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On the Horizon: Challenges and Opportunities in Fish Health
James R. Winton
Senior Scientist Emeritus, USGS - Western Fisheries Research CenterABSTRACT
The practice of fish health has changed significantly over the past several decades. In this presentation, I will discuss important drivers of these changes and how they might affect the diseases of aquatic animals and the practice of fish medicine by fish health professionals, diagnosticians, researchers and managers working for the federal, state, tribal and private sectors. The drivers include: an environment of limited funding, a move toward accreditation of diagnostic laboratories, the expansion of the workforce to include aquatic DVMs and other professionals, the need to integrate fish health with other management concerns, an increase in the identification of novel or emerging pathogens, public concern about animal welfare and hatchery-wild fish interactions, continued growth of commercial aquaculture, greater use of captive rearing for species of concern, altered aquatic habitats and trophic interactions, inputs of novel toxins and contaminants, continued invasions of non-native species, acceleration of global climate change, limited availability of drugs and vaccines, and the applications of new technologies for the detection of pathogens and modification of the host response.
BIOSKETCH
Jim Winton is a Senior Scientist, Emeritus, in the Fish Health Section at the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center in Seattle, Washington where he collaborates with a team of scientists, technicians, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students and visiting scientists working to improve the detection of fish pathogens, determine factors controlling the epidemiology of fish diseases, and develop strategies for reducing losses among both hatchery and wild fish. Jim is also an Affiliate Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington where he serves on departmental or graduate student committees and gives an occasional seminar or lecture.
He has served as President of the Fish Health Section of the American Fisheries Society, member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Aquatic Animal Health, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, Journal of Fish Diseases, and Journal of Applied Ichthyology, and member of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, the American Type Culture Collection, the USDA Aquaculture Technical and Scientific Committee, and the Fish Disease Commission of the World Organization for Animal Health. Significant awards include the American Fisheries Society Fish Health Section S. F. Snieszko Distinguished Service Award, the US Department of the Interior Distinguished Service Award and election to the Washington State Academy of Sciences. He is an author of more than 200 scientific publications.