Circular No. 36/2009/TT-BNNPTNT on disease prevention and control for farmed aquatic animals

CIRCULAR

Regulations on disease prevention and control for aquatic animals

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Pursuant to Decree No. 01/2008/NĐ-CP dated January 3, 2008 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

Pursuant to the Veterinary Law dated April 29, 2004;

Pursuant to Decree No. 33/2005/NĐ-CP dated March 15, 2005 of the Government detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Animal Health Ordinance;

Pursuant to Decree No. 119/2008/NĐ-CP dated November 28, 2008 of the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of Decree No. 33/2005/NĐ-CP;

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issues this Circular on disease prevention and control for aquatic animals as follows:

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

1. This Circular stipulates disease prevention and control measures for farmed aquatic animals (hereinafter referred to as aquatic animals).

2. This Circular applies to organizations and individuals in Vietnam; organizations and individuals from foreign countries (hereinafter collectively referred to as the facility owner) engaged in production, business, and transportation of aquatic animals; state management agencies responsible for aquatic animal health work within the territory of Vietnam.

Article 2. Explanation of terms

The terms used in this Circular are understood as follows:

1. A breeding facility is a place where aquatic animals are raised or kept, including one or more ponds, lakes, tanks, cages, rafts, pens, enclosures, and other forms of breeding with a common water supply and drainage system, similar ecological environments, and managed by an organization or individual.

2. An epidemic focus is a breeding facility currently experiencing a dangerous infectious disease of aquatic animals listed in the Catalogue of Aquatic Diseases that must be declared.

3. An epidemic area is an area where more than 10% of the breeding area is affected by a disease listed in the Catalogue of Aquatic Diseases that must be declared.

4. Suspected diseased aquatic animals are those that are susceptible to disease and have come into contact with or been near diseased or suspected diseased aquatic animals.

5. Diseased aquatic animals are those showing abnormal signs but without disease symptoms.

6. Suspected infected aquatic animals are those exhibiting disease symptoms or lesions but the causative agent has not yet been identified, or aquatic animals in an epidemic area showing abnormal signs.

7. Infected aquatic animals are those showing typical disease symptoms or lesions of the disease or the causative agent has been identified.

8. Pathogens are factors causing infectious diseases and parasites causing disease in aquatic animals.

Article 3. Disease Reporting System

1. Each district/veterinary station in districts with aquaculture activities must have at least one staff member responsible for disease prevention and control in aquatic animals, who is responsible for compiling and reporting disease situations in their jurisdiction. Notify households raising aquatic animals and higher-level agencies of the contact information (telephone, fax, or email) of the veterinary station or responsible staff for communication when necessary. Staff members assigned must report the weekly disease situation to the Provincial Veterinary Service Office every Thursday.

2. The Provincial Veterinary Service Office is the lead agency responsible for disease prevention and control in aquatic animals within the province/city, responsible for compiling and reporting the disease situation weekly before 10:00 AM on Fridays to the Regional Veterinary Office and the General Department of Animal Health.

3. The Regional Veterinary Office is responsible for compiling and evaluating the disease situation within its region and reporting to the General Department of Animal Health on the fifth day of the fourth week of each month.

4. When there is an outbreak, units must implement emergency reporting daily or as required by the General Department of Animal Health.

Chapter II

DISEASE PREVENTION

Article 4. Construction and Implementation of Aquatic Disease Prevention Plans

In October each year, the Provincial Animal Health Service (hereinafter referred to as the Provincial Animal Health Service) shall take the lead in coordinating with relevant units to organize a summary and evaluation of the aquatic disease situation at breeding facilities within the province for the year and develop plans for the following year according to the following steps:

1. Analyze the results of aquatic disease surveillance from the previous year and conduct additional surveys at breeding facilities to serve the development of plans for the following year.

2. Compile and evaluate information to determine the level of risk of the occurrence and spread of aquatic diseases within a commune and between communes in the province/city.

3. Develop disease prevention plans for breeding areas based on the risk levels within the province/city.

4. Submit the approved disease prevention plan to the General Department of Animal Health for supervision and direction after it has been approved by the People's Committee of the province/city.

