Preventing and mitigating farmed bivalve disease: a Northern Ireland case study
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Preventing and mitigating farmed bivalve disease: a Northern Ireland case study M. Fox 1 & R. Christley 2 & C. Lupo 3 & H. Moore 4 & M. Service 4 & K. Campbell 1 Received: 8 May 2020 / Accepted: 13 August 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract
Shellfish production forms a large proportion of marine aquaculture production in Northern Ireland (NI). Diseases represent a serious threat to the maintenance and growth of shellfish cultivation with severe consequences to production output and profitability. In Northern Ireland, production generally benefits from a good health status with the absence of notifiable diseases, except for localised cases of Bonamia ostreae, Marteilia refringens and ostreid herpes virus. In this paper, we qualitatively explore that the prevalence, risk, impact, mitigation and experience shellfish farmers in this region have in relation to disease. Sixteen semistructured interviews were conducted with stakeholders within the sector. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, and Nvivo 12 was used to facilitate an inductive thematic analysis. Our results highlighted that the industry has varying attitudes and experiences with disease. At present-day temperatures, disease is not an issue and this provides vast market opportunities for the region. However, disease outbreaks have led to detrimental consequences to financial income, production output and reputation in the past, whilst control and mitigation remain reactive. It is imperative proactive disease prevention and control that are employed and enforced to sustain NI’s reputation as a healthy shellfish region, particularly under increasing global temperatures and intensified production systems. A cultural shift to disease appreciation, risk analysis and surveillance through research, education, training and collaboration is essential. This study highlights the importance of providing a bottom-up communication platform with the stakeholders directly involved in shellfish culture and management, the value of cross sector engagement and the need to improve knowledge transfer between science the sector. Keywords Aquaculture . Bivalve mollusc . Disease . Farmer’s perspective . Qualitative
* K. Campbell [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Aquaculture International
Introduction Aquatic food makes an important contribution to human health and development as an essential source of high-quality proteins, vitamins and micronutrients (Lauria et al. 2018; Jennings et al. 2016). These foods are sourced from the capture fisheries (wild) and aquaculture (farming) sectors (DAERA 2018). Security of aquatic food sources is of increasing concern as wild stocks plateau and begin to reach their maximum sustainable potential (Jayasinghe et al. 2016; Oidtmann et al. 2011; Cressey 2009). These concerns are exacerbated by the fact the human population is rapidly growing towards an estimated 9.8 billion people by 2050 (United Nations 2017). As a result, aquaculture production has become increasingly importan
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