Table of materials and presentations

23-24 October 2018, Nairobi, Kenya: Participants to the Project Inception Workshop of GCP/RAF/510/MUL: Enhancing capacity/risk reduction of emerging Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV) to African tilapia aquaculture, consisting of about 34 four delegates representing Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda; government, academe and producer sector representatives from Kenya; officials of FAOR and FAOHQ and TiLV experts and aquatic animal health specialists.

Some 34 delegates from Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda; delegates and officials of Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation, academe and producer sector representatives; officials of FAOR and FAOHQ and experts actively participated during the Project Inception Workshop (PIW) of GCP/RAF/510/MUL: Enhancing capacity/risk reduction of emerging Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV) to African tilapia aquaculture funded by the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund.

Tilapias are the second-most important farmed finfish worldwide, with Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), as the 6th among the top cultured species. Given the importance of farmed/wild-caught tilapia, especially as a widespread source of low-cost protein and micronutrients, its affordability, TiLV represents a potential threat to food security.

Ms Susan Imende, Ag. Director General, Kenya Fisheries Service, emphasized the need to urgently tackle the threat of TiLV since it is in the African continent already and can pose a serious pathogen risk to wild tilapia populations of African lakes and rivers.

"We are aware that the disease can cause high mortalities and since there is neither cure nor vaccine yet, it can cause a lot of socio-economic upheaval among the small-scale fish farmers who are the majority in our Countries" (Ms Susan Imende).

She concluded her remarks with a note on the need to create awareness, create strong monitoring and surveillance systems as a continent, build capacity for diagnosis and more research for better understanding in order to develop an affordable vaccine and diversification of culture species. She declared open the PIW with a final remark "We must work together and not in isolation".

The PIW introduced the backgrounder, objectives, scope, components and outputs, discussed project implementation mechanisms; identified potential bottlenecks and/or risk in project implementation & recommended ways in advance to avoid such risks.

Participants' knowledge of TiLV was enhanced on its emergence and current distribution, pathology and diagnostics, prevention, risks and risk management, aquatic animal disease surveillance and requirements. The participants also learned some aspects of socio-economic impact assessment methods and the FAO Emergency Management Tools.
By the end of the PIW, country delegates presented a detailed implementation plan including requirements, components, time-line, risks and responsibilities.

A 10-day intensive Training Course on TiLV is scheduled to be held from 4-13 December in Kisumu, Kenya in collaboration with the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute and the Kenya Fisheries Service.

More information: Melba.Reantaso@fao.org

A unique overview of the implications of climate change for fisheries and aquaculture, and for the millions of people who depend on these sectors for their livelihoods, this publication maps out solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation around the globe.

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We are pleased to announce the release of updated statistics on global fisheries commodities production and trade and regional capture fisheries production up to 2016. These data are now available through query panels and the following workspaces in FishStatJ

Global commodities workspace:

• Fisheries Commodities Production and Trade 1976-2016

Regional workspace:

• CECAF (Eastern Central Atlantic) capture production 1970-2016
• GFCM (Mediterranean and Black Sea) capture production 1970-2016
• RECOFI capture production 1986-2016
• Southeast Atlantic Capture Production 1975-2016

At its thirty-second session, in July 2016, the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) underlined the importance of trade in fisheries services and welcomed the work of the FAO on conducting a literature review on the subject. In September 2017, during its sixteenth session, the FAO Sub-Committee on Fish Trade (COFI:FT) was invited to note the literature review and to make recommendations for future work on the topic. On this occasion, the Sub-Committee agreed to hold an expert consultation on trade in fisheries services that would allow a more detailed analysis, within a clear scope. This report is the result of the first Expert Consultation on Trade in Fisheries Services. The Expert Consultation was convened by FAO with the financial support of the Government of Sweden, in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 20 to 22 March 2018. The Expert Consultation was tasked to deliberate in a definition on trade in fisheries services, possible classification and methodologies for assessing its extension and impact. In addition, the Expert Consultation also suggested follow-up developments by FAO to enhance the work of the Organization.

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Twenty nine participants representing competent authorities, academe and service providers completed the TILV 7-day intensive course from 18-24 June 2018.

A collaborative capacity building initiative between China's National Fisheries Extension Center and Sun Yat-Sen University and FAO, the TiLV course concluded successfully on 24 June 2018. Prof J He (SYSU) and Dr F Zang and Ms Q Li (NFTEC) were special guests during the opening and closing, respectively.

Some 29 participants (representing competent authorities, academe and service providers) from Brasil, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam completed the course that was delivered by experts from China (Dr Y Hong, Prof A Li, Dr H Liu, Prof J Xia) and FAO (Dr K Tang/USA, Dr W Surachetpong/Thailand, Dr H Dong/VietNam, Dr M Jansen/Norway & Dr M Reantaso/FAO).

Seven sessions (consisting of 22 expert presentations, field visit, laboratory activities & interactive exercises) gave the participants the most current information on the biology, pathology, diagnostics, surveillance, farm level management of TiLV and emergency preparedness – and reinforced their capacity to prepare an action plan on TiLV.

Tilapias, the second-most important farmed finfish worldwide (with Nile Tilapia ranked 6th among the most important cultured species), are affordable, with widespread source of low cost but high quality protein and micronutrients. TiLV represents a serious threat to food security in countries where tilapias are farmed.

An enveloped, negative-sense, single stranded RNA virus, TiLV seems to have a narrow host specificity [farmed tilapia, e.g hybrid tilapia, Nile tilapia, red tilapia] and reported as well from several wild tilapines.

Histopathology, RT-PCR & RT-qPCR, and in-situ hybridization are recommended methods to identify TiLV; as well as fulfilling Koch's postulate for first time diagnosis. Syncytial hepatitis is the most common histopathological lesion found in TiLV outbreaks,

Although the precise mechanism for transmission is unknown, horizontal disease transmission is likely to be the main mode of disease spread. Vertical transmission also needs to be investigated.

Fourteen tilapia producing countries had TiLV reports (e.g. through local and international scientific literature, OIE notifications). As live tilapia is widely traded, TiLV may have spread significantly over the years since the first report in 2009; no information on the role played by the trade in uncooked tilapia products.

Tilapia producing countries are encouraged to assess risks, undertake surveillance to determine national TiLV health status, investigate unexplained tilapia mortalities and introduce risk management measures where deemed necessary. The status of TiLV in a country can be politically sensitive; it is recommended that competent authorities are immediately informed of any observation (field or research) before such findings are made publicly available.

Further info can be obtained via email to: Melba.Reantaso@fao.org