5. Implement the approved disease prevention plan to districts/cities, communes/towns.

In case of unusual disease developments, the Provincial Animal Health Service must adjust the plan accordingly, compile the situation, report to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for the People's Committee of the province to adjust the plan appropriately, and report to the General Department of Animal Health.

Article 5. Contents of Aquatic Disease Prevention

1. Publicizing Aquatic Disease Prevention

a) Publicizing activities on aquatic disease prevention must be carried out regularly to the community and individual breeders before breeding seasons;

b) The content and program of communication on aquatic disease prevention are developed by the General Department of Animal Health and directed by the Provincial Animal Health Service to implement at the local level;

c) The form of publicizing at each level is chosen by the management authority at that level but must ensure that the content reaches the community and aquatic breeders accurately and effectively.

2. Proactively Monitoring and Early Detection of Diseases

The Provincial Animal Health Service shall carry out:

a) Directing veterinary officers at the district and commune levels and coordinating with functional units to collect samples of aquatic products for regular testing and inspect environmental indicators;

b) For environmental indicators inspected on-site, veterinary officers record them in the form provided by the General Department of Animal Health immediately after completing the inspection. These records are transferred to the Provincial Animal Health Service for storage after the inspection and sampling period ends;

c) For water environmental indicators and diseases not inspectable on-site, veterinary officers collect samples, preserve them, and send them to the Provincial Animal Health Service for analysis and testing. For indicators exceeding their capacity, the Provincial Animal Health Service sends samples to designated laboratories;

d) Laboratories prioritize testing samples from epidemic areas. The time to return test results must not exceed the time announced by the laboratory;

đ) Immediately upon receiving the test results, the Provincial Animal Health Service shall notify the results along with specific measures for preventing and controlling aquatic diseases (if necessary) to the facility owner and the Regional Animal Health Office;

3. Sanitation for Disease Prevention

The facility owner must implement:

a) Adhering to the breeding season as guided by the local aquatic resource management agency;

b) Preventing diseases throughout the breeding process starting from pond cleaning until harvest, strictly following the guidance of competent authorities;

c) Adhering to the technical procedures for preparing ponds, managing water quality, and caring for the health of aquatic animals to minimize pathogens and reduce harmful substances. Only permitted feed, biological preparations, antibiotics, and chemicals listed in the circulation permit published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development can be used, ensuring veterinary hygiene standards;

d) Designing the aquaculture system and applying technical measures according to guidelines on disease prevention and breeding techniques provided by competent authorities to achieve maximum effectiveness in disease prevention and environmental protection;

đ) Using only seedlings with clear origins and certified by the veterinary service.

Chapter III

DISEASE CONTROL

Article 6. Reporting and Investigating Disease Outbreaks

1. The owner of the breeding facility must immediately report to the veterinary officer of the commune or district/Veterinary Station when they discover aquatic products suspected of being infected with a disease or experiencing abnormal deaths.

2. Within 24 hours from the time of receiving information from the facility owner, the Veterinary Station must dispatch staff to the site for inspection, temporary handling measures (isolating the breeding facility, strictly preventing the spread of suspected diseased aquatic products into the environment, placing white flags to inform surrounding facilities about the disease's presence to take preventive measures), and simultaneously verify and report to the provincial veterinary authority.

3. Within 24 hours from the time of receiving information from the Veterinary Station, the Provincial Veterinary Office shall lead the investigation, collect environmental samples and disease specimens for testing to determine the cause of the disease. For disease specimens that cannot be tested locally due to insufficient conditions, they must be sent to the Regional Veterinary Authority or the Central Animal Diagnostic Center for diagnosis within the shortest possible time.

4. Once the cause of the disease is identified, immediate measures to prevent the spread of the disease must be applied according to Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of Article 9 of this Circular.

Article 7. Announcement of Disease

1. Based on the assessment of the impact between breeding areas and the results of the disease outbreak investigation, the Provincial Veterinary Office shall implement strict quarantine measures to control the disease outbreak area to prevent its spread.

