Research pre-empting parasite adaptation is key to sustainable disease management in aquaculture

As the aquaculture sector continues to expand, there is likely to be a growing need to combat infectious diseases. The desire for rapid and effective results means that any concerns about longer-term effects of disease controls are often sidelined. In particular, the well documented capacity for parasites and pathogens to evolve treatment resistance must not be ignored in aquaculture. If an industry wishes to avoid treatment resistance, there must first be committed research into the evolutionary biology of the parasite species. Such research
should be incorporated into the early phases of developing and implementing a treatment strategy — the sooner the risk of resistance is identified, the sooner its impacts on aquaculture can be mitigated. This piece discusses a research framework that can help guide this process.