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A workshop to identify the highest-priority research areas for finfish diseases
The aquaculture scientific community and funders came together earlier this year to identify the highest-priority areas for research that will provide lasting benefits for the global management of aquatic animal diseases, particularly those that will impact international standards.
WOAH and STAR IDAZ International Research Consortium on Animal Health jointly convened the workshop ‘Advancing Aquaculture Health Research’ at WOAH Headquarters in Paris last February. As part of the WOAH Aquatic Animal Health Strategy 2021–2025, this event brought together more than forty international experts and funders to identify and prioritise key research areas for finfish health to improve aquatic disease management worldwide. WOAH Director General Dr Emmanuelle Soubeyran opened the workshop with a speech underscoring the significance of international collaboration in addressing aquatic animal health challenges.
Finfish Health Challenges and Research Synergies
The first sessions addressed critical challenges in finfish health, guided by insights from a global online pre-workshop consultation in which 184 responses were received from 89 countries.
This was followed by presentations from several members of the WOAH Reference and Collaborating Centres, Aquatic Animal Health Commission and additional international experts, who shared their technical perspectives on key challenges in aquaculture. These included data gaps, environmental drivers of disease emergence, fish welfare management, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and biosecurity from a One Health perspective.
In the second session, both global and regional research efforts in finfish health were showcased. Presentations highlighted funding priorities from international agencies, the International Development Research Centre’s InnoVet-AMR research programme, Worldfish projects, the European Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare and the Gates Foundation’s Aquaculture Programme, fostering awareness and potential synergies among participants.
Focus on Research Priorities
The workshop featured three interactive sessions using the World Café format to facilitate in-depth discussions on the following research needs:
Control Strategies: Participants identified impactful diseases affecting major finfish species in both freshwater and saltwater environments, emphasising short-term and long-term research needs for effective control measures.
Diagnostics: Discussions focused on advancing diagnostic tools and methodologies for the early detection and management of finfish diseases.
Vaccines and Therapeutics: Attendees explored innovative approaches to vaccine development and therapeutic interventions, aiming to enhance disease prevention and treatment in aquaculture settings while limiting AMR.
Collaborative Efforts and Future Directions
The final panel discussion highlighted the importance of collaboration among researchers, funders and industry stakeholders to translate identified research priorities into actionable projects to develop solutions to improve finfish health management.
Setting the Stage for Sustainable and Resilient Aquatic Animal Health
The ‘Advancing Aquaculture Health Research’ workshop in Paris, fostered international collaboration and identified priority research areas, setting the stage for impactful research efforts aimed at ensuring the sustainability and resilience of the aquaculture industry. The workshop report and related policy brief, including the highest priority research areas for finfish health, are available online for further consultation.
More information
WOAH Aquatic Animal Health Strategy 2021–2025
Advancing Aquaculture Health Research Workshop Report
Highest Priority Research Areas for Finfish Health Policy Brief
Contact: Dr Valeria Mariano ([email protected]), Research Coordinator, STAR IDAZ, WOAH Science Department
By spearheading international collaborations and promoting coordinated research, STAR-IDAZ is at the forefront of addressing animal health challenges, underscoring its dedication to global One Health objectives. This article takes a closer look at the global research initiatives through the STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium on animal health.
As the world addresses complex animal health challenges, research and development (R&D) remain critical in providing the tools and knowledge necessary to mitigate disease impacts. STAR-IDAZ (the International Research Consortium on Animal Health) leads global efforts to accelerate impactful research by enhancing partnership of funders and research programme owners worldwide. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) is part of the Executive Committee of the Consortium and co-hosts the STAR-IDAZ Secretariat. This year, STAR-IDAZ expanded its network by welcoming new partners, such as International Development Research Centre (IDRC-Canada), Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO – Kenya), National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO – Uganda), Office National for the Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA – Morocco), the Swiss Regional Consortium Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) and Institute of Virology and Immunology (IVI), each bringing unique expertise and advancing STAR-IDAZ’s mission to address pressing animal health issues.
Addressing High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza
One of STAR-IDAZ’s major focus areas in 2024 has been High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) in mammals, a zoonotic threat with serious implications for animal and human health. In response, STAR-IDAZ partners have conducted extensive research and surveillance to enhance prevention and management of the outbreaks. For more information, see the STAR-IDAZ summer newsletter 2024.
Tuberculosis Roadmaps
Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) remains a significant economic burden in cattle populations worldwide and an important One Health challenge. In response to this challenge, STAR-IDAZ developed three strategic research roadmaps covering diagnostics, vaccines and control strategies to address this persistent disease. Created with input from bTB experts, these roadmaps focus on bridging research gaps to advance global bTB control. An executive summary of critical research gaps can be found here.
One Health Approach
Embracing the One Health framework, STAR-IDAZ collaborated with the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R) to release ‘Mapping One Health: An Exploration of the Global Funding Landscape for One Health Research’. This report provides recommendations for research funding organisations to better align their funding strategies to integrate the One Health approach more widely. An international workshop is also foreseen in early 2025 to keep the discussion ongoing.
Alternatives to Antimicrobials
Recognising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a global health challenge, STAR-IDAZ focuses its AMR efforts on developing Alternatives to Antimicrobials (ATA). ATA are crucial in combating antimicrobial resistance for the benefit of both animal health and One Health and Research and Development (R&D) is critical to advance these alternatives. Research gaps were identified and partners continue to work on streamlining research on these priorities (see State of the Art Report 2023).
