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This section of the OFI educational publication presents a comprehensive guide to biosecurity and good husbandry for ornamental‑fish producers, followed by a detailed description of the European health‑certificate system and the OFI digital certificate application. It stresses that disease risk originates primarily from mixing fish from different sources, unsafe water, vector species, and inadequate disinfection. The text outlines how to evaluate and treat water (well, river, municipal), lists physical, chemical and UV/ozone disinfection methods, and explains facility design measures to exclude birds, reptiles, snails and other vectors. Good husbandry practices – water quality, nutrition, handling, staff hygiene and removal of dead fish – are presented as essential disease‑prevention steps. Diagnostic capacity is discussed, from simple microscopy to ELISA and PCR, and the importance of participation in government surveillance programs is highlighted. Experience from the shrimp industry is used to illustrate biosecurity principles. The document warns of zoonotic and antimicrobial‑resistance risks linked to ornamental‑fish production. It then reviews the evolution of EU health‑certificate regulations, the role of OFI in shaping them, and introduces the OFI Health Certificate Tool, describing its login, species‑name synchronization, data entry workflow, guarantee questions, invasive‑species alerts and reporting features. Economic implications of biosecurity, certification costs, and infrastructure recommendations (solid walls, concrete floors, parallel tank systems) are also covered.
Topics
Supply‑Chain Transparency as the Foundation of Biosecurity
Emphasizes the need to trace the origin of every fish batch, verify supplier biosecurity practices, and control transport conditions to prevent pathogen introduction into ornamental‑fish facilities.