Addressing governance in aquatic animal disease emergency management

In October 2006 the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) held the first Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health. The conference was arranged as a result of growing awareness of the constraints on managing aquatic animal diseases, due to both knowledge gaps and fragmented governmental responsibilities in many countries. This paper summarises and expands on some of the issues raised at the conference. The issues may be categorised as follows: clarifying roles and responsibilities, building disease surveillance systems and preparing an emergency response, and identifying knowledge gaps and educational needs.