Joining forces against fish diseases
This week, a meeting in Belfast brings together around 100 participants from industry, research and management to discuss developments in fish diseases and measures for better fish health.
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The TriNation gathering, which this year takes place at Queen's University, in Belfast, is held to share experiences about disease challenges in salmon farming. This year's gathering also marks 20 years since the collaboration between Norway, Ireland and Scotland was established.
"TriNation has become an important platform for dialogue on common fish health challenges in the North Atlantic through a combination of scientific knowledge, practical experiences and measures in the aquaculture industry," Sonal Patel, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, tells Fish Farming Expert's Norwegian sister site, Kyst.no.
She is the secretary of the collaboration and is responsible for organising the meetings.
Two-day gathering
This year's two-day event is being held today and tomorrow.
“We started this anniversary gathering with a look back over 20 years of TriNation. The meetings have facilitated collaboration and openness between industry, research and administration,” says Patel.
Around 100 participants have registered, and interest remains stable.
“Many of those who were there from the start are still participants,” she says.
According to the organisers, experts from countries including the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Denmark, Belgium, France, Spain and Canada, in addition to the host countries, are participating.
Focus on biosecurity and disease
The topics during this year's gathering range widely within fish health, with particular emphasis on disease development and prevention.
"We have status updates from Norway, Scotland, Ireland and the Faroe Islands, with a particular focus on the PD (pancreas disease) situation in Central Norway. In addition, the importance of biosecurity and control strategies is central, right from the hatchery phase," says Patel.
She also highlights work on breeding for increased resistance to CMS (cardiomyopathy syndrome), developing vaccines, and improving surveillance tools as key themes.
This year, updates related to the ISA (infectious salmon anaemia) virus have also been added.
Long-term knowledge building
TriNation was established to share experiences on, among other things, pancreas disease and heart disease in salmon, but over time has developed into a broader arena for collaboration on biosecurity and production diseases.
"The collaboration has contributed to increased knowledge about disease spread and surveillance strategies, as well as the development of analytical tools for comprehensive health surveillance," says Patel.
The senior researcher is looking forward to the conference, and points out that, as usual, a lot of new research will be presented.
