUAPLAN Workplan could be achieved.
Final report
Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram: Design and Organisation of a multi-state disease emergency simulation exercise
The current program of simulation exercises to be conducted under the auspices of the Federal Budget Initiative is designed to provide individual jurisdictions with training in the management of an aquatic animal disease emergency.
However, within Australia, both marine and freshwater environments cross State/Territory boundaries. The need for inter-jurisdictional co-operation in successful disease control and eradication has not previously been addressed. A current FRDC project, 2002/660 is providing training focussed on the operation of the Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases, however, the aims and objectives of the current proposal are to develop cooperation at a technical and operational level rather than the strategic level addressed by project 2002/660.
This project is needed to allow the development of the exercise materials and ensure that the exercise is effectively and efficiently planned.
This project submission has been requested by the FRDC Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram.