Legislation to prevent the introduction and spread of serious disease in fish was introduced in the UK as early as 1937 in the form of the Diseases of Fish Act 1937. This Act introduced a legal requirement to notify the Ministers of the suspicion of the presence of certain diseases in fish. Diseases which must be notified to the Minister are categorised as List I, II and III. Such diseases (listed below) are referred to as Notifiable Diseases. In Scotland, the Fisheries Research Services (FRS) acts on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. If you suspect the presence of a Notifiable Disease, if unexplained mortalities occur at your fish farm or if you require more information please contact the FRS Fish Health Inspectorate by telephone on 01224 295525 or by email: FishHealth@marlab.ac.uk
Restrictions on the import into the UK of live fish have played a major part in preventing the introduction and spread of serious fish diseases. Health conditions of aquaculture animals are today governed by the Fish Health Regulations 1997 legislation.
List I diseases are those which have a serious economic impact and are exotic to the EU, including:
- infectious salmon anaemia (ISA)
List II diseases are those which are present in the EU, but approved zones and approved farms in non-approved zones can be distinguished. These include:
- viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS)
- infectious haematopoetic necrosis (IHN)
List III diseases are those for which individual Member States can decide whether to put control measures in place or not, including:
- infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN)
- bacterial kidney disease (BKD)
- furunculosis
- spring viraemia of carp (SVC)
- gyrodactylus salaris (GS)
- enteric redmouth disease (ERM)
For further information please refer to the Notifiable Diseases in Fish leaflet published by FRS.