Aquaculture biosecurity protects both farmed fish welfare and wild population health by preventing disease introduction, spread and transmission between farm and wild environments.
Aquaculture biosecurity addresses welfare at multiple levels simultaneously — protecting farmed fish from disease and preventing welfare-harmful outbreaks, while also protecting wild fish populations from diseases that farm operations can amplify and transmit. Good biosecurity reduces the need for welfare-compromising emergency treatments during outbreaks. The failure of biosecurity systems — as evidenced by multiple major aquaculture disease introductions globally — shows the consequences of inadequate standards and enforcement.