Fish Hatchery Management - fisheries & aquaculture

Fish Health ManagementControl of diseases in hatchery fish can be achieved best by a program ofgood management. This involves maintaining the fish in a good environment,with good nutrition and a minimum of stress. However, attemptsshould be made to eradicate the serious diseases from places where they occur.Containment is accomplished by not transferring diseased fish intoareas where the disease does not already exist.Eradication, when feasibleand beneficial, involves the removal of infected fish populations and chemicaldecontamination of facilities and equipment. In some cases, simplykeeping additional disease agents from contaminated waters can result ineffective eradication.Fish tapeworms can be transmitted to people who eat raw fish but, ingeneral, fish diseases are not human health problems. The reasons fordisease control are to prevent costly losses in hatchery production, toprevent transmission of diseases among hatcheries when eggs, fry, andbroodstock are shipped, and to prevent the spread of disease to wild fishwhen hatchery products are stocked out. Although fish diseases themselvesrarely trouble humans, control measures can create a hazard if fish are contaminatedwith drugs or chemicals when they are sold as food.In local disease outbreaks, it is important that treatments begin as soonas possible. If routine disease problems, such as bacterial septicemia, canbe recognized by the hatchery manager, treatment can begin sooner than if263