Behrouz Qarah Vey, the researcher of the department of aquatic animal health and diseases of the Inland Waters Aquatic Stocks Research Center – Gorgan, wrote in the scientific note: Government agencies responsible for developing and implementing national aquatic health policies often have difficulty establishing effective national biosafety programs, especially in developing countries. In some cases, these problems lead to large investments in infrastructure, human resources, operating costs, and quarantine facilities, but little real progress has been made on national biosafety. Depending on the risk of a cargo transporting aquatic organisms, a country should use a variety of quarantine protocols. The executive standard for the transport of aquatic organisms is determined on a case - by - case basis by risk assessment or based on previous experience.
Definition of quarantine and its purposes
Quarantine means keeping a group of aquatic animals in a separate place without direct or indirect contact with other aquatic animals, which is performed for monitoring for a certain period of time and, if necessary, testing and treating fish or disinfecting the effluent. At the international level, the main purpose of quarantine is to minimize the possibility of pathogens entering the importing country and prevent its transmission to susceptible species. Another goal of quarantine is to prevent the entry of potentially harmful aquatic organisms that their import into the country is prohibited. At the local level, quarantine can be conducted by the provinces to prevent the spread of pathogens in rivers, wetlands, lakes and disease - affected areas. At the level of production workroom, quarantine can be carried out in breeding centers and farms to prevent the entry of dangerous pathogens.
Quarantine is generally performed at three levels:
1) Quarantine of high - risk species: Like aquatic animals that are transported internationally or transported within the country between different provinces (with different levels of health). These species have many uses in aquaculture and fisheries, and they are also more likely to escape or transfer their pathogens to the environment.
2) Quarantine of species that are less likely to pose a risk: Like aquatic animals that are targeted for ornamental aquatic trade.
3) Common quarantines of aquatic animals on aquaculture farms: For example, on newly constructed farms or to keep brookstock. Also for herds that need higher biosafety protocols such as herds that do not have the Specific Pathogen - Free (SPF) certification.
In the past, quarantine was often seen as a way to import all aquatic organisms; But that thinking has changed significantly in the last 10 years. Governments are increasingly considering quarantine as an aspect of a national health strategy. In Southeast Asia, for example, a national program has been defined in collaboration with the FAO and the Asian - Pacific Aquaculture Association, which has the support of 21 countries in Asia - Pacific and a number of international organizations. One of the outputs of this program is regional technical guidelines in health management for responsible movement of aquatic animals. Overall, these guidelines are the framework that Asia - Pacific countries should use to reduce the potential for the spread of pathogens through the movement of live aquatic animals and their products, which was officially adopted as a document by the Association of South - East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The provisions of this National Aquatic Health Document (FAO / NACA, 2000) include the following:
•List of national pathogens
•Diagnosis of diseases
•Health certificate and quarantine criteria
•Disease outbreak area
•Disease data collection and reporting
•Aquatic imports risk analysis
Health certification and quarantine measures are key components of this document that countries should consider in their aquatic animal health strategies. In cases where the risk assessment determines that the level of risk associated with trading a product is above an acceptable standard, the imports of that product into the country should be carried out at an appropriate level of protection. The importing country can then take measures to reduce the risk of spreading potential pathogens. Possible options for risk management vary depending on the nature of the product, and quarantine is one possible option that can be used. Developing countries, especially Asian countries, have taken various measures to implement aquatic quarantine as part of their national fisheries strategy. Unfortunately, these efforts have not been successful in preventing the entry and spread of transboundary aquatic pathogens into international borders, which has led to the emergence of a variety of shrimp viral diseases that sometimes pathogens have entered the country from other countries and they have caused a lot of economic damages. There are several reasons for this, the most important of which is that quarantine may not yet be fully integrated into national biosafety programs as part of the pathogen risk assessment process. The best example of the importance of quarantine in Iran is related to the imports of eyed rainbow trout eggs. The imports of eyed rainbow trout eggs from European countries led to the spread of various diseases in the country. Also, there was an experience regarding the shrimp white spot disease in 2019 in the Gomishan shrimp farming site. This area was disease - free and was almost a source of disease - free shrimp broodstock. However, due to the lack of shrimp reproduction on the site itself, it relied on the provinces affected by the shrimp white spot disease to store postlarvae. After one test in the province of origin, the postlarvae were transferred to the stocking site and stocked directly in the ponds, regardless of local and provincial quarantine criteria which eventually led to the spread of white spot disease at the site. Although the number of larvae entering the province was high, but it was possible to prevent the disease from entering the province by careful planning and initial storage in a specific place and performing additional tests. All these cases show the importance of quarantine, both at the entrances of the country and within a province.
Basic requirements for quarantine
1.Creating physical infrastructure commensurate with the required level of biosecurity (such as the presence of equipment and a safe and disease - free water source, etc.)
2.Establishing executive protocols that can detect the disease
3.Existence of employees who are well acquainted with new diagnostic methods and technologies.
References:
Richard, A.J., Bondad-Reantaso, .M.G. and Subasinghe, .R.P. 2008. Procedures for the quarantine of live aquatic animals A manual. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, No. 502.
Yavari, S. 2019. The rainbow trout industry in the circle of bioterrorism. Qazvin Morning Report. News ID 339558.