In english..

Fish Health Control Programme

The main objectives of the Fish Health Control Programme is to prevent the occurrence of and to stop the spread of serious and contagious fish diseases to fish farms and to wild populations of fishes.

Important parts of the voluntary fish health control programme are:

• breeding programmes for good fish health
• participation in control programme for virus infections and renibacteriosis (BKD)
• vaccination programme to prevent the diseases furunculosis and vibriosis
• extensive information, advice and training for our associated fish farming companies
• animal husbandry programme for improving animal welfare of fish during farming
• training for safe and restrictive use of medications, antibiotics and chemicals
• preventive efforts, advice and investigations for certain production diseases

Since 1990 the Fish Health Control Programme has worked with a voluntary control programme aimed at national control and eradication of renibacteriosis (BKD). The programme has resulted in the decrease in the number of new BKD cases and the disease is now unusual in Swedish fish farms. Originally this programme was voluntary but it has now become part of the mandatory fish health control programme. This has allowed Sweden to require that imported farmed fish be BKD-free and has made it possible to protect both the Swedish fish farming industry and wild populations from infection from other countries.

The vaccination programme for furunculosis, another serious bacterial infection in salmonids, has resulted in the disease now being unusual and in a decrease of close to 90% in the use of antibiotics since the beginning in 1994.