The “True Fish Farming Story in the Lake Victoria Basin” (TRUEFISH) project, funded by the European Union under the 11th European Development Fund and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has enabled the establishment of a coherent governance framework for Aquatic Animal Health (AAH) in East Africa. The intervention followed the methodological guidance of the FAO Progressive Management Pathway for Improving Aquaculture Biosecurity (PMP/AB), ensuring a gradual and structured approach from assessment to implementation.
The process commenced with national performance evaluations of AAH systems in five countries (Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania). These assessments, conducted with the active engagement of specifically designated by concerned authorities, National Focal Points (NFPs), identified major capacity gaps, including the absence of coordinated surveillance programmes, weak diagnostic infrastructure, lack of enforceable national regulatory frameworks, limited emergency response systems, and insufficient cross-sectoral coordination mechanisms. Based on these findings, and through regional consultation and technical facilitation, a Regional AAH Techncial Working Group was established under the coordination of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO). This group led the development of a five-year roadmap and the drafting of a Regional Aquatic Organisms Health Strategy (RAOHS), which was formally endorsed by the LVFO FASCoM in May 2024 and signed by the ministers of fisheries of the participating countries.
Following the regional endorsement, TRUEFISH provided technical and operational support to strengthen national strategies for aquatic animal health management. Each country developed and validated its national surveillance and contingency plans for aquaculture disease control. These efforts were accompanied by the delivery of training programmes targeting both public sector officers and commercial aquaculture operators, with more than 75 professionals trained in risk analysis, surveillance, and emergency response. Institutional partnerships are being established under TRUEFISH with leading national research and academic institutions—including Makerere University, the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI), the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI), and the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST)—to support field deployment of monitoring activities, procurement of diagnostic equipment and performance of laboratory analysis (histopathology, PCR, etc.). These interventions are directly embedded into national strategies under development in the five countries (finalised and validated for Rwanda) and aligned with country-level regulatory frameworks.
Throughout the entire process, national authorities were actively involved in planning, validation, and implementation, ensuring institutional ownership and long-term sustainability of the biosecurity systems established. The experience also integrates regional learning with global good practices, including through an international study tour to the Philippines, organized in close collaboration with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC). Scheduled for first week of June 2025, this mission will foster South–South technical exchange on aquatic health governance, surveillance systems, and regulatory frameworks. The TRUEFISH AAH component ultimately demonstrates the applicability of the PMP/AB approach in strengthening regional coordination, reinforcing national capacities, and laying the foundation for science-based, sustainable aquaculture biosecurity systems in transboundary water ecosystems.