Surveillance and Reporting

The OIE’s Aquatic Animal Health Code (OIE 2007) defines “surveillance”  as “...a systematic series of investigations of a given population of aquatic animals to detect the occurrence of disease for control purposes, and which may involve testing of samples of a population”, while “reporting” is the submission of regular or emergency reports or notices (mandatory or volunteer) of disease occurrence to responsible national, regional or international authorities.

    Surveillance, in the above sense, is an activity that is undertaken primarily by national governments, through the national agency responsible for aquatic animal health (the Competent Authority). As noted by Subasinghe, McGladdery and Hill (2004) the primary purpose of aquatic animal disease surveillance is to provide cost-effective information for assessing and managing risks associated with trade (intra- and international) in aquatic animals and products, animal production efficiency and public health. Surveillance programmes, whether active or passive, involve a reporting component, surveillance data being collected and passed to the national authority, who may then submit key information on to international reporting systems such as that of the OIE and NACA/FAO.