National Aquatic Animal Health Plan
The National Aquatic Animal Health Plan will allow for better prevention, control, and management of diseases in aquatic animals. The plan will ultimately benefit wild and farmed aquatic animals in the United States. Above, Dr. Andy Lazur displays a hatchery-reared Atlantic sturgeon, a subject of stock enhancement research in Maryland. [NOAA Aquaculture Program photo]
This page provides information on the National Aquatic Animal Health Plan, which is now available for public comment. The plan was developed in response to the growing need for a coordinated government effort to ensure aquatic animal health. Officials from federal, state, local, and tribal governments have been working in a collaborative partnership with aquaculture industries and other interested stakeholders for the last several years to develop the Plan.
Background
The need for a comprehensive national aquatic health plan has long been identified as a high priority issue by the federal Joint Subcommittee on Aquaculture. Authorized by the National Aquaculture Act of 1980, the subcommittee is composed of representatives from the federal agencies that participate in, regulate, and manage aquaculture activities in the United States. In 2001, the subcommittee requested that the federal agencies responsible for managing the health of aquatic animals develop a national plan. The two main reason were the growing need to protect our domestic commerce and resources, and the advent of new health regulations by foreign governments that restrict the import of live and processed aquatic animals from the United States.
Current Status
Following a series of regional stakeholder meetings, officials from the three main federal agencies responsible for U.S. aquaculture began work on co-authoring a draft Plan with extensive input from stakeholders. Those agencies are the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Animal and Plant Health Inspections Service, the U.S. Department of Commerce through the NOAA Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The draft plan is available for public review and comment until October 20, 2009. Click here to view or download the draft plan. For specific guidance on submitting public comments, go to the Federal Register notice: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-19702.htm. Following the public comment period and some final editing, a final plan will be adopted by the three federal agencies.
For More Information
For more information, please e-mail Kevin Amos, the NOAA Aquaculture Program’s National Aquatic Animal Health Coordinator.