Events - Fish Health Management Workshop 2006, About
19-20 January 2006
University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
About
The Fish Health Management Workshop was held in Tartu, Estonia on January 19-20 2006. The course was managed by Estonian University of Life Sciences and Estonian Fish Farmers Association. Patrick Smith from Schering Plough Aquaculture was the lecturer. The course followed mainly the scheme used in the workshop of the same type, held in Poland.
During first day general overview of fish health status in Europe was given and the main diseases described. During second day the vaccination methods and immunostimulation principles were introduced.
There were altogether 48 participants of very different level and profession. The largest group were veterinarians (17). As there are no professional fish vets in Estonia and fish diseases have not been included into curriculum of veterinarians, the people working as county vets or in veterinary laboratories appreciated this opportunity to learn about fish diseases very much. The number of fish farmers was a little smaller, partly due to weather. Also the students of aquaculture (15) participated actively. Some scientists from the aquaculture research department participated as well. The course was interpreted into Estonian and the participants received a CD with copies of the PowerPoint presentations which had also been translated. The non-English speaking fish farmers and students particularly appreciated the efforts made to deliver the course in their language. Particular emphasis was given to vaccination technology due to the potential cost and welfare benefits of a preventative health management strategy. However most of the participants considered the description of diseases very important for them.
The course coincided with invasion of cold Siberian weather to Estonia. Temperatures declined to minus 28- 32 degrees centigrade in the night and was not much higher in the day. It caused some problems and lot of jokes. Try to imagine Patrick Smith arriving to the lectures like a real Santa Claus - beard and fur cap totally covered with frost. Or how to describe feelings of the fish farmers who had arrived from the countryside and needed to get help to start the car engines to get home the first night. They had emptied the batteries, trying in vain to start engines and were now searching for cables to join their cars to others with working engines. The next day many of participants kept the engines going for a long time during the course. Certainly it was not warm inside of the lecture room either, because the meeting was held in an old wooden manor. But the general atmosphere was warm and friendly. The Estonian gravlax large rainbow trout and warm smoked carp were tasted together with local beer.