2. When all conditions for announcing a disease as stipulated in Article 17 of the Veterinary Law 2004 are met:

The Provincial Veterinary Office reports to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to request the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to issue a Decision announcing the disease.

The scope of the disease announcement is as follows:

a) When there are at least three disease zones occurring in one village/hamlet, announce the disease in the entire commune;

b) When the disease occurs in three communes or more within a district, announce the disease in the entire district;

c) When the disease occurs in three districts or more within a province, announce the disease in the entire province;

The National Veterinary Office requests the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to announce the disease when it occurs across two provinces or more.

Article 8. Transport Control

1. The National Veterinary Office directs subordinate units and Provincial Veterinary Offices to implement enhanced quarantine and transport control measures immediately upon the official announcement of the disease becoming effective.

2. Aquatic products susceptible to the announced disease may not be transported from other regions into the disease zone or vice versa for breeding or breeding purposes.

3. Aquatic products intended for sale may only be transported out of the disease zone after proper processing and obtaining a health certificate from the competent authority.

Article 9. Measures for Handling Disease Outbreaks

1. If aquatic products have reached market size and are found to be diseased, especially those listed in the Catalogue of Diseases Requiring Disease Announcement, harvesting should be conducted immediately to avoid losses. Diseased aquatic products can only be used for food and must be processed (cooked thoroughly or processed according to specific requirements for each type of disease) at a processing facility under the guidance of food safety and veterinary authorities. Transportation vehicles must be sealed to prevent leakage or spillage of water or aquatic products during transportation and must be disinfected before and after entering the disease zone.

2. If aquatic products have not yet reached market size and are found to be diseased as listed in the Catalogue of Diseases Requiring Disease Announcement, the Provincial Veterinary Office shall coordinate with relevant units to guide the eradication of pathogens using permitted chemicals according to the prescribed procedures, ensuring environmental hygiene and containment to prevent the spread to adjacent ponds/lakes.

3. After harvesting, the facility owner must treat the affected breeding area with permitted chemicals. Disinfection and sterilization of facilities with diseased aquatic products must be carried out according to the guidelines of the National Veterinary Office under the supervision of local veterinary officers.

4. The Provincial Veterinary Office shall compile the affected area statistics and report to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for consolidation and submission to the Provincial People's Committee. On this basis, the Provincial People's Committee will request support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for disease control chemicals.

5. For facilities that have been destroyed due to the disease: if they are still in the main breeding season, the Provincial Veterinary Office shall guide the owners to restock for the next production season after the disease announcement has ended.

Article 10. Announcement of the End of an Outbreak

1. Conditions for Announcing the End of an Outbreak:

a) Within a period of 14 days from the date of the last diseased aquatic animal herd dying, all affected herds must be compulsorily processed, destroyed, or recovered without any new cases of disease occurring within that period.

b) All necessary sanitary measures and disinfection have been carried out in the affected area to meet veterinary hygiene requirements.

2. Authority to announce the end of the epidemic:

When the conditions for announcing the end of an outbreak are met, upon the proposal of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at the provincial level and the Animal Health Department at the national level, the competent authority specified in Clause 2, Article 7 of this Circular shall issue a decision to announce the end of the outbreak and revoke the declared affected area.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 11. Responsibilities of the Animal Health Department

1. Develop and submit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for approval a national plan for preventing and controlling aquatic animal diseases.

2. Submit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for issuance a list of aquatic animal diseases requiring declaration.

3. Guide and supervise technical aspects of disease prevention and control for key farmed aquatic species; disinfection procedures for facilities.

4. Manage and monitor the use of the National Reserve Fund for disease prevention and control in animals.

5. Guide local Animal Health Sub-departments to report on aquatic animal disease situations as required by this Circular.

6. Organize training sessions on disease prevention and control measures for local Animal Health Sub-departments and subordinate units.

7. Inspect and supervise the development and implementation of disease prevention and control plans by local Animal Health Sub-departments.

