Position Statements

Aquatic Animal Veterinary Medicine

February 17, 2021

For the purposes of this position statement “aquatic animal” refers to any aquatic species used for food, with the exception of marine mammals.

Position

The CVMA holds that veterinarians should play a lead role in aquatic animal health and welfare management, including disease prevention and control, diagnosis of diseases, and implementation of programs pertaining to biosecurity and food safety.

Summary

  • Veterinarians play a pivotal role in the health and welfare of animals, including aquatic species.
  • Veterinarians help ensure that food products derived from aquatic animals are safe for human consumption and appropriately certified to meet international trade requirements. This also requires contributions from both governmental and private sectors, as well as aquatic animal health professionals and other partners.
  • Canadian consumers, food animal producers and trading partners rely on veterinarians to oversee the use of medications in aquatic animals as an important aspect of food safety.
  • Veterinarians provide essential expertise in regional and national aquatic animal health and disease surveillance programs supporting protection of aquatic animal resources and international seafood trade, and assist in sustainable aquatic animal production.

Background

  1. Aquaculture and fisheries is a vast and rapidly expanding food production sector involving a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate aquatic animals including finfish, crustaceans, and mollusks.
  2. The CVMA, when necessary, engages with provinces and federal government bodies to provide advice on appropriate aquatic animal health policy and legislation.
  3. CVMA and aquatic animal veterinarians support the National Aquatic Animal Health Program (NAAHP) (1) and are actively working to ensure that federal policies, programs, regulations and legislation that exist for aquatic animals and involve the veterinary profession are consistent with those that exist for terrestrial animals.
  4. Veterinarians assist in sustainable aquatic animal production including management of disease interactions between domestic and wild stocks with the aim of reaching optimal health and production in both populations;  are involved in the protection of the aquatic environment and wild stocks, public health and socio-economic development.
  5. Veterinarians provide essential expertise in regional and national aquatic animal health and disease surveillance programs supporting protection of aquatic animal resources and international seafood trade.
  6. Canadian consumers, food animal producers and trading partners rely on veterinarians to oversee the use of medications, including antimicrobials, in aquatic animals as an important aspect of food safety.
  7. Veterinarians help ensure that food products derived from aquatic animals are safe for human consumption and appropriately certified to meet international trade requirements. This also requires contributions from both governmental and private sectors, as well as aquatic animal health professionals and other partners.
  8. The CVMA recognizes that provincial and territorial veterinary regulatory authorities license veterinarians, regulate the practice of veterinary medicine within their respective jurisdictions and therefore determine what activities are considered to be within the scope of veterinary practice, including for aquatic animal veterinary medicine.
  9. Veterinarians play a pivotal role in the health and welfare of animals, including aquatic species. Canadian veterinarians practice aquatic animal medicine as it relates to food production in various situations including: private client animal treatment, commercial fish farms, stock enhancement hatcheries, academic research, teaching and animal care, government regulatory programs feed and pharmaceutical industries, product development and regulatory affairs. Such professional activities require training, knowledge and skill in veterinary medical disciplines such as clinical diagnoses, pathology, pharmacology, vaccinology, epidemiology, preventative medicine, laboratory animal medicine, toxicology, as well as seafood inspection and regulations.

References

  1. Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Aquatic Animal Health. Available from : https://www.inspection.gc.ca/animal-health/aquatic-animals/eng/1299155892122/1320536294234. Last accessed October 15th, 2020.