Our international project seeks to understand how the environment can help to control the risk of disease in fish and crustacean aquaculture in India and Bangladesh.

Recent estimates predict that the global population will rise to ~ 9 bn by 2050. Of that growth, the majority is predicted to take place within Africa, the Middle East and throughout Asia. It is essential that aquaculture production is sustainably developed to ensure Global Food Security and Poverty Alleviation for all human kind.

Disease outbreaks represent a key challenge to the  aquaculture industry. Many diseases have a significant impact when crop species, including fish and shrimp, are raised at high densities and under stressful conditions. These conditions are often associated with aquaculture.

Our consortium of nine research institutes and universities in India, the UK and Bangladesh will work with farmers in India and Bangladesh to identify existing best practice.

Their experience will be used to formulate new guidelines to disseminate throughout farming communities across Asia. We will also develop new understanding of host pathogen interactions, in the hope of developing  novel intervention methods with which to tackle infection in the future.

Funding for this research has been provided through the Newton Global Research Partnership in Aquaculture, representing the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) India, the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences and the Economic and Social Research Councils (BBSRC and ESRC), the Newton-Bhabha Fund and UK Aid.