8. Develop and guide units on reporting forms and formats to ensure timely and accurate reporting.

Article 12. Responsibilities of the Aquaculture Cultivation Management Department

1. Develop and direct the implementation of production standards for aquatic animal seedstock to ensure quality; sustainable farming standards suitable for each farming method and meeting disease safety requirements.

2. Direct, inspect, and supervise the implementation of aquaculture seasons, the application of techniques in seedstock production, and commercial aquaculture.

3. Coordinate with the Animal Health Department in disease prevention and control activities.

Article 13. Responsibilities of the Quality Management Department for Forestry, Agricultural, and Aquatic Products

1. Guide the processing and handling of aquatic products harvested from affected areas to meet disease safety requirements for processing facilities classified according to Decision No. 117/2008/QĐ-BNN dated December 11, 2008, issued by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on inspection and recognition of food safety-compliant aquatic product production and trading establishments.

2. Require corrective actions from processing facilities handling aquatic products from affected areas that do not meet disease safety requirements.

Article 14. Responsibilities of People's Committees of Provinces/Cities under Central Administration

1. Assign responsibilities to relevant units to organize disease surveillance in farmed aquatic species in their locality.

2. Coordinate with the Animal Health Department in organizing disease prevention and control and sample collection for disease monitoring according to the locality’s disease prevention and control plan.

3. Direct and supervise the disposal and destruction of diseased aquatic products and mobilize forces to participate in disease control efforts in the locality based on the recommendations of the veterinary authority.

Article 15. Responsibilities of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

1. Implement the planning for developing safe aquaculture facilities and zones at the local level; manage safe aquaculture facilities and zones according to the functions and tasks of the Department.

2. Advise the Provincial People's Committee on establishing a fund for preventing and controlling aquatic animal diseases at the local level and in cases where a disease outbreak is declared or the end of a disease outbreak is announced.

3. Direct specialized agencies to guide farmers on measures to prevent and control diseases, strengthen disease surveillance and inspection of farmed aquatic animals in the locality.

Guide the processing and handling of aquatic products harvested from epidemic areas to meet disease safety requirements for processing and handling facilities according to the classification set forth in Decision No. 117/2008/QD-BNN dated December 11, 2008, issued by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on the Regulations for Inspection and Recognition of Aquatic Product Production and Business Facilities Meeting Food Safety Requirements.

5. Publicly announce through mass media and inform each farmer about the seasons for releasing and farming aquatic species.

Article 16. Responsibilities of the Animal Health Service

1. Conduct investigations, surveys, and develop and implement plans for preventing and controlling aquatic animal diseases.

2. Report on the situation of aquatic animal diseases according to the guidelines of the Animal Health Administration.

3. Carry out inspections of veterinary hygiene conditions of production and business facilities for seed and other facilities.

4. Organize sampling and testing for environmental and disease indicators of aquatic animals.

5. Develop and organize training programs to enhance the capacity of veterinary officers and aquaculture facilities under management in disease prevention and control.

6. Coordinate with relevant agencies to implement enhanced quarantine and transport control measures immediately upon the effective date of the decision declaring an aquatic animal disease outbreak.

7. Guide, inspect, and supervise the implementation of disease prevention and control measures at production and business facilities for seed and other facilities.

8. Guide, inspect the transportation of aquatic products harvested from epidemic areas to processing facilities.

Article 17. Responsibilities of the Aquaculture Facility Owner

1. Apply disease prevention and control measures; comply with quarantine regulations, report on diseases, establish and retain records related to seed; improve ponds and lakes; care for and manage aquatic animals; handle waste (effluent, sludge, and refuse) according to the guidance of competent authorities.

2. Cooperate with competent authorities in taking samples for testing environmental and disease indicators.

3. Participate in training courses on disease prevention and control, and aquaculture techniques organized by management agencies.

4. Enjoy state support for disease control according to current regulations.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 18. This Circular takes effect 45 days from the date of signature.

During implementation, if there are difficulties or obstacles, agencies, organizations, and individuals are advised to report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for timely revision and supplementation./.