This publication is based on the discussions and recommendations arising from an expert consultation, jointly organised by the FAO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the Canadian Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, held in Rome in October 2002. It contains technical information on the design of scientifically valid zonation frameworks for disease control and surveillance, aimed at providing advice to countries building national or regional aquatic animal health management infrastructures. It includes a case study of the Atlantic Canadian oyster disease surveillance programme, which was implemented to deal with a disease outbreak which occurred at the same time as the expert meeting was being held.

This document provides guidance to assist developing countries in improving national emergency preparedness in order to maximize the efficiency of response to serious outbreaks of aquatic animal diseases. This is a product of a joint FAO, Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) and WorldFish Center (WFC) Regional Workshop on Preparedness and Response to Aquatic Animal Health Emergencies, held in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 21 to 23 September 2004. The workshop, which was hosted by the Government of Indonesia, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), was attended by national policy-makers and scientists from the Asian Region, and international experts and resource persons from both the region and elsewhere. The complete proceedings of the workshop will be published in the FAO Fisheries Proceedings series.

This text is for people working in the aquatic animal diseases and production. The tools presented are valuable for anybody who needs to collect reliable information about aquatic diseases or production. The structure of the book allows it to be used on three different levels.

Technical guidelines on Asia regional health management for the responsible transboundary movement of live aquatic animals were developed and presented to the participating countries at a workshop held in Beijing, China, from 27 to 30 June 2000.