The Ministry of Agriculture announced the declaration of a health emergency due to the presence of bacteria that affects farmed fish in Atlántico, Huila, Tolima and Magdalena. According to the head of portfolio Jhenifer Mojica, “it seeks to reduce the existing risk, as well as control and reduce fish mortality to protect national fish farming and guarantee the country’s food security.
Diary of Huila, economy
By: Gloria Camargo
The fish farming sector is on alert at the national level, after Resolution 6535 of June 7, 2023, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) declared a national health emergency due to the presence of bacteria that affects farmed fish in Atlantic, Huila, Tolima and Magdalena.
It should be noted that on May 25 of this year, in the Huila Governorate, the Unified Command Post was completed in Neiva to deploy inspection, surveillance and control actions, and to confirm new outbreaks in Atlántico, Tolima and Magdalena.
At said meeting, the Department, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA), the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority (AUNAP), sought to join forces to address the presence of Streptococcus agalactiae in tilapia farms.
However, the alert, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Jhenifer Mojica, is launched to seek to “reduce the existing risk, as well as control and reduce fish mortality to protect national fish farming and guarantee the country’s food security.”
immediate effect
From Barranquilla, the head of the catera, pointed out in the first place that “this declaration allows us to apply the sanitary measures that are necessary in any part of the country, depending on the existing risk, aimed at controlling and reducing the mortality of fish, as well as protecting national fish farming and guarantee the country’s food security”.
At the same time, he stressed that “the measures will take immediate effect to counteract the spread of this bacterium and recalled that its presence does not create a risk to human health by contact or consumption.”
It should be remembered that according to the clinical presentation of the disease, it is characterized by signs such as erratic swimming, lesions on the skin, tail and fins, enlargement of the eyeball and death of the animals.
On the other hand, Juan Fernando Roa, general manager in charge of the ICA, established in a timely manner that “the entity has dealt with 29 cases in Huila, ten in Atlántico, three in Magdalena and one in Tolima”, adding that there “the professionals of the Institute have carried out sampling and timely and free diagnosis for producers in the affected regions.
Roa also said that “mortality cases have occurred in all productive stages of tilapia: breeding, fingerlings, rearing and fattening, with the following levels of affectation in each department: Tolima (10%), Huila (12%) , Magdalena (37%) and Atlántico (47%)”.
Measures
Following the declaration of emergency, national authorities indicated that specific serotype vaccination against this bacterium is included as part of the control measures.
Reason for which it was also known that the ICA is working “with the laboratories that produce veterinary biologicals in the development of autovaccines with isolated strains in the outbreaks detected in the country, as well as in the evaluation for the entry into Colombia of vaccines commercial agents against the bacterial agent that are registered in other countries”.
In the development of these actions, Hernán David Rubio, general director (e) of the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority, AUNAP, said for his part that “the commitment on the part of the entity to accompany fish farmers in this health emergency, through the formalization of small and subsistence producers, the promotion program being a strategy that allows them to work for the food security of them and their families”.
He also emphasized that it is transcendental to accept the measures given by the health authority and to have all the missionary efforts to face this situation.
Therefore, from the ICA, a strong call was made to the aquaculturists so that they themselves notify in a timely manner unusual mortality or alteration of production parameters through the official channels: nearest ICA Local Offices, Page web or WhatsApp 3204030843.
All the actors in the production chain were also instituted to intensify biosecurity measures, maintain the number of fish in cultures, in accordance with the permits granted, carry out adequate management of the populations where mortality occurred, and carry out cleaning and disinfection. of ponds, elements and fishing gear.
prior notice
Since last May 8, 2023, within the framework of the Second International Aquaculture Fair, held in Neiva, the Colombian Agricultural Institute had already announced the inspection, surveillance and control actions in the face of unusual fish mortality in the department.
According to the entity, “from the notifications made since March 27, 2023 by the Huila fish farmers, the ICA began active surveillance activities in order to verify the presentation of clinical signs and/or unusual mortality.”
In this order of ideas, after the “notifications made by the owners and the active surveillance carried out by the ICA, samples were taken from pools of organs and eye and brain swabs from 29 farms dedicated to the production of tilapia , which were analyzed at the National Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and at the Laboratory of the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (AGROSAVIA), in order to identify the pathogen that, for the cases treated, was Streptococcus agalactiae ST7 serotype Ia”.
Therefore, a call was made to producers to implement biosecurity measures to control this disease and prevent its spread to other farms.
Finally, the entity pointed out that “currently, the department of Huila has 94 establishments certified as biosecure before the ICA, in which inspection, surveillance and control visits are carried out periodically and 14 farms certified as exporters of fish for human consumption. ”.
Biosecurity
To date, the corresponding organizations have indicated that the possibility of Streptococcus agalactiae ST7 serotype Ia affecting human health has not been demonstrated; therefore, contact with infected animals or consumption of tilapia does not generate any type of risk.
However, within the recommendations for prevention and control are: productive management, good animal nutrition, veterinary treatment, mortality management, and cleaning and disinfection of facilities.
For this reason, fish farmers must maintain biosecurity protocols, such as:
• Keep the surroundings of the property tidy, free of weeds, utensils or obsolete materials.
• Do not share the elements used in your establishment with other aquaculture farms.
• Properly disinfect the cages and cages, meshes, flotation system and other equipment used in the establishment before carrying out a new planting.
• Do not feed fish with by-products of the same species and with waste from human food.
• Do not have mortality in the reservoir.
• Bear in mind that veterinary food and medicines must have an ICA registry.