FAO and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) are organizing a two-day webinar to raise awareness, share experience and knowledge on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquaculture for better understanding including challenges and priority issues.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) refers to microorganisms – bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites – that have acquired resistance to antimicrobial agents, e.g. antibiotics. While this phenomenon can occur naturally through microbial adaptation to the environment, it has been exacerbated by inappropriate and excessive use of antimicrobial agents.

The attention to AMR has increased during the last 10 years. AMR is considered a global health threat and is predicted to hinder achievement of the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and World Health Organization (WHO) formed a collaborative tripartite to target this issue and has since adopted a Global Action Plan on AMR to assist the three organizations in achieving their strategic plans at international, regional and national levels.

The FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) Technical Guidelines on the Prudent and Responsible Use of Veterinary Medicines in Aquaculture (No. 5 Suppl. 8) provide recommendations and general guidance on the use of veterinary medicines in aquaculture to responsible government agencies, private-sector aquaculture producers and aquatic animal health professionals. They emphasize the need for Member Countries to encourage the prudent and responsible use of veterinary medicines in farmed aquatic populations. They emphasize, among the guiding principles, that responsible use of veterinary medicines in aquaculture requires collaboration among all stakeholders and a strong commitment to governance, awareness, best practices, surveillance and research, including monitoring of AMR, tracking of antimicrobial usage (AMU), assessing risk in different settings and evaluating  strategies to reduce AMR and maintain efficacy of antimicrobial agents. These guidelines  support the international aquatic animal health standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the food safety standards of the FAO/World Health Organization (WHO) Codex Alimentarius and the One Health platform under the FAO/OIE/WHO Tripartite Collaboration on AMR.

There are three basic questions pertaining to AMR in aquaculture:  

• What are the sources of AMR in aquaculture?
• What are the drivers of AMR development in aquaculture?
• How can AMR development in aquaculture be reduced or prevented?

The two-day webinar will provide some clarification on the above questions and increase our understanding of AMR issues in aquaculture through the sharing of expert knowledge and country level experience.

Further information can be obtained by writing to:

Melba.Reantaso@fao.org;
Bin.Hao@fao.org

The Smart Fish Co-Management (SFC) project launch coincides with the Virtual Myanmar Project Area Identification Meeting

On 24 and 25 November 2020 the Smart Fish Co-Management (SFC) will run a virtual meeting to bring together stakeholders representing various interests around fisheries co-management in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to review the objective, outputs, and activities of the project.

On this occasion, the project will kick-off its five years' work plan and all planned activities as part of the Korea FAO Sustainable and Innovative Fisheries and Aquaculture Programme (KOFAP), a joint collaboration agreement among the Government of the Republic of Korea and the FAO Fisheries Division.

The project aims at improving the capacity of governments and fishing communities in fisheries co-management, as a solution to face all the emerging challenges that threaten the sustainable use of fishery resources and might affect fish stocks sustainability, resources exploitation, as well as social aspects, economies, livelihoods, food security, and nutrition levels.

Conceived to support the co-management capacity, evaluation and building, the SFC also intends to develop sustainable coastal livelihoods in fishing communities in selected countries, the first of which is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Through open dialogue and collaborative consultation, the project will look at enhancing the livelihoods of fishing communities, to enable socio-economic uplift of the fisherfolks and their communities.

The core of the dialogue with all Myanmar stakeholders will be to develop the best cooperation and coordination mechanism at state, region, district, township, ward, and village levels. Part of the discussion will also be site selection criteria, to put into the field the fisheries co-management evaluation approach.