Aquatic veterinary medicine and health management is an emerging field of Veterinary Science, with global veterinary faculty undergraduate curricula only beginning to include modules in recent years. With an explosive growth over 500% in global aquaculture production over the last twenty years, increased focus on intensive production of fish to address food security deficits, and concomitant emergence of disease, the mismatch between need for aquatic veterinary support and diagnostic services, and existing capacity is a serious problem. And we see this situation playing out most glaringly in developing regions of the world, where veterinary and diagnostic capacity is already poor to non-existent. Africa has the fastest growing aquaculture sector globally but not enough veterinarians and animal health technicians to support it. In addition, South Africa has one of the largest relative koi and ornamental pet fish populations globally and also not enough vets to support this sector. The result of this deficit is the emergence of lay-persons practicing veterinary medicine, uncontrolled disease management, misuse of antimicrobials, poor farmer support, and poorly informed regulatory policies.
The Aquatic Health Unit at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria was established in response to the growing demand for Aquatic Animal Health services by South Africa’s commercial aquaculture and ornamental sectors. The vision of the unit is to stand as a leader of aquaculture and aquatic health research and veterinary medicine in Africa, and through research, training and service, contribute towards development of public health and infectious disease control policy, improved aquatic health and welfare, and thereby improved productivity and sustainability of African aquaculture and aquatic health.
This presentation will focus on how the facility has structured its development in a step- by- step but dynamic and fluid manner to attempt to offer practical upskilling to both undergraduate and qualified veterinarians, para-veterinarians and farmers in a manner that meets industry needs and promotes global collaboration.