Coronavirus Research Initiatives
STAR-IDAZ recently hosted a series of three online workshops focused on coronavirus research, uniting around 40 international experts to develop research roadmaps for control strategies, diagnostic tools and vaccine development. The resulting workshop report and executive summary identify research gaps for addressing coronavirus-related challenges.
Aquaculture Workshop and Survey
WOAH and STAR-IDAZ will co-host an aquaculture workshop at WOAH Headquarters in Paris in February 2025. It will address research priorities for finfish health in the aquaculture sector. The workshop will unite experts, industry leaders and funders to discuss critical needs. In parallel, a global survey will be launched to gather input on aquaculture research priorities, ensuring broad engagement across different sectors in this growing field.
2024 State of the Art Report
For an in-depth overview of current research priorities, STAR-IDAZ released its 2024 State of the Art Report, which examines the latest advancements across ten focus areas. The report serves as a resource for researchers, policymakers and stakeholders, guiding strategic research efforts to advance STAR-IDAZ’s mission of safeguarding animal health globally.
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Through these efforts, STAR-IDAZ continues to drive international collaborations and foster coordinated research that is essential for tackling animal health challenges, thereby reinforcing its commitment to global One Health goals.
Professor Ian Brown is a virologist and scientific services director at the Animal and Plant Health Agency of the United Kingdom. He is currently chairing the OFFLU steering committee. OFFLU is an expertise network on animal influenza.
This interview was conducted in March 2023.
Why did WOAH and FAO create an expertise network on animal influenza?
Ian Brown: In the early 2000s, the international community recognised the emerging challenge of one of the animal influenza diseases: avian influenza. As specialists of the disease, we faced huge demand for our expertise and support. We felt we needed to coordinate our efforts and form a critical mass that spoke with one voice. OFFLU was created as an independent scientific network jointly by WOAH and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Back then, avian influenza was affecting countries that had no experience with the disease. Other countries, in South-East Asia for instance, knew how to respond locally, but they were seeking support from the international community: did they have the right diagnostics? What sort of surveillance did they need to conduct on the animal population? Did they have the right knowledge on how to control the disease? What measures did they need to implement? What was the risk for human health?
In 2022, there was a global surge in avian influenza which is still ongoing: OFFLU is more needed than ever to share and capitalise on existing knowledge of the disease.
2022 at OFFLU: sharing valuable information with all stakeholders
In 2022, OFFLU collected and shared information on the circulating influenza viruses to guide animal and human risk assessments. This information is also critical to help scientists develop seasonal flu vaccines for humans.
What kind of support can the expertise network provide to countries that are not yet equipped to fight the disease?
I. B. The expertise network positioned itself as a central repository and go-to place for stakeholders to come to with all their questions. We also act as a resource for WOAH and FAO to develop recommendations and set best practices: we issue guidance documents and participate in taskforces and missions on the ground, to help develop national capacity to deal with the disease.
Who are the experts behind OFFLU?
I. B. We are an open network, so by definition, we do not exclude anyone. At first, we were no more than about ten research laboratories. As we developed capability in regions, more partners have joined OFFLU. They are comprised of research scientists and diagnosticians, but they also carry expertise on epidemiology, surveillance, health and safety professionals, veterinarians…
When the H1N1 influenza epidemic broke out in 2009, we created a subgroup on this disease which was still comparatively neglected. Other subgroups followed on equine influenza, wildlife, epidemiology and socio-economics.
Fostering collaboration through networks: an overview
As a scientist, what do you gain from being part of such an expertise network?
I. B. These responsibilities all come in addition to my day to day job, on a voluntary basis, but they are worth it. Through OFFLU, we are the eyes and ears, across the globe, on animal influenza. We are linked to an intelligence network on what’s happening in other parts of the world: cases of the diseases, what viruses are causing it, how they change and spread, if and where they are affecting humans… Working under the OFFLU umbrella brings specialists from all over the world, each with their different insights and approaches to problems. As a collective, we get access to major grants and internationally funded programmes.
Do you speak collectively or as individual scientists?
I. B. We do both, as long as we keep our impartiality. For example, we are currently working on an initiative to map all the variations in viruses causing avian influenza. Our report will be available to the international community to think of the best choice in vaccines for poultry. Our data is useful because it is impartially gathered. Our parent organisations, WOAH and FAO, preserve our scientific freedom of speech.
“Our data is useful because it is impartially gathered. Our parent organisations, WOAH and FAO, preserve our scientific freedom of speech”
Professor Ian Brown
What keeps your network going after twenty years?
I. B. It is important that each member sees the value of their contribution. The outputs of our collective analysis are shared with the network so that everyone wants to keep contributing. Having a great secretariat, such as the one WOAH provides, is vital to keep the information circulating.
What would be your advice to new scientific networks?
I. B. My advice would be to start small, with a very clear focus, so as not to overstretch your resources. People tend to work with colleagues they know and trust. We started as a core group of people who knew each other very well. Over time, as our outreach expanded, more people wanted to join. But we kept our common focus: we are here to provide countries with the best information and guidance to fight animal